e detours from the crime), just as Truman Capote did in his In Cold Blood.
However, Berendt's book is different than Capote's in a number of ways. Although there is certainly suspense in Berendt's book, it is far more leisurely than Capote's book, because of those aforementioned detours. One could reasonably argue that his excursions into secondary characterizations and the outskirts of the Old South are not entirely relevant to the crime story at the heart of the book.
The crime itself involves the murder of a street hustler buy his sometimes lover. The resolution of the case might not satisfy the hard-core crime reader, for, after ten years and four trials, the residents of Savannah, Georgia, have nothing to show by way of conclusion, for the accused killer is found innocent, although he shortly thereafter dies of a heart attack, perhaps
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