Before He Wakes: A True Story of Money, Marriage, Sex and Murder - Softcover

Bledsoe, Jerry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451406095 ISBN 13: 9780451406095

Publisher: Onyx, 1996

Synopsis

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. Reprint.

About this title

Review

Veteran true-crime readers are familiar with the cold murder committed by a sociopath, versus the hot murder committed in a moment of rage or jealousy. But what to make of someone who murders her spouse simply to keep him from finding out that she borrowed a few thousand from the bank? This story of a Durham, North Carolina, woman who appeared to be a devoted mother, meticulous housekeeper, loving wife, and church leader, is even more puzzling when we learn that what's beneath is not all that shocking: she lies, she's promiscuous, she's a perfectionist, and she spends too much money. The mystery is the motive in this tale of a murderer, both of whose husbands died, in bed, of "accidents with guns." Jerry Bledsoe has a crisp, unemotional prose style. His expertly paced courtroom cliffhangers kept this reviewer up reading long past midnight. Before He Wakes was a finalist for the 1995 Edgar Award in Fact Crime.

About the Author

Jerry Bledsoe is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Bitter Blood and others. Among the many publications in which his work has appeared are Esquire and the New York Times. Bledsoe lives in North Carolina and Virginia.

Edition details

• Publisher: Onyx
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0451406095
• ISBN 13: 9780451406095
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 448