Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder

by Jerry Bledsoe

The “riveting” #1 New York Times bestseller: A true story of three wealthy families and the unbreakable ties of blood (Kirkus Reviews).
 
The first bodies found were those of a feisty millionaire widow and her 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, 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?
 
In this 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, building to a truly horrifying climax that will leave you stunned.
 
“Recreates . . . one of the most shocking crimes of recent years.” —Publishers Weekly
 
“Absorbing suspense.” —Chicago Tribune
 
“Astonishing . . . Brilliantly chronicled.” —Detroit Free Press
 
“An engrossing southern gothic sure to delight fans of the true-crime genre. Bledsoe maintains the suspense with a sure hand.” —The Charlotte Observer

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Mystery, Audiobook, History, Book Club

687 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Jerry Bledsoe is the author of "The New York Times "#1 bestseller "Bitter Blood, "and others. He has written for "Esquire, The New York Times, "and many other publications. He lives in North Carolina and Virginia.

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Holy Mother-Bleeper!!!

Bitter Blood is an insane story and to make it all the more insane it actually happened. I was so tempted to Google people in this book but I'm so happy that I didn't. This book had more twists and turns than any Thriller I've read.

Bitter Blood is about 4 families The Sharpe's, The Lynches, The Newsoms, and The Klemner's who are all connected by various marriages and ultimately by 7 grisly murders. This story has everything murder, madness, incest, and racism.

The only thing that stopped Bitter Blood from being a 5 Star read was the author's longwindedness(that's not a word) and the fact he has a tendency to get sidetracked. I really didn't need to know the full history of the North Carolina State Police department.

I will warn you that this book includes some brutal descriptions of murder. So if you don't like that Avoid This Book.

Bitter Blood is explosive, stunning, anger inducing, and horrifying

Obsessed With True Crime Bookclub.

[Ruth Turner · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

I love big books, but at 1072 pages on my laptop, this was a chore to read, and with 100 pages to go I abandoned it.

Firstly, the number of people in this book, some of them adding nothing to the story, is mind-boggling, and it was exhausting trying to keep track of everyone. I had to keep a notepad and pen beside me and at one point I honestly contemplated doing a family tree.

Marjorie, a church friend of Tom Lynch’s mother, Dolores, makes an appearance in the first 322 pages and then is never heard of again. She plays no part in the murders, and I can’t see the point in including her. Really, you can skip those pages without any detriment to the story, and I wish I had!

There was too much background information about every single person mentioned, most of it unnecessary. I didn’t need to know where they went to school, what churches they attended, who their neighbours were, or every employer they’d ever worked for.

There were too many insignificant details that added nothing to the story. I found myself skimming paragraph after paragraph.

While the story is well written, and obviously well researched, it’s too long. Way too long. It failed to hold my interest and I became bored. But, I bravely soldiered on until I got to the last 150 pages or so. Then, when we finally got to the last murders, which were related in minute detail, we then had to suffer through the post mortem…again in minute detail…of the crime, law enforcement’s actions, who saw what, who did what, who knew what, who said what…and on…and on…and on! I was ready to scream.

So, I abandoned the book and googled, wishing I’d had the good sense to do this sooner.

I came across an interesting article that has nothing to do with the murders themselves, and puts Tom Lynch, the boys’ father, in a very unfavourable light.


Article from the Star News:

“Two years after the explosion, Mr Lynch sued Mr Newsom and the estates of Mrs Lynch, her parents and grandmother. He said he should receive the money Mrs Lynch would have inherited from her family, because of her role in the murders and those of her sons.”

He had already received a share of the $400,000 estate of his ex-wife, Susan Lynch.

Whatever made him believe he was entitled to any money from the estates of his ex-wife’s parents, and her grandmother? Perhaps, if his sons were still alive, but not just to fill his, and his second wife’s, greedy pockets.


Any sympathy I had for Tom Lynch disappeared when I read this.

[Pseudonym · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this because it takes place in my hometown and surrounding areas. My family knew the Klenners, which made this an exciting read, but the prose style was lackluster and the structuring of sections of the story was tedious and hard to get through - the author gave every character's whole biography before explaining any of their relevance. It took about a hundred pages before the story felt like it properly began.

[Mary Ballard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blood on their hands

I read many books in true crime, and I'm usually sad afterwards, but this story made me so angry. My heart goes out to Tom Lynch. I highly doubt Susie was controlled by Fritz, or anyone else, in fact it sounds like she was controlling everyone and everything her entire life. She was nothing but a spoiled, selfish bitch. Shame on her family for sitting back and doing nothing and making excuses for her, while 2 small boys suffered emotional abuse and brainwashing at her hands. And from the sound of it, physical. Her family and her lawyers all have BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS. No one tried to help Tom or his boys. Everyone involved should be ashamed, especially those still making excuses for this sorry excuse for a mother. Hope her and Fritz are enjoying a nice hot eternity together.
That being said, the author did an admirable job telling this story. My heart goes out to Tom Lynch, may God bless him, and his precious sons, his mother and sister, and Susies parents and Manna.

