Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

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

Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder
Bitter Blood A True Story of Southern Family Pride Madness and Multiple Murder
Author: Jerry Bledsoe
The killings began with the murder 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 killed in North Carolina. Clues led to the person who linked the families, former child "princess" and fraternity sweetheart Susie...  more »
The Market's bargain prices are even better for Paperbackswap club members!
Retail Price: $8.99
Buy New (Mass Market Paperback): $9.19 (save -2%) or
Become a PBS member and pay $5.29+1 PBS book credit Help icon(save 41%)
ISBN-13: 9780451402103
ISBN-10: 0451402103
Publication Date: 4/1/1989
Pages: 573
Rating:
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 41

3.9 stars, based on 41 ratings
Publisher: Onyx Books
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

catbookmom avatar reviewed Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder on + 52 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
I nearly couldn't put this down. The story is engrossing and well-written, with extensive background and histories of the people involved. The families involved lost so much, and you cannot help mourning with them. Fritz Klenner was a seriously deluded and extremely manipulative person, and whether she was part of the planning or not, Susie Lynch, a different sort of flawed personality, was a big part of the cause of these tragedies.

In the aftermath, Susie's brother Rob Newsom, a lawyer, said something that will stay with me for a long time: "Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence ... was not designed to handle sociopaths with automatic weapons. The police cannot and do not protect us. They avenge us sometimes, but they don't prevent anything."
reviewed Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder on + 35 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This book tells the story of what can happen when family arguments go too far. This is an amazingly powerful, tragic story, and a must-read for anyone who is a fan of the true crime genre.
reviewed Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder on + 209 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This one will keep you awake! Extremely well written and frightenly true.
reviewed Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder on + 35 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Very well written, hard to put the book down.
reviewed Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder on + 21 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
If this had not been a true story it would have been hard to believe ...... sticks in your mind long after finishing the book.
Read All 17 Book Reviews of "Bitter Blood A True Story of Southern Family Pride Madness and Multiple Murder"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

reviewed Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder on + 47 more book reviews
excellent
reviewed Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder on + 52 more book reviews
Very interesting story.
reviewed Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder on + 94 more book reviews
The writer of this novel-like true crime book based it upon his extensive coverage of multiple murders in two prominent southern families for his newspaper. He has done a masterful job of detailing these terrible tragedies. The fact that the murders were committed by beloved family members makes the story all the more poignant. The historical perspective is interesting and the personalities and psychological makeup of the characters are presented through the even-handed interviews with friends and family memers. This is a heart-breaker.
reviewed Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder on + 44 more book reviews
Excellent read for fans of true crime books.
reviewed Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder on + 2 more book reviews
great reading you will not be able to put down the book....
romeo avatar reviewed Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder on + 334 more book reviews
The dying began on a Sunday. A feisty millionare widow and her beautiful daughter are murdered gangland style in their big house in Louisville, Kentucky. Months later another wealthy widow and her prominent son and daughter-in-law are also slain one night in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The mystified police first suspect a professional killer, then turn their focus on family.
The Sharps. The Newsoms. The Lynches. Three well-to-do families, all linked by an aristocratic young mother, Susie Sharp Newsom Lynch. Could this former child princess and one time fraternity sweetheart, the daughter, granddaughter, ex-sister and ex-daughter-in-law, be involved in these murders? And what about her close and obsessive first cousin, Fritz Klenner, who dreams of succeeding his nationally known successful doctor father?
In this tightly wound and unrelenting tale, events build to a horrifyingly dramatic and shattering conclusion that leaves the remaining family members and the citizens of two states devastated.


Genres: