SOURCE: "Voodoo Justice," in The New York Times Book Review, March 20, 1994, p. 12.

[In the following review, Whitley discusses Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil as a unique combination of true-crime story and travel book.]

The voodoo priestess looked across the table at her wealthy client, a man on trial for murder: "Now, you know how dead time works. Dead time lasts for one hour—from half an hour before midnight to half an hour after midnight. The half-hour before midnight is for doin' good. The half-hour after midnight is for doin' evil…. Seems like we need a little of both tonight."

When he began living part of the year in Savannah, Ga., John Berendt, a columnist for Esquire and a former editor of New York magazine, was looking for—what? Respite from the big city? A charming little Southern town dripping with humidity and history to...