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Jerry Bledsoe

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Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder Mass Market Paperback – April 1, 1989

by Jerry Bledsoe (Author)

4.3 4,608 ratings

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In this powerful and riveting tale of three families connected by marriage and murder, of obsessive love and bitter custody battles, Jerry Bledsoe recounts the shocking events that ultimately took nine lives...

The first bodies found were those of a feisty millionaire widow and her beautiful daughter in their posh Louisville, Kentucky, home. Months later, another wealthy widow and her prominent son and daughter-in-law were found savagely slain in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Mystified police first suspected a professional in the bizarre gangland-style killings that shattered the quiet tranquility of two well-to-do southern communities. But soon a suspicion grew that turned their focus to family.

The Sharps. The Newsoms. The Lynches. The only link between the three families was a beautiful and aristocratic young mother named Susie Sharp Newsom Lynch. Could this former child "princess" and fraternity sweetheart have committed such barbarous crimes? And what about her gun-loving first cousin and lover, Fritz Klenner, son of a nationally renowned doctor?

Print length

592 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Berkley
Publication date

April 1, 1989
Dimensions

4.2 x 1.5 x 6.7 inches
ISBN-10

0451402103
ISBN-13

978-0451402103
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Popular Highlights in this book

What are popular highlights?

‘Success is like a turtle climbing a mountain. Failure is water running downhill.’
Highlighted by 115 Kindle readers
“Well, last summer,” Rob answered, “my sister’s former mother-in-law and sister-in-law were murdered in Kentucky.”
Highlighted by 98 Kindle readers
“That’s right. If you ever read Scott Peck’s books, in his book People Who Lie, that’s his definition of an evil person, is a person who refuses to look within, refuses to see the plank in their eye, refuses self-analysis and is always scapegoating other people, places, and things for their own dilemmas.”
Highlighted by 91 Kindle readers
Steinbeck believed that there were some creatures on the face of the earth that looked like human beings, they had human parents, but they were really monsters.
Highlighted by 62 Kindle readers

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jerry Bledsoe was born in Danville, Virginia, in 1941, and grew up in Thomasville, North Carolina. After 3 years in the army he became a newspaper reporter, and for more than 20 years he was a feature columnist in Greensboro and Charlotte. He was a contributing editor to Esquire when he began writing books. His seventh book, Bitter Blood, became a #1 New York Times bestseller and was made into a CBS miniseries. He and his wife, Linda, live near Asheboro, North Carolina.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berkley (April 1, 1989)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 592 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0451402103
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0451402103
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.2 x 1.5 x 6.7 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #129,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #36 in Southern U.S. Biographies
- #354 in Serial Killers True Accounts
- #474 in Crime & Criminal Biographies

Customer Reviews:
4.3 4,608 ratings

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Jerry Bledsoe

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Jerry Bledsoe was born in Danville, VA, in 1941, and grew up in Thomasville, N.C. After three years in the Army he became a newspaper reporter and for more than 20 years was a feature columnist in Greensboro and Charlotte. He was a contributing editor to Esquire when he began writing books. His seventh book, Bitter Blood, became a New York Times #1 bestseller and was made into a CBS mini-series. He and his wife, Linda, live near Asheboro, NC.

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4.3 out of 5

4,608 global ratings

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Mindy S. Helfrich

Super compelling read

Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2023

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I loved this book! It did take quite a while to read it but it was worth the time. I actually thought it was fiction because I didn’t believe that this could happen. I loved how well the family members were described and how it made me feel like I actually knew them. This is probably one of the best books I’ve read this year.

6 people found this helpful

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DMH

Deception

Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2021

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This was a compelling true story of how lies, betrayal, and unforgiveness destroys families. Susie was daddy's princess who could do no wrong. As a child she would have temper tantrums when she didn't get what she wanted. Fritz had the impossible task of inheriting his father's medical clinic. However he failed to finish school and lied about having a medical degree. These two mentally and spirituality tormented people should never developed a relationship. Fritz dabbled with the occult and introduced Susie to chanting. The observation that the apartment was dark because the windows were covered. Also Fritz was known to sleep all day, disappear at night, and always kept bag of pills. His fascination with weapons was another red flag. There were many incidents of Susie violence against John. That was child abuse that should've been reported. Both the boys were silently asking for help. When John would beg Tom to stay because he didn't want to go home, that should've been a red flag. Family members commented on Susie's violent outbursts, someone should've investigated. My heart broke for John andJames because they were innocent victims of Susie and Fritz's madness. I think these families were cursed. Janie's boyfriend felt an evil presence when he stayed at her house and a Detective noticed it too. Although Fritz was evil, I believe Susie participated in the murders and also shot her children. The book was confusing sometimes when discussing the murders and the various agencies in the investigation. However, the storytelling was compelling.

5 people found this helpful

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P. B. Sharp

The best crime book I have ever read

Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2007

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I would put "Bitter Blood" right up there with Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood." "Bitter Blood" and the murders it describes are an immensely more complicated scenario than the murders of the Clutters. Jerry Bledsoe managed to tidy up hundreds of loose ends, weave them together and create a coherent story so mind-boggling you will not put down the book until you've plowed through it. You'll be left gasping. A horrible miasma of madness permeates the book and you keep saying to yourself "this can't be happening" but it does. And Mr. Bledsoe proves it and carries you with him on a roller coaster ride.

