The book's plot is based on real-life events that occurred in the 1980s and is classified as non-fiction. Because it reads like a novel (and rearranges the sequence of true events in time), it is sometimes referred to as a "non-fiction novel."
Mercer House. The alleged murder of Danny Hansford occurred in Williams' study – the bottom left room in this photograph. The house is now known as the Mercer Williams House MuseumAlthough the book's timeline is set to coincide with the entire saga of Jim Williams' arrest and four trials for murder, in reality Berendt did not meet Williams for the first time until 1982 — after the millionaire had been convicted of murder and released pending appeal. Berendt also did not move to Savannah to collect material for his book until 1985 — after Williams' second conviction. Williams was a free man and living in Mercer House during Berendt's five years in Savannah.[1]
"The only fictional character in the book is the narrator, me, until I catch up with myself midway through the book," Berendt said in 1995. "I felt that was a legitimate license to take. The book is 99 percent true and 1 percent exaggeration."[3]
In the first chapter, Berendt and Williams are interrupted by Hansford's screaming entrance; this happened prior to Williams and Berendt's meeting. "Jim was having drinks with somebody else," explains Berendt. "Jim told me about it and so did somebody else. So I reconstructed it, put myself in there. The first evening in Mercer House is a combination of a lot of stories he told me. Then afterward, I meet all these people — Joe Odom, Chablis, Lee Adler. I met all these people, obviously, after the murder, but they don't impact the murder at all, so I simply put them right after my meeting with Jim, and it seems as though I met them before the shooting and I didn't, but so what? All of those meetings with people were actual meetings. They took place in '85 or later, and they are pretty much verbatim what happened with those people and me."[1]
Nancy Hillis, who appears as Mandy Nichols, later explained that, contrary to Berendt's portrayal of her, she did not meet Joe Odom until he had moved from 16 East Jones Street to 101 East Oglethorpe Avenue. She also clarified that there was no romantic relationship between her and Odom, largely because Odom was gay. Odom died in 1991, over two years before the book was published, but this is not mentioned in its narrative.[1]
The person represented by Serena Dawes (a composite character of Helen Avis Drexel)[4] died in 1974, over twenty years before the book's release.[1]
Minerva is based on Valerie Boles, a root doctor from South Carolina.[5]
