“A Touch of Dead” Short stories from the Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris

“A Touch of Dead”
Short stories from the Southern Vampire Mysteries
by Charlaine Harris
read by Johanna Parker
Produced by Recorded Books (2009)
Approx 3 hours

“A Touch of Dead” is a collection of short stories from Charlaine Harris’s series “The Southern Vampire Mysteries.”  For those of you that are fans of the HBO series, “True Blood” this is the series that started it all.   This title was released on October 6, 2009.  and only contains the short stories Harris has published in which Sookie Stackhouse is present.  Harris has written other stories in the Sookie Stackhouse world that don’t include Sookie and are worth checking out.

The first story is “Fairy Dust” from the book “Powers of Detection” (October 2004). It introduces Sookie’s  fairy cousins Claudine, Claude, and the deceased third triplet Claudette. Claude and Claudine are recurring characters in later books of the series.    “In Fairy Dust,” Sookie is working at Merlottes when Claudine the fairy comes in and asks Sookie to read the minds of some human guests of her brother Claude. When Sookie arrives at Claude and Claudine’s home in Monroe, she finds three people tied up in the house. Everyone involved (except Claudine) is associated with Hooligans, an exotic dancing establishment. Claude, who dances, tells Sookie that they believe that one of the people murdered their triplet Claudette while she was working at the club earlier that night. Claude explains that Claudette came to her siblings in spirit form to tell them of her death. Using her telepathy, Sookie interviews each suspect to discover the guilty party.  If only Sherlock Holmes had Sookie’s talent (or “disability” as Sookie calls it).

“One Word Answer” from the book “Bite” (2005), introduces the topic of Hadley’s death, which kicks off the events in the sixth Vampire Mysteries book, “Definitely Dead.”  The mysterious Mr. Cataliades shows up in a limousine at Sookie’s home bringing the news of her cousin Hadley’s death. The rebellious Hadley had not been in touch with the family in years, so they did not know she had become a vampire several years ago. Nor did they know that she was the lover of the vampire Queen of Louisiana, Sophie-Anne Leclerq. It seems that Waldo, a former lackey of the Queen, was jealous of Hadley’s position, so he lured her to a cemetery and killed her. Mr. Cataliades informs Sookie that Waldo has been caught, and that his punishment is in Sookie’s hands – she must decide. Her answer surprises him, and Sookie notices that it also surprises the hidden occupant of the limousine: the Queen.  In this one there were some continuity problems that were incongruent with how the story played out in the series, but this is definitely a story worth hearing or reading, especially since it’s another one involving the dimwitted vampire, Bubba, who is a famous King of rock and roll turned vampire.

“Dracula Night” is from “Many Bloody Returns” (September 2007) and is just a fun story from the southern vampire mysteries series and occurs some time after Sookie’s tryst with Eric sans memories.   Eric’s vampire bar, Fangtasia, throws a party each year for the vampire observance of Dracula Night, in honor of the infamous Count Dracula. According to legend, the Count will choose one lucky party from all over the world to grace with his presence. The book characters are amused by Eric’s childlike hope that the Count will appear at his party, just like Linus of the Peanuts comic hopes in vain to greet the Great Pumpkin.  This was a funny story due to the references to the Great Pumpkin.

“Lucky” is from the book “Unusual Suspects” (December 2008) and spotlights one of the many supernatural yet not vampire characters from Sookie’s hometown of Bon Temps, Louisiana.  Insurance agent Greg Aubert asks Sookie (and her witch friend Amelia) to investigate a break-in at his office. He is concerned that someone will discover that he uses magic spells to protect his property and his clients. Amelia and Sookie discover that the break-in was just Greg’s daughter and her secretive boyfriend, who is actually a newly-turned vampire. However, Sookie learns that two other agents in town have had break-ins, and all are getting excessive amounts of claims which may drive them out of business. It seems that Greg’s spells have been using up all the luck in town.

