The Kingdoms of Savannah Review

Author: George Dawes Green

Genre: Mystery, Suspense

Publisher: Celadon Books

Release Date: July 19, 2022

Order Link: Amazon

Many thanks to Celadon Books for an arc.

Savannah may appear to be “some town out of a fable,” with its vine flowers, turreted mansions, and ghost tours that romanticize the city’s history. But look deeper and you’ll uncover secrets, past and present, that tell a more sinister tale. It’s the story at the heart of George Dawes Green’s chilling new novel, The Kingdoms of Savannah.

Review:

The Kingdoms of Savannah is a beautiful blend of old southern history and a unique, modern mystery.  The beauty of Savannah is legendary with it's otherworldly ambiance with streets of old southern mansions and churches, sweet aromas on the breeze, old cemeteries, trees with boughs hanging low with spanish moss and most certainly a ghost or two - in other words, home of the elite.  And yet, there's another side of Savannah - one the author exposes with all its ugliness shining a light on the forgotten poor, homeless and hopeless.  A side Savannah's elite will do anything to keep buried.  Green rips the pretty off the city in The Kingdoms of Savannah and in doing so, he forces a clear eyed view of the underbelly.  

I'm such a fan of settings that are so vivid, so sensual that they become characters in their own right, and Savannah becomes a character in this story serving to set the tone and ambiance both good and bad.  It stars right alongside protagonist Morgana Musgrove, a grande dame of the city - one of the most respected and prominent women of the area.  Inside her home, the picture isn't so pretty as her four grown children have little time or patience for their mother.  Her business ventures are in trouble and leaking money like a sieve.  Thus when a local man is murdered, and a wealthy developer pays her half a million dollars to find evidence to clear his name as the prime suspect, she jumps at the chance finagling her children into helping her.  When a woman also goes missing, the case becomes convoluted and dark secrets begin rattling the closets of some of Savannah's privileged.  Secrets they'll do anything to keep buried.

The Kingdoms of Savannah is a highly atmospheric story that's as twisted as a back country road.  Green brilliantly weaves multiple twisted plot lines into one stunning tapestry of a mystery.  The pace grows steadily along with the tension.  Morgana may be an unlikely detective, but she's like a dog with a bone never giving up as she manipulates her way through high society's closets.  In doing so, she exposes some dark sins that make the powers-that-be nervous and angry.  Drawing from Savannah's complex history, Green has delivered a unique masterpiece that speaks of abused power, greed, social status and broken families in The Kingdoms of Savannah.  Highly recommending this unique and demanding mystery to everyone!  

Synopsis:

It begins quietly on a balmy Southern night as some locals gather at Bo Peep’s, one of the town’s favorite watering holes. Within an hour, however, a man will be murdered and his companion will be “disappeared.” An unlikely detective, Morgana Musgrove, doyenne of Savannah society, is called upon to unravel the mystery of these crimes. Morgana is an imperious, demanding, and conniving woman, whose four grown children are weary of her schemes. But one by one she inveigles them into helping with her investigation, and soon the family uncovers some terrifying truths—truths that will rock Savannah’s power structure to its core.

Moving from the homeless encampments that ring the city to the stately homes of Savannah’s elite, Green’s novel brilliantly depicts the underbelly of a city with a dark history and the strangely mesmerizing dysfunction of a complex family.