to reply moved after i was in that place to another apartment where i to go to the housekeeping details so i left that all of the book but i was on the fourth floor of a small apartment building where johnny mercer's father had built and i had a view of all of downtown savannah historic which was about treetop level, so i had near to medium and a distant views of steeples and cupolas and a tree is coming and i can see summer storms barreling up of the savannah river, big clouds. it is just wonderful. it was on forsyth park, a very beautiful part of the slave trade there looking out at all of this. c-span: on lot? >> guest: on a computer. i have an early apple. i kept up reading as i went along. and that's where i wrote, taking my time. i'd get up, first thing i would do i would have coffee and sat right down, and presentable, no

shower -- c-span: what time? >> guest: i get up around eight or nine and by what -- i right or i would organize notes or i would make appointments to see people, but always start some writing and of course every month there would have to do my esquire column. so break away and do research for - quarter, and right that and said that by fedex and later by fax when i had a fax and they became widespread. then i turn back to the book and sometimes it took me two days to get back into the rhythm of it because i'd have to steep myself into the information on the tractor and was working on and did into the rhythm and the flow of the ambience and i'd start out with and work. for today's sometimes it would take me to come down from having written the a square piece to back on the book. c-span: you're next book, everybody speculating the city and all that. are you looking for a city or have you found a city? >> guest: i had been looking and told all of my friends even if you think it is a harebrained

idea, you have one for me, please tell me. .. >> particularly that english

speaking which is fascinating. but then going back and february interested in what was the american family owned coming out this fall and then by the boston families but then i realized not quite what i wanted either for the article that i stumbled what relates to the henry james and psat in venice who lives in them broken down what so and had been the mistress and henry james roche a wonderful story from the 1880s and as

a scholar who did not know that they were still alive now that he knows he is alive and must have a treasure trove of the papers so he schemes and plots and gets into the house convinces the two old ladies so then the old lady dies. he confesses to the niece that he once the butter and says you can have it but he is horrified. he wanders court a day and says i have decided yes. i will marry you. it is too late i have burned of the letter. every one of them. took a long time but something along those lines have happened if it is not an easy story but in a week

from now. >>cspan: when will you have another book? >>guest: i don't know. i am very slow. >>cspan: we are over time. "midnight in the garden of good and evil" is the name of the book our guest is john berendt over 160 weeks on the best-seller list.

>> this is the home where jim williams them main character of "midnight in the garden of good and evil" lived in 1980 also the central event of the book the murder of danny hansard. c-span local content vehicle staff stop there to talk with dorothy kingery sister of jim williams and owner of a home how her brother was represented in the book and the impact of "midnight in the garden of good and evil" on her family and the city of savannah. >> "midnight in the garden

of good and evil" is a book whose main character, my brother so it is a book story i am familiar with. >>host: why was it written about him? >> i think because gm was such an amazing person if you met him you would never forget him. he was the electric. when he entered a room, you knew he was there. he was good-looking, a bright, well read, and very essentials. he enjoyed people. i have many stories that i could tell of people who are adults and say when i was a child my dad did some work

and he played the pipe organ for me in the ballroom when he found out i liked music so generally related to the book has had a huge impact and it has had an impact on my family. starting by saying it should have been marketed as fiction and was not. and i actually had a conversation with the author before it was published by his comment was random house was trying to decide whether to market its as fiction and nonfiction. i do remember quite clearly he said they chose nonfiction because it would be easier to get on the best

selling less and stay there and certainly it was on the list for a very long time. >>host: why do you consider it fictional? >> why do i? >> because there is so much fiction in their. people who read a book that is marketed as non-fiction and believe everything in there is accurate. that certainly isn't true about this particular book. >>host: are there certain sections ninth that you consider played 10 fictional aspects and what are they? >> no. i could not focus or dared to focus on sections but simply to say there is a great deal of fiction in their.

interestingly enough, my brother signed the contract agreeing to cooperate with the book because jim wanted his story told accurately. he felt it was important and he had been through lots to clear his name and clearing his name was crucial to him and so he wanted the story to be told accurately. and for that reason he signed the contract with john berendt and gain access for instance gm's major attorney and court records and tape recordings.

>>host: what is the connection between your author and your brother? how did he choose to write the book and what was the connection? >> no one shows him to write the book. and jim wanted his story told and he met john berendt one time only and then john berendt approached him about it doing the book. that is how that came about. >>host: did you make any contributions to the book? were you interviewed? >>guest: let me go back in time. about the movie that is an easy question. about the book? i don't think i had any impact on the book. >>host: what did you find

most frustrating about the book? >>guest: the most frustrating this a few portions of the book is the author's world, the world of president assad not jim williams. i find that frustrating. >> what about what he saw and what john berendt was about? >> looking at differences of the two individuals although they are very different individuals one thing that i found very frustrating about the book was that the author chose to present a very serious story, my brother story, a very serious and chose to present that interest rose two of trivial

and social finance and finding that interesting but that is one reason it was successful. it is easy to read john berendt is a magazine writer and was when he wrote the book. it is easy to read and when asked that a friend said people have always suspected we had strange characters here in the south. [laughter] and the book that they present that to them so maybe that is a part of it. >>host: what did jim think of the book? >> he was dead when the book was published. >>host: what do you think he would have thought? >>guest: the book would have been very different had jim williams been alive when

it was published. because much of it was not jim's life. >>host: what impact has the book had on your family? >>guest: it is difficult to hear certainly people who have picked up to present those as a reality. that is very difficult. we still deal with that here but the other impact is the attention of my home and what it received an as a result of the book we loved and lived in this house for over 40 years my children