“Gift Wrap” is from “Wolfsbane and Mistletoe” (October 2008) and finds Sookie alone for Christmas. Her brother and closest friends each have their own plans, and she perversely chose not to ask other friends for an invitation. She recalls that she heard a noise in the woods the night before, so she trudges out to investigate. She finds Preston, a naked, muddy and bloody man, who is nevertheless very attractive. To save him from further injury, she brings Preston back to her house and shields him from the Weres who come looking for him. When he starts kissing her, he tells her to pretend she found him gift-wrapped under the tree, and she succumbs to his charm. On Christmas Day, she is relieved to find a note saying he is gone. Her great-grandfather Niall Brigant turns up on her doorstep, surprising her with his company. In the woods behind the house, Preston and a Were chat about Niall hiring them to give Sookie a pleasant Christmas Eve, tailoring the scenario to her personality, and using a bit of fairy magic to attract her.  This to me was a dull story in that there was no real mystery to solve, just a fling with a werewolf/fairy or whatever.

If you’re a fan of “True Blood” or of the Sookie Stackhouse books, this may not be a “must-read” but it is a fun one to pick up while waiting for that next book from Charlaine Harris.

“Dead in the Family” Book 10 of the Southern Vampire/Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries by Charlain Harris

“Dead in the Family”
Book 10 of the Southern Vampire/Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries
by Charlaine Harris
Read by Johanna Parker
Produced by Recorded books
Approx 9.5 hours

In each of the books in the Southern Vampire Mysteries the title of the book will tell you what to expect in the story.  This time around “Dead in the Family” hits the nail on the head.  It seems as though every character major and minor ever mention in the series has a family problem in this one.

To sum up what has happened so fair; The Fairy war is over, Sookie’s great-grandfather Niall (a powerful fairy) has closed most of the portals between the Fairy world and the human world.  Sookie’s cousin Claude (a fairy) chose to remain with the humans.  The two natured (were-wolves, shape-shifters, et. al.) have revealed themselves to the world and it’s not quite as positive a response as when the vampires did it.  The government is trying to get the two-natured to register, even though they have been citizens and veterans all these years.  Louisiana’s Vampire territory has been taken over by the “King” of Nevada and Eric Northman Sheriff of area five of Louisiana, and Sookie’s boyfriend is the last remaining member of the former Queen’s “court.”

With all this happening the future is pretty much unsure, the Shreveport, La. werewolf pack is under pressure from the government to get registered, and the government is just looking for a reason to lock up all two natureds.  Alcide Herveaux, leader of the pack asks Sookie’s permission to have the monthly pack run on her land since his is being watched.    When the run is over Sookie is told that there have been fairies running around her land recently and a dead body.  One of the fairies can be explained in that Sookie’s cousin and full fairy, Claude has moved in with Sookie because he needs to be near someone like him, even if she’s only 1/8th fairy.  The dead body is that of Debbie Pelt, Alcide’s former girlfriend, whom Sookie killed.  The other fairy scent, needs to be explained.

Eric & Sookie’s relationship seems to be building, at least until Eric’s maker shows up with his latest progeny, Alexei Romanov, only son of the last Czar of Russia, who as an adolescent witnessed the Bolshevik Revolution, including the slaughter of his entire family.  Alexei seems to be bordering on the brink of insanity (who could blame him?).  Eric returns to Shreveport, but not before sending a tracker to find out who the other fairy may be.

This tracker discovers another body.  This second body is new and has been buried on Sookie’s land to frame her for murder.  Who is this other body?  Who killed them? Why is Sookie being Framed?  All these questions get answered and but they don’t solve anything.  This just creates more turmoil in Sookie Stackhouse’s life.

“Dead and Gone” Book 9 of the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mysteries. by Charlaine Harris

“Dead and Gone”
Book 9 of the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mysteries.
by Charlaine Harris
Published 2009 by Ace Books

With Season 3 of HBO’s “True Blood” starting and the recent publication of book 10 of this series, “Dead in  the Family,” I decided to get to jumping on the continuing adventures of Sookie Stackhouse from Bon Temps, Louisiana and her life dealing with the supernatural.

Sookie is pretty much the average bar waitress in a small town in Louisiana, it’s just that the rest of the world going on around her is way beyond the average.  You see, in these novels the vampires have “come out of the coffin,” which is to say they have revealed to the rest of the world that they do indeed exist.  With the invention of synthetic blood, “True Blood,” they no longer have to prey upon humans for their food source.  This coming out has created some very interesting times for the world and especially for Sookie Stackhouse.  There have been some bad times because of the vamps coming out.  One of those is for a religious group taking offense to the existence of vampires, saying they are an abomination.  This group calls themselves “The Fellowship of the Sun,” and they are always wreaking havoc upon the vampires.