[Tooter · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 Stars

[Serena · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a thing as too much information. I didn't need to know about the churches that each member of the police force belonged to. Yawn.

On the other hand, the story was intriguing if a bit grisly. Certainly, it would be hard to develop a fiction as odd as this.

The family tree helped and the photos were illuminating. Living in Greensboro definitely made it more interesting.

[Maryann MJS1228 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been rereading a few classic true crime books. Some hold up well and deserve the "classic" term, others are too much a product of their times to resonate today. Bitter Blood is, thankfully, a true classic. Arguably Jerry Bledsoe's best book it is the result of newspaper articles he wrote at the time of the murders. His personal desire to explain the tragedy is evident on nearly every page as is his ultimate frustration at his inability to find finite answers to all that took place.

The story of Susie Sharp Newsome Lynch and Fred "Fritz" Klenner is troubling on many levels. Intelligent, privileged products of the new South, Susie and Fritz both go horribly off-track and yet their families fail to comprehend just how far off track. What is perceived as an embarrassment to the family strikes the reader as clear evidence of mental illness. Fritz is the son of a respected if unorthodox doctor; he fakes attending Duke medical school for years, talking about classes and lab experiments while wearing a white coat and stethoscope. And while constantly spinning fantasies about covert CIA operations, impending nuclear war and assorted conspiracies. When his family discovers he hasn't even graduated college let alone been accepted to medical school their first instinct is to cover it up, allowing Klenner to continue to pass himself off as a physician.

The Newsomes were equally resistant to seeing serious problems in their daughter Susie. Long after her behavior had veered from willful to downright bizarre they remained most deeply concerned about appearances. Susie's relationship with her first cousin Fritz scandalized them deeply yet they were afraid to confront her about the specifics.
As others have noted, this is a long book. Bledsoe starts the story from the perspective of the crimes, almost in whodunit fashion. The problem is that while the main suspects don't enter the stage until 200 pages into the book their names are evident to anyone who reads the back cover. Susie and Fritz's names aren't even mentioned in the first 200 pages yet you know that they are the murderers. For some readers that may be hard to take.

If, however, you're willing to let the story unfold as its leisurely pace you'll be rewarded with a tale of Southern Gothic like you've never seen it - with family ties that form a stranglehold.

[Robert Whaley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this years ago when it was serialized in the News and Record. A remarkable piece of writing and all the more enthralling by the fact that it took place where I lived. I would highly recommend it.

[Tanya Allen · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you have unlimited time and patience, you might enjoy this book. You will get excruciating details of every acquaintance who ever interacted with the primary characters, every trip they've ever taken, and every vitamin they've ever popped. (Seriously.) And just when you think there's nothing left to tell....there's another 5 chapters of "aftermath." I wish I'd never started this book...

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like true crime stories, and I started reading this book I think because the murders were based in my home-state, North Carolina. I very good book to read if you like true crime novels. It's a bit slow going @ first, but it gets better and turns out to be a real page-turner.

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 4 out of 5]

True Crime Commemoration # 2
Setting: 1980s oldham co KY and Winston-Salem NC

[Robbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could give this one more than "5 stars" I would; awesome read and scary someone could think and do these things. If you think you have a nutty family, be grateful! This one was "normal" too, except for a few explosive personalities that found one another or rubbed each other the wrong way! If I didn't have such a long reading list, I'd read this one again!

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unbelievable story, I could not stop reading. The author introduces you to several family members of this prominent South Carolina family. Each has their own unique quirks but all are very socially conscious since one family member is the first female judge in the court with a reputation to uphold. The story opens with the first unexplained murder of the family matriarch and her daughter. There is no obvious reason for the killing and the investigation goes nowhere, initially. I read this 700 pages in just a couple of days and was horrified at the conclusion. No spoiler alert here, but the ending took my breath away and I could not get the story off my mind. A great read and an inside look into family, status, pride and the ultimate end of it all.

[Fishface · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dull as dishwater. This ought to be an interesting story, about a greedy woman who kills one family member after another to get to their money, but I didn't even finish it.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, like many of the true crime books I read which were marketed and released before the Serial/Jinx/Making a Murderer era, this book's graphic design is humiliating and stupid. There's a dumb drawing of a car on the front, as like, the dominant image. For no reason. Like yes, there are cars in the book but in my opinion that's not actually the scariest thing they could have chosen. Then, the the tag, before the summary of the book, on the back, in huge letters, is:

"THE DYING BEGAN ON A SUNDAY."

