The New York Times–bestselling author of Bitter Blood weaves "a powerful account" of greed that led to an unspeakable crime ( The New York Times Book Review).As they slept in their North Carolina home, wealthy Lieth Von Stein and his wife Bonnie suffered a vicious assault with a knife and a baseball bat. Bonnie barely survived. Lieth did not. The crime seemed totally baffling until police followed a trail that led to the charming stepson,...

New York Times –bestselling author: "In the art of true-crime reportage, Jerry Bledsoe is the best in the country . . . Before He Wakes has the suspense of a novel" ( The Atlanta Journal-Constitution).Barbara Stager was known as a devoted mother, loving wife, and dedicated church leader in her Durham, North Carolina, community. When she "accidentally" shot her husband, popular high school coach, Russ, the police were incl...

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...

In this "true story that reads like a novel," the #1 New York Times–bestselling author reveals the facts behind a notorious Southern murder case ( Library Journal).When North Carolina farmer Stuart Taylor died after a sudden illness, his forty-six-year-old fiancée, Velma Barfield, was overcome with grief. Taylor's family grieved with her—until the autopsy revealed traces of arsenic poisoning. Turned over to the authorities by her own son, Velma st...

The terrifying #1 New York Times bestseller about the unbreakable ties of blood 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 co...

Recounts the case of Barbara Stager, a seemingly devoted wife and community member whose murder of her husband was nearly ruled an accident until chilling evidence, including the death of her first husband, revealed Stager's secret double life.

In 1960, at age 18, future bestselling author Jerry Bledsoe ("Bitter Blood" & "The Angel Doll") told an Army recruiter that he wanted to be an artist. This was his lucky day, the recruiter informed him. The Army had the best art school in the world. But after being sworn in, Bledsoe was pulled aside by a major and informed that no Army art school existed. He was being assigned instead to Information School.Although Bledsoe, who had flunked high school English for failure to write b...

From the New York Times bestselling author of Bitter Blood, comes the story of a greed so powerful it led to an unspeakable crime. Wealthy Lieth von Stein lay dead and his wife Bonnie near death in their North Carolina home after a vicious assault with knife and baseball bat as they slept. The crime seemed totally baffling until police followed a trail that led to the charming von Stein stepson, Chris Pritchard, and his brilliant, drug-using, Dungeons-&-Dragons playing friends at N.C. Stat...

A shocking true story of a double life undone by murder. --When North Carolina farmer Stuart Taylor died after a sudden illness, his 46-year-old fiancée Velma Barfield, was overcome with grief. Taylor's family grieved with her—until the autopsy revealed traces of arsenic poisoning. Turned over to the authorities by her own son, Velma stunned her family with more revelations. This wasn't the first time the born-again Christian and devout Sunday school teacher had committed cold-blooded murd...

On Labor Day weekend of 1972, journalist Jerry Bledsoe hooked up with the stock car racing circuit to begin research for his first book. The result of his efforts, first published in 1975, has been called the classic work on stock car racing. Bledsoe captures the beginnings of the modern NASCAR era, a time when legends like Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, and the Wood brothers ruled. It was also a time when independent drivers like Wendell Scott (NASCAR’s first African America...

If even a small part of a child still lives within your heart, you can't help but be captivated by this deeply moving novella based on bestselling author Jerry Bledsoe's childhood memories.Set in a North Carolina manufacturing town during the 1950s, it is the poignant story of two ten-year-old boys and their search for an angel doll, a search that turned into a lesson of love.Every day Whitey Black reads The Littlest Angel to his sister Sandy, a four-year-old stricken with ...

Critics proclaimed Jerry Bledsoe's bestseller, The Angel Doll, an instant classic and a family treasure. It sold more than 110,000 copies in hardcover, was excerpted in Good Housekeeping, selected by The Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, and Crossings Book Club, and was made into a Lifetime movie. In The Angel Doll, we met Whitey Black, who despite his poverty sets out to get an angel doll for his four-year-old sister because she loves The Littlest Angel