Okay I say Sookie is pretty much average she does have one “disability,” she can read people’s minds.  So as you can figure she doesn’t have much of a dating life because she knows exactly what her date is thinking.  Enter the vampires.  Sookie discovers that (for the most part) she cannot read the thoughts of vampires.  With this she finds relief finally she can be with someone and not learn of their deepest darkest secrets.  She falls in love with a vampire and then learns of a whole new world that exists within the realms of the “real” world.  The supernatural world not only consists of Vampires, but also; werewolves, shapeshifters, witches, fairies & fae, goblins and probably more.

In the previous novel Sookie has just found out that her great-grandfather is a prince of fairies.  He is one of the last remaining fairy royalty.  This makes Sookie part fairy, and explains why she’s so attractive to vampires (vampires cannot resist fairy blood) also this may explain her “disability.”  In this novel it seems as though the fairies are not happy with the intermingling that has been going on with humans.  This starts a civil war amongst the fae and Sookie’s great-grandfather, Niall, has come to warn Sookie that her life may be in danger.  The fairies all want to go into their own world and never again return to the human world, but before they leave they want to remove all traces that fairies ever existed.  This means killing those that are part fairy, like Sookie and her brother, Jason.

As if this weren’t enough, the Were community (which includes werewolves, were panthers [Jason Stackhouse has been turned into a werepanther], were tigers, were foxes and shapeshifters of all sorts) have decided to also reveal themselves to the world since the vampires have been pretty successful with their reveal.   They do so on television nationwide and in prominent areas have representatives shift into their animal form so the normal humans can see.  This includes the bar where Sookie works.  Sam, the owner of the bar where Sookie works, and a true shape shifter (he can shift into any animal shape)reveals himself to the community.  Many folks take the big reveal with little unease.  After all they have vampires, why not werewolves.

At least that’s how it seems at first.   The next day, Jason’s ex-wife and werepanther, Crystal Norris is found crucified in the parking lot of Sam’s bar, Merlotte’s.  Sookie is determined to find the killer.
In the vampire world Louisiana is just getting into the groove of the new King of Louisiana, and the only remaining original sheriff of the vampires, Eric Northman, in order  to protect Sookie from becoming a slave to the new King, tricks her into what can be seen as the vampire equivalent of marrying Eric.  Sookie seems at first upset, but then again, she does have feelings for Eric, so she decides to see how it plays out.

Soon the fairies attack and Sookie is forced to call in all her markers from the werewolves, the vampires and the witches to keep her safe, but the war begins and Sookie is kidnapped by fairies, keep in mind these aren’t your Tinker Bell type fairies…these are vicious killers.

The war is on and Sookie is in the middle, can she be protected?  Will she find Crystal’s murderer?   You’ll have to pick this one up yourself and find out.  Here’s a clue…there is a book 10 in the series and this one is number 9.

“From Dead to Worse” Book 8 in the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris

“From Dead to Worse”
Book 8 in the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mysteries
by Charlaine Harris

I’m not sure if it is whether I’m becoming more of a fan of these books or if they just keep getting better, but what I do know, is that Charlaine Harris has cram-packed more action into this book than any of the other seven in the series.  There’s a battle for pack leadership among the werewolves, A hostile coup which leads to the King of the Nevada vampires taking over for Louisiana and Arkansas, and Sookie finds out her great-grandfather is a Fairy Prince.  Okay maybe this should all be explained further.

Before I explain the actions in this book I want to say that I’m hoping the HBO series “True Blood,” which is based on this series by Charlaine Harris, makes it to eight seasons so I can see this book unfold on my tv.  The series is what got me curious about the series, and I’m glad it did.  Okay actually it was the book “My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding” (a collection of short stories by various supernatural authors) but I’ve explained that before.  It was after I read the story I heard they were making a series, so I watched the series and was hooked and had to read the books, and the books are way better.

Basically Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic barmaid in Bon Temps, Louisiana, has been forced into the supernatural world after all the world’s vampires have come “out of the coffin,” which is to say they’ve revealed their existence to the non-supernatural world.  Sookie has fallen in love with a vampire, a werewolf and finally a weretiger.  She has found out that she has a real fairy godmother, and that the supernatural has many more creatures which were once only thought to be myth.

