Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0451406095, Paperback)

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.