are at home here. when jim died and i came to settle the estate, i gave up my career in georgette and moved into the house and worked very hard to settle the estate. this was a wonderful home. my family loved it, we had great party's and my friends loved it and i enjoyed it but when the book was published suddenly the house gets a lot of attention. and that can be difficult to handle. >> host: why? >> guest: why? give it a thought, daddy. how would you feel if you had people around your house all the time? i did not open a house as a museum for more than the six

years because i genuinely believe that i could retain my privacy. and i was mistaken about that. i could not. when i realized that i could not and guides were telling stories that were not accurate, immediately i turned the corner. you know, when that have been spurred by turned the corner to say i am in fighting people in i want them to see how beautiful it is and how remarkable his collection is. also i want people to hear his story and they do. he loved in this house and they love the history and they enjoyed telling people

about it and are proud of it am proud of his accomplishments. he is credited saving over 70 houses in savannah in the low country. over 70. i have a list. some of those he restored completely, some he would pass along and restore it properly but his impact on the history of the area has been enormous and i am not sure that is recognized. i think the people have lost sight of his contributions to savannah and the low country and history but that is the reason i did my book, the book that i showed

you and i put that together using june this essays those that have an impact on him starting when he was about 15 with the house an essential part of georgia. and he always was very sensitive to old houses and has a great feel and understood them and i remember his remark finishing restoration on one particular house that was then dreadful condition and when he finished he said she has been restored to her proper status. it is true and what he wanted to do and because he felt there were such important parts of the history he wrote essays and saved and then saved

everything with anything he did to a house and this house for instance he had to do very little except restore. he was very fortunate because this house had the original interior when he bought it. nothing had ever been done. it was decrepit but that was the dream. >> host: where did he like to spend most of his time in the home? >> guest: my answer to that i have had people say where do live in the house? we live all over the house. this was our favorite room, debbie, even when my children were young. alvarion, we sat in here.

we listen to music and have drinks and we in enjoy it. those things were meant to be used and many were to be used every day. to be used with care and recognize what they are. >> host: what impact did the legacy have on savannah as well as what impact did the book have on the city of savannah? >> guest: jim his legacy, the impact is obvious. to walk around take a look at every house that he owned a and every house that he restored, then you recognize right away that he saved many of savannah's trish years of today when they

came along at a period leno lot of these old houses were torn down and to many that were saved or close to being torn down. he came along at an incredible time and almost like a mission but one that he enjoyed. he had a commercial impact on the city of savannah. one thing is to see the beauty of the city and it is wonderful. i also heard them say they love to know with these old houses are still live in today. and jim made a major contribution and amend the museum of art with the

entire collection end with contributions of every way was a great supporter and a great musician himself. we could go on. >> host: what impact did the book have on the city? >> huge. anyone who comes into this city knows it has had a huge impact on in the city. financially i suppose one of the major ways but certainly had a major impact. >> host: now the state of the family receives money from the book as well? >> guest: yes. >> host: how does that

work? >> guest: we just signed a contract with john berendt so the state receives royalties as a result of that. and an interesting aspect i cannot resist telling you this, what has been the most fun as far as that is concerned, it is the filming. win at midnight was filmed, it was so much fun. eastwood came to see first. to see if i would allow them to film in the house. i don't know if you have met him or not, he is a lovely, a gracious, wonderful man. so we had a nice talk about building in the house.

and i thought i could follow through but then i got cold feet. i just don't think i can do this. i called him and i said i cannot do it. you can film around the house and and the bargain granddad and whipsawed but i don't think i can let you film in the house. he came the next day and said what do i need to do? white a man. -- was the man. and so very sensitive so why discuss the difficulties and he faced every one we satisfy those i wanted the fine arts express to move out to my antiques out etc etc and he addressed everyone of those concerns that i had. the filming was fun.

cavan spacey as we know, not just talented but if any. and really wanted to get jim's character down birthright took him in said jaguar down to the place on the water and i was showing him photographs are already sold to hollywood so when i brought my photographs immediately he said yes i have seen these but here is one and it shows and jim with the crown of his head, the photographer was up above the and said look. you can see how his hair grows. spacey was really a

perfectionist as far as his work was concerned. >> host: what did you think of the movie? did it portray him accurately? >> guest: the movie got lost with footage. vassar in the changes that could have been made with the movie but i will say that kevin spacey and both clint eastwood wanted to portray jim as accurately as they could. for instance kevin spacey wanted to make sure that there was a shot of jim working in the basement because jim loved restoring and sometimes just for fun to go down and restore the antiques. so kevin spacey wanted to make sure there were some scenes. i do think they wound up on

the cutting room floor and not in the movie but wanted to make sure he was portrayed accurately. >> host: when visitors come to visit, what misconceptions do they come in with to make sure going that those are not true? >> guest: i don't know that i could point* to misconceptions. there is a major one that is a lack of knowledge. they don't realize why jim was tried more than one time. that is something we don't address unless we need to of course, but he could not get a fair trial in savannah.

as soon as he got a change of venue and the trial was moved to a best that he was acquitted immediately. >> host: why couldn't he get a fair trial? >> guest: there are many reasons and read my book i have quotes from attorneys and citizens and it details about reasons for that. >> could book that i have written about jim's trials trials, i always think of justice the working title is why justice slapped and that is exactly what you would put to on such of book for the cover of such a book so i cannot