It is said that sex sells -- whether it's in a book, a movie, magazine or just plain gossip. But never in my wildest imagination would I have thought that sex might help sell a biography of the late N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Susie Sharp.

When a news item noted that Raleigh lawyer Anna Hayes' comprehensive life story of Sharp included details of three affairs with married jurists, I said, "No way! I'm going to have to see chapter and verse before I believe that!"

Practically every Wednesday for years, I lunched with Judge Susie and her longtime friend, state Chief Justice William Bobbitt, at First Presbyterian Church's noonday service.

I was with her at the Hudson-Belk cafeteria the day she received the telephone call informing her that her sister and brother-in-law had been murdered in Winston-Salem by, we later learned, the unstable boyfriend of Sharp's beloved niece and namesake.

I never suspected that this prim and seemingly proper woman, who had chosen career over men and marriage, had enjoyed a secret love life while becoming the state's first female judge and eventually the first woman elected to the position of state Supreme Court chief justice.

Smart, attractive, witty, well dressed and carefully coiffed, a lively and entertaining conversationalist, she was anything but "sexy" in the vernacular of the day. On many of those Wednesdays I would return to my office and store in my computer the many anecdotes shared by Sharp and Bobbitt, material for a possible book someday. When the computer crashed one day, the stories were relegated only to memory.

Recalling the first time she held court in my native Surry County, she told of a woman, a key witness in a murder case, who refused to take the stand. Pressed for a reason, the woman glared at Sharp and said. "It just ain't fittin' fer no woman to be settin' up there as a judge."

Sharp had not been on the Supreme Court for long before the court secretary reprimanded her with, "Judge, it's been called to my attention that you've been seen on Fayetteville Street wearing a scarf on your head. A woman in your position should never be seen downtown without white gloves and a hat."

A few days later, while walking past a newsstand, Sharp noticed that the cover of Vogue featured a photo of Queen Elizabeth II wearing a scarf. Returning to her office, she tossed the magazine on the secretary's desk and snapped, "What's good enough for the queen of England is good enough for me and Raleigh!"

The two judges, almost inseparable, were headed for a New York bar convention when the metal detector's buzz at RDU prompted a search of Sharp's purse, which contained a small revolver.

Told that the gun was verboten, Sharp replied indignantly, "You certainly don't expect me to visit New York without carrying some form of protection, do you?" The firearm was transferred from her purse to her luggage.

The judges were riding along Oberlin Avenue one day when a car driven by an N.C. State College student rear-ended their vehicle. The kid was so shook up, Sharp accompanied him to a nearby service station so he could call his parents in another city. "Mom," she overheard him say, "I've had a wreck and the car is pretty banged up. No, I'm not hurt. But I wish I were dead! Mom, I ran into a Supreme Court judge. In fact, Mom, I've run into two Supreme Court judges!"

Searching for evidence of a sexually promiscuous Susie Sharp, I bought "Without Precedent: The Life of Susie Marshall Sharp." At no point did the author cite an outright admission from Her Honor that she had strayed. But the accumulation of circumstantial evidence, much of it gleaned from the judge's diaries, seems conclusive.

The biography of this judicial trailblazer is extremely well written and meticulously documented. It presents a vivid portrait of a highly intelligent, courageous woman who braved many personal tragedies while carving a place of honor in the state's judicial history.

Before buying the book, I was bewailing the report of Sharp's alleged sexual improprieties to retired state Chief Justice Burley Mitchell, also a friend and admirer of the judge.

"Oh, A.C.," he said, "Don't take it so hard. Just be glad that she had a good time."

Good advice, even from a lawyer. And for once, free.

R.I.P., Your Honor. You were something very special anyway.

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