Savannah Crime Scene

For those of you who read John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and are familiar with the murder of Danny Hansford by Jim Williams, this is the elegant mansion on Monterey Square in which the crime occurred. The infamous deed happened in the darkened room to the left of the front entry. (A still more dastardly deed is represented by the 2-hour parking meter — if you've ever dealt with one of Savannah's metermaids, you know what I'm talking about.)

The house is generally recognized because of the Berendt book, but this was built for the great-grandfather of  legendary singer-songwriter Johnny Mercer. The house's current name, the Mercer-Williams House, reflects this dual notoriety.

I did this sketch with pencil as well as black and white ink on brown paper. The dense foliage in the square casts dramatic shadows on the house. (I can't say that I captured the intensity of the light and shadow in this sketch, but it was fun to do.)