Savannah is one of America's most beautiful and historic cities. Yet underneath the mint juleps, oaks bearded with Spanish moss and the splendor of colonial architecture, there lurks a deadly undercurrent. This is a first-person account of an award-winning newspaper crime reporter's career, covering scores of murders in the Savannah area, including one of the bloodiest eras in the city's history: in 1985, metro Savannah earned notoriety with the nation's highest homicide rate. The author describes a wide range of crimes, including murders over a 14-year-old lover, $4 for hamburgers or a baby carriage; the grisly murder of a voodoo priest; bound corpses in the waterways and interstate body dumping grounds; the Scarecrow and "Say Cheese" Killers, serial killer Wade Sheffield; and many more.

“Informatively enhanced…exceptionally well written, organized and presented…an extraordinary history of an extraordinary American city and highly recommended for personnel, community, and academic library True Crime collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists”—Midwest Book Review

Derek Smith was a crime reporter in Savannah, Georgia, for almost ten years and has written extensively on the Civil War. He lives in Bishopville, South Carolina.