My name is Sharp, which gave me an added interest in the book. But I am not related to the North Carolina Sharps.

The murders by Fritz and Susie are not the work of two serial killers. There is no sex fantasy here and serial killers don't kill people they know. These are revenge-killings, and Susie egged Fritz on to do them, although she killed Delores and her two boys herself. Delores she detested,and her boys were dispatched by cyanide pills and bullets so that her ex husband, Tom, couldn't have them. Fritz mutilated Susie's mother with a knife after shooting her because she had the audacity to disagree with her daughter and her almost incestual affair with her cousin Fritz. If you cross Susie you pay for it. You pay with your life.

Fritz was undoubtedly insane but Susie also went off the deep end. Her behavior became more and more bizarre as she and Fritz moved into a horrid paranoid world of their own. The killing of the little boys John and Jim by cyanide reminds me of Frau Goebbels in the Hitler bunker when she killed all six of her children with cyanide pellets. The mind-set between her and Susie is remarkably similar, and Fritz was, as was his father, an ardent Nazi.

The book goes into great detail about the actions and thoughts of the various detectives involved in the case of the Lynch and Newsom murders and again, Mr. Bledsoe seamlessly integrates the investigations of the police with the various goings on of the murderers, their families, friends and the victims and wraps it all up to make coherent sense of nine senseless crimes.

The havoc and grief that Fritz and Susie created will never go away as long as any of the involved parties are alive. Judge Susie has passed on and perhaps she finally realized the truth that her beloved niece and namesake, Susie, was a cold-blooded killer. The brutal murders happened almost twenty five years ago but the sordid story will never die and decent people will ponder the unbelievable truth and wonder how human beings could stoop so low.

6 people found this helpful

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S. K. Norman

ENOUGH ALREADY With the Endless Geneologies & Family Anecdotes

Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2017

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BITTER BLOOD by Jerry Bledsoe is a book worth sticking with to the very end, but it is arduous wading through the mutinae in the process. I'm just sayin'...

It's a compelling story of family dysfunction, mental illness and murder. There are several compelling twists and turns. And it is quite evident tthat Bledsoe has done an incredible amount of research on all aspects of the story.

However, the reader needs to be forewarned that Bledsoe also tells every single iota of information he knows. So a reader has to persevere through a huge cast of characters, long--really long-- genealogical histories, and irrelevant family anecdotes to reach the pertinent points of the actual crimes. It is only after reading a substatial part of the book that the reader begins to finally understand the connections being made. Until then, it can be confusing.

For example, the reader is zipping along. A crime's been committed, the characters have been defined, and their comprehensive histories given. Law enforcement personnel have been introduced, also with their background having been discussed.

Then suddenly the reader finds himself unceremoniously in the middle of a large, entirely different, set of characters, with their lengthy background histories now unfolding. And that's just what's happened by 18 percent into the book.

Therefore, the reader loses focus on the original characters and crime under investigation in the process. He even forgets who they are. Eventually it all ties together, but what a struggle getting there.

On the one hand, Bledsoe could have shortened a lot of it by writing the storyline differently. However, it seems that at least part of the reason it's so involved and done in this manner is to keep the perpetrators' identity concealed until toward the end of the book.

Unfortunately, I think the author tends to lose a lot of readers partial way through the book because of it, and they miss the best parts of the story.

All in all, I'd still recommend reading the book. However, it won't be a quick read.

16 people found this helpful

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Alexa

a bit exhausting

Reviewed in Brazil on October 6, 2021

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the author clearly made a thorough research on the events of the crime and the history of the characters. sometimes, all the contextualization becomes a bit too much and a little tiring. too much family and towns history and very little about he crime itself for more chapters then necessady in my opinion.

Sheronda

Formidable saga familiale

Reviewed in France on June 19, 2022

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Impossible de poser ce livre tant le récit est prenant et bien écrit .Chaque personnage est minutieusement disséqué , et même s'ils sont très nombreux , ils sont tous très intéressants et complexes .
Une découverte sensationnelle pour moi , lue en anglais . Je vais suivre absolument cet auteur !!!!

One person found this helpful

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Ailbe

Excellent True Crime Novel

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 21, 2021

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This book is gripping, incredibly well researched, wonderfully written. I read a lot of true crime, and this book stands out for the quality of the writing and the in-depth investigation. A terrific read.

Susan Shepherd

Excellent true crime saga a disturbing tale

Reviewed in Canada on January 20, 2020

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Breathtaking... we know almost immediately of some murders then start to meet the characters of the same family who figure in the story..We are wondering who actually “done it” for a longtime but the explanations and genealogy are necessary to understanding. An excellent disturbing tale

2 people found this helpful

Gitta Lohr

Alles in Ordnung

Reviewed in Germany on December 17, 2020

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Habe das Buch als Weihnachtsgeschenk verschickt

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