In this book,  just weeks after the events in “Altogether Dead” and about a year after Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana, Sookie’s boyfriend the were-tiger, Quinn, is missing.  It’s as if he’s dropped off the face of the Earth.  Just as she decides he’ll contact her when he wants, she is confronted outside of Merlotte’s (the bar where she works, with her boss Sam the shapeshifter) by an Asian vampire.  This vampire says he just wants to find out if what they say about her is true.  After all Sookie did save the lives of the Queen of Louisiana and her entourage.

After talking with the area vampire sheriff (Eric Northman, a former lover of Sookie’s) she finds he knows of no such person in the area and should alert him if she sees him again.  Eric then asks Sookie out for dinner.  She accepts and on the way to the restaurant Eric says he’s bringing her to meet someone.  As it turns out that someone is Sookie’s great-grandfather, only not the one she thought she had.  It turns out that her real great-grandfather is a fairy prince, Niall Brigant, Niall explains the story and Sookie now has to rethink all her family’s history.  But that does explain why she is irresistable to the vamps and may explain her telepathic powers.  He then says to make up for lost time he wants to give her anything she wants.  She can’t think of anything but takes a rain check.

On the way home Sookie and Eric are attacked by a werewolf, and as it turns out all the femal pack-members are being targeted.  The Shreveport werewolf pack has had been divided and in turmoil since the new leader killed to become the leader now so it looks like the wolves are going to have a major battle, and Sookie is right in the middle, after all one of her former boyfriends, Alcide Herveaux, was the son of the pack leader that was killed.  But the twist here is that the attacks are not coming from where everyone thinks.

Now that’s just the middle of the book.  As the rest of the book progresses Sookie’s witch room-mate, who is in hiding because she turned her lover into a cat, is found by her coven leader.  The Louisiana vampires left weak and low on monetary assets are under attack by the Nevada vampires in hopes that the Nevada King will take over Louisiana and Arkansas.

This book has non-stop action and mysteries in the supernatural as well as the fun humor and wit that is shared through the entire series.  I only hope that the next one is just as good.

“All Together Dead” Book 7 of the Southern Vampire Series by Charlaine Harris

“All Together Dead”
Book 7 of the Southern Vampire Series
by Charlaine Harris

Once again I dive into the world of telepath/part fairy Sookie Stackhouse.  Sookie is a bar maid from Bon Temps, Louisiana that has a special gift/curse of telepathy and can hear people’s thoughts, but only Human people.  You see, in Sookie’s world, vampires have “come out of the coffin,” which is to say they have revealed themselves to the world and want to live alongside humans.  With the invention of synthetic blood (True Blood) they no longer have to hunt humans for food.  So humans and vamps live side by side, but that’s not all.  All sorts of creatures from the supernatural world live in the world, only they are waiting to see how the vamps fare before revealing themselves.

Sounds simple, right?  Not really, especially not for Sookie, because with Sookie’s curse she has never been able to maintain a relationship with a fellow human.  Then walks in Bill Compton a vampire from the civil war era.  Vamps seem to be blank when it comes to the brainwaves Sookie tunes in on.  So she fell in love with Bill and they dated for a while.  Then Bill went back to his former lover/maker and this pretty much ended their relationship, then to make matters worse the she finds that the Vampire Queen of Louisiana actually commanded Bill to seduce her because her gift could benefit the queen.  Sookie then found herself working for the vamps and solving mysteries, but with Bill and her finished she dated other people, a werewolf and a weretiger.  The latest, Quinn, a weretiger seems to be THE relationship.

In this latest episode in Sookie’s life Louisiana has just been ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.  I should mention here that the author, Charlaine Harris, did a very good tribute to the devastation and the rebuilding that hit Louisiana during this “real life” event.  This book has some really nice references to the troubles still affecting that area of the U.S.

The world’s Vampire community has decided to hold a major trade show, this trade show also includes some major events that affect the vampire world.  The main event is the trial of the Queen of Louisiana to decide whether she is guilty of murder in the death of her husband, the King of Arkansas.  As you may recall in the last book the King tried to kill the Queen and then he would take over both states, but Sookie foiled that plan and the King got offed.

The trade show or summit is being held on the shores of Lake Michigan in a newly built vampire-friendly hotel built to look like the Great Pyramid of Giza.  With all the vampires in one place this seems like a perfect place for the vamp hunting Fellowship of the Sun Church to strike.  Also many vampires don’t want the Queen of Louisiana to succeed in her trial.  So Sookie has to solve not one by many mysteries as she “enjoys” being with the Queen at the summit.

