Paperback: 1984.
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?
"Susie has done this," were the first words David spoke when he heard about the second murders.
And when he continued to insist that Susie had to be involved, his mother broke her stunned silence, "Don't say that. You don't know that, she's family."
Susie was on the minds of others that night.
For, later when the Newsoms heard about the killings, they telephoned Susie, offering to have someone come over and stay with her.
Susie declined, breaking off the conversation by saying, "Well, my dog has run off. I've got to go find him. I'll talk to you later."
A strange reaction to the revelation that her parents and beloved grandmother had been murdered...
Later, Forsyth County Sheriff Preston Oldham said, "There are a multitude of things that could have prompted it. An exact, hard-core motive will never be known. It could have been revenge. It could have been greed. It could have been personal problems. It could have been child custody...This whole case...it's unreal how it was played out, almost like a dime-store novel with so many twists and turns..."
In this powerful and riveting tale of three families connected by marriage and murder, of obsessive love and bitter custody battles, Jerry Bledsoe, in Bitter Blood (1988) recounts the shocking events that ultimately took nine lives, building to a truly horrifying climax that will leave you stunned.
About the author: Jerry Bledsoe is the author of the New York Times Number One bestseller Bitter Blood, as well as two other national bestsellers, Blood Games (1991) and Before He Wakes (1994), and many other books. He has been contributing editor for Esquire, a reporter and columnist for the Greensboro, North Carolina, News & Record, The Charlotte Observer and the Louisville Times. Three of his books were made into movies and mini-series for CBS, and a feature film of The Angel Doll was released for Christmas 2000. His work also has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and many other publications. He lives in Randolph County, North Carolina, with his wife, Linda.
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