Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

The Mercer House demands attention; it is one of the largest and grandest homes in Savannah. Its reputation spreads beyond Savannah, as books and magazines have prominently featured the notable structure. Architectural Digest, in its September/October 1976 issue, noted that the Mercer House served as a symbol for Savannah: “The charm of its city and its way of life have found expression in [Williams’s] careful and loving restoration of Mercer House, a house once ravaged by war and neglect but now a center of harmony and quiet living” (178). Starting in the 1950s, wealthy residents restored both Savannah and the long abandoned Mercer House to their former glory.

The irony is that Hansford’s murder in the library of the Mercer House shows that the appearance of “harmony and quiet living” is deceiving. In addition, when Williams displays a Nazi flag to stop a movie crew from filming his house, the house’s beauty and “harmony” is instantly transformed into something menacing and violent. After Williams’s death, the tour guides that stop at Mercer House talk about Johnny Mercer and Jacqueline Onassis, neglecting to mention Williams: “They keep it very prim and proper” (12). While the appearance of the Mercer House draws the attention of all who visit Savannah, its history and secrets are known only to a few.