The sad news is coming out of Asheboro, North Carolina this evening that Jerry Bledsoe, the prolific author who among other things hit the bestseller list with his true-crime book Bitter Blood, has passed away at the age of 84.
In my formative years, Bledsoe's columns for the News & Record out of Greensboro were must-reading. It seemed that there wasn't a subject that he couldn't write about and make it a rollickin' good respite from one's typical daily life. He was a gifted humorist who brought with him fresh insight into practically everything he wrote about.
But Bledsoe's biggest claim to fame had nothing to do with humor.
In the summer of 1988 came the publication of Bitter Blood. It remains one of the most disturbing true-crime books ever written. Bledsoe's book attempted the impossible (something he admitted in its final pages): trying to make sense of the Fritz Klenner/Susie Sharp murders that transpired in Kentucky and then North Carolina between 1984 and 1985. It was an event that defied all sense and it absolutely rocked the communities they transpired in. Especially Reidsville, North Carolina, where I'm originally from. Bitter Blood was what it seemed everyone in my hometown was reading: it was pretty much locally known simply as "the book". Bledsoe wrote that. And it was a magnificent performance.
I was able to meet Jerry Bledsoe a number of times. He was someone who always appreciated his readers and he seemed pretty humble about the success he had enjoyed. He loved his craft and he was thoroughly dedicated to practicing it and he was always seeking to refine that, as any true artist aspires to do. Bledsoe was in every way a remarkable man, and I thought he more than deserved noting his life.
Thought and prayers to his family and friends.