COOL!

I dunno, before true crime became trendy and acceptable as art/literature/cultural artifact, it just was marketed and presented in the cheesiest way, in a way that basically tells you, "this will be trash."

But, as for the actual content-- I thought it was solid! It's an insane, weird story that I cannot believe has not been made into a movie. The writing I enjoyed, my only issue is maybe it was a little too detailed. I genuinely liked hearing about the family history of these people, but the history was SO extensive that at one point there's 25 pages about, like, the tobacco plant and its development in the 18th century, so I like, gingerly flipped passed the pages and quietly whispered to the author "neat, thanks" and just found the part where the plot began again.

But it really is a crazy, complex, deeply weird story that I was shocked I had never heard about before.

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a large book and as happens in many large tomes, it does drag in some places. The author probably could have ended the book about three chapters sooner that he did.

The true story of a well-placed southern family and the horrible murders that are visited up them is very disturbing. It begins with two series of murders in different states that initially seem unconnected but soon we learn that there is indeed a family relationship. It all seems to center on one member who, though seemingly bright and charming, may not be exactly as she appears. Her close and romantic relationship with her first cousin has an unsettling effect on the family and their attempts to discourage it cause an estrangement among those involved. Things turn dark very fast and the unthinkable happens. It is a dark story that almost repels the reader but one that is fascinating as well. It may not be for everyone since it can infuriate the reader at the "do nothing" attitude of the police officials for political reasons. Tragic.

[Andrea Catherwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has immense details surrounding tragic family murders.It is one of the most bizarre true crime stories I have read.I do believe a lot more could have been done by law enforcement to prevent the final tragedies.Prayers go out to all survivors.in my personal opinion lack of awareness and acceptance of mental illness play a huge part in how things exploded into an unfixable situation.It is hard to identify mental illness,especially in prominent families where a "problem"such as "crazy"just doesn't exist,why doesn't everyone know only poor people are nuts!Great Book Mr. Bledsoe!

[Crystal Robertson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was the most tedious book I've every tried to read. Can't believe I even made it through 225 pages. I did not need all that itty bitty teeny tiny background information on relatives that went back 2 generations (and spanned chapter after chapter) that had very little to do with the murders. I'll just Youtube the TV movie and move on to with a better use of my reading time.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can see why some readers lost their patience with this one, there is a LOT of detail and it takes quite a while to tie everything together, but I enjoyed it immensely. For my money it's better than Bledsoe's BLOOD GAMES (three stars), but not as good as BEFORE HE WAKES (five stars), hence the four-star rating.

[MM Suarez · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.50 Stars

The recounting of this real-life unimaginable family tragedy was well written but it would have been better at half the number of pages, way too long in my opinion.

[LyndaIn Oregon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's get the bad news out of the way first. Jerry Bledsoe's "Bitter Blood" is a bloated doorstop of a book -- 573 pages of often-superfluous information about the family trees of several of the characters (complete with detailed biographies of the forebearers) and replete with observations by bystanders (again with biographical material) who are at best secondary and at worst totally irrelevant to the story.

Now. Having said that, if you can wade through the impedimentia, there's a helluva story there. It starts -- as all good true-crime stories do -- with a murder. A wealthy, rather unpleasant woman and her adult daughter are found slain in their isolated Louisville, Kentucky home. Months later, a man and wife and her mother are also slain in their home at Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The only link between the victims turns out to be two little boys whose father was part of the Kentucky family and whose mother was part of the North Carolina contingent.

Sounds like a slam-dunk, doesn't it? Especially when you factor in a bitter custody dispute between the boys' now-divorced parents, and the presence of a randomly wacko cousin with a penchant for guns and a habit of going around telling people he's a CIA assassin but they mustn't let anyone know.

Unfortunately, the law-enforcement personnel involved in the separate investigations remain unaware of the connection. Even when surviving members of the North Carolina clan point the finger at one of their own, the investigation doesn't take off. And when the forces of justice do finally lumber into action, things move far too slowly for the boys' father, who is certain that his children are in deadly peril at the hands of their mother -- who is either losing her grip on reality or is a world-class liar.

It all comes together in a bizarre attempt to take the mother and her cousin / probable lover / gun-toting survivalist into custody, the action becomes a tangled mess of multiple law-enforcement agencies who either can't communicate at all or who send garbled and incorrect information. It might be funny, but it's not.

Even after the dust has cleared (literally) and the case appears to be closed, Bledsoe devotes another hundred pages to the aftermath. And he can be forgiven that apparently unnecessary verbiage because there were still important facts to be uncovered, a dozen or more damaged people trying to comprehend how people they loved and thought they knew could become so dangerously unbalanced, and law officers whose lives were also irrevocably changed by the case.

If you choose this book, settle in for a long haul. Overall, it's worth the time.

[Teresa Slack · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book on the recommendation of my dentist who went to dental school with Janie Newsome. This was my first true crime book, and maybe my last. I'm used to fiction and found this very dry and very clinical. History on every family member, every detective, judge, lawyer, neighbor, counselor, and reporter. I think he even covered the guy at the car wash. Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad, but I started skimming pages about 1/2 way thru. Maybe all true crime books are like this. Now I know.

[Jeanine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very little about the murders, just hundreds of pages of information about dozens of family members, most of which had nothing to do with anything.

[Kelsey Hanson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is proof that bad writing and narrative construction can take a fascinating true life case and make it boring. The entire first half of the book was such a convoluted and long-winded mess and made it extremely difficult to keep track of the major figures involved in this case. In fact, later on in the book I was so confused about simple logistics and keeping track of who everyone was, I actually looked up the case online and read a few news articles just to get the basic framework for the case. I thick the biggest problem with this book is that there is too much information thrown at you and a lot of it is not particularly relevant to the case. When it comes to true crime novels, you do need to include enough information to understand the histories and the motivations of the people involved, but you don't have to include EVERY detail about their personal lives. Delores' history of church hopping didn't really have anything to do with the case. There were enough prior examples to get an idea of her determined and rather self-centered personality. The entire backstory of everyone in the Sharp family could have also been slimmed down to key details. As it is now, it just bogs down the story. The second of this book was a bit better because it finally got to the meat of the case, but by this point I was so confused I had to keep looking up people to figure out who they were and how they related to everyone else. This was a very unique case, but the writing makes it extremely challenging to understand.

[Pooja Peravali · Rating 4 out of 5]

No one can think of a reason why anyone would kill Delores and Janie Lynch in such a cold-blooded manner. But when their in-laws are murdered barely a year later, the police suspect that the motive for the deaths might be found among the ranks of the family.

Bitter Blood is one of the classics of the true crime genre and lives up to everything that’s promised in its subtitle. While I had heard about the case on a podcast before, it was some years ago so the details of the story had mostly faded away. As such, every twist and turn struck me across the face full force.

The story is already a fascinating and alarming one, but the author heightened the story with the atmosphere that he created. There is a sense of impending doom that gripped on me as I read this book, to the point that it was sometimes tough to read towards the end. There’s no catharsis to be found here, no hero figure to latch onto and no justice, so we are left with an appropriately bleak feeling that is surprisingly missing in much true crime.

I did think that Bledsoe spent a little too much time discussing the histories and the overwhelming respectability of the families involved though. Obviously that component is an important feature of Susie and Fritz’s backgrounds, but I didn’t know if we needed to know the minutiae of each Sharp sibling’s education and career to get the gist of things. A lot of the first few parts of the book could have been easily cut.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many years ago I got drawn into a movie on television that was really long, and seemed to be based on true events, and then at the end it sounded like it wasn't, but it was, and it was this book, and a story this convoluted probably needed a movie that long.

I have seen some complaints about the book length, but I like the rich details. Family is an important theme, so time is spent on family, and there are long histories here. Some things probably could have been trimmed, but a lot of the detail adds understanding.

The most haunting thing is the death of the boys, but it's hard to see how that could have been avoided. You can't arrest before you have a case, warnings can jeopardize the case - it feels like the most obvious mistakes weren't things that changed the outcome.

However, there is one thing that would have helped a long time before. There were allegations of child abuse that should have been followed up and were not. That could have done some good. Fathers' rights are certainly taken more seriously now. You can hope those things help.

[Sherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very detailed account of a very tragic series of events. I purposely did not research this story outside of this book and let the author reveal the story to me. I was not disappointed. Shocking and almost unbelievable if you didn't know this was a true story. I especially appreciated the author's detailed account of the months and years following these events for all of the people involved. An oldie but a goodie!

[Nabilah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is dense, convoluted with lots of details that could make your head spin but I cannot put it down not because the author's writing is so good, it is just the bizarre turn of events and the less-than-perfect characters in it make me want to stay on. The flaws of white American family unit is bared open for all to see in this book.

[sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

True story of southern family pride, madness and murder in one family. It is an incredible story of one families obsession turned into madness and ultimately the murder and complete tragedy of the innocent lives that were taken by this insanity. Truly a sad and very unexpected ending.

[Mystic Faerie ✨️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this for part of the curriculum for a criminology class. really good case study that reads like a novel.