While this book was not one of the better books in the series, it did provide a nice homage to the victims of Katrina, and did have some mysteries that featured some serious twists and turns.  I’m ready for the next book now.

“Definitely Dead” Book Six of The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris

“Definitely Dead”
Book Six of The Southern Vampire Mysteries
by Charlaine Harris
Published 2006 by Penguin Group (USA)

You know, I still can’t figure out what it is about these books that have me eager to read the next book in the series, but that is the case in Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Mysteries based on the life of Sookie Stackhouse.  I was intrigued when I read a short story from the Sookie Stackhouse world, and then when HBO made the series “True Blood,” I just had to read the first book. Now here I am finished with book 6 and eager to get into book 7.  Normally I’m not one to go for romance stories featuring vampires, I would rather stake the undead than kiss one, but Ms. Harris has thrown in enough other creatures from the supernatural world that keeps the books lively and entertaining.  In this book we have vampires (of course), werewolves, were-panthers, were-tigers, demons, fairies and witches.  Let me warn you now before you read too much further into this review that if you haven’t read any of the books in the series, this book has some spoilers you may want to wait to read about.  In this book a lot is found out about Sookie and her bloodline, Vampire Bill and his relationship with Sookie and a few other surprises.

If you have read the books up to this point you will realize that Sookie doesn’t have the greatest luck with suitors.  So far she’s been with two vampires, Bill & Eric, and a werewolf, Alcide Herveaux.  She has also been “hit on” by a were-panther.  But here in “Definitely Dead,” Bill is dating another woman, Eric is trying to stay away and Alcide is dating another woman.  She finally tells Calvin, the were-panther, that she’s not interested.  So with all the bad luck with men, can Sookie find someone?  That answer seems to be yes and he’s in the form of a were-tiger, Quinn.  Quinn and Sookie met when Quinn was moderating the battle for pack leader in the Shreveport werewolf pack.  As we begin book six Quinn asks Sookie for a date and she accepts.  If you’re wondering why she doesn’t just date a regular human, well that’s where her “disability” slips in.  You see, Sookie is telepathic, she can read the thoughts of all humans, and that really puts a damper on human relations.  With the supernatural folk, Sookie seems to draw a blank, but every once in a while she can pick something up from the supes.

Some background info you should know is that Sookie once killed Alcide’s former girlfriend, a were-fox, by the name of Debbie Pelt.  But no one knows this and everyone thinks that after Alcide abjured her she just took off.  Not only did Sookie kill her but Eric hid the body, the bad thing is that this was when Eric was an amnesiac, now he doesn’t know where he hid the body.  This is probably for the good but Debbie’s family is eagerly searching for her.  Also, in Sookie’s background (told in the short story “One Word Answer” in the compilation “Bite” {2005}) Sookie’s cousin, Hadley, has crossed over to being a vamp, and the lover of the Louisiana Vampire Queen.

So with that in mind, Quinn and Sookie are attacked by two freshly bitten young weres as they are leaving the theatre from their date.  Quinn then warns the Shreveport pack that since Sookie was a friend of the pack they should not allow this to happen.  Sookie then has to go to New Orleans to attend the party celebrating the marriage of the Queen of Louisiana and the King of Arkansas.  This marriage is purely a political thing, but Sookie soon discovers there is something more going on.

Sookie and Quinn are captured and make their escape through a Louisiana swamp.  Sookie and the witch landlady for Hadley’s apartment, Amelia are attacked by a freshly made vampire and a major war begins between two vampire factions.  All this action and Sookie manages to out wit the bad guys and manage to maintain that level of humor that is Sookie Stackhouse in the Southern Vampire Mysteries.  These books are really fun to read.

“Dead as a Doornail” The Southern Vampire Mysteries book 5 by Charlaine Harris

“Dead as a Doornail”
The Southern Vampire Mysteries book 5
by Charlaine Harris
Published 2005 by Ace books

Damn you Charlaine Harris, Sookie Stackhouse, & HBO’s “True Blood” series.  You got me addicted to an fun series of books.  Okay, that’s a bit harsh..how about just, “Darn you?”  While most of the blame for my addiction goes to Charlaine Harris, I have to also blame HBO for turning these books into a series.  I watched the first episode and was hooked and then had to read the books, now I’m hooked on those.  I guess there are worse situations.

Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire Mysteries not only contain vampires but they also contain most of  the folk from the supernatural world, there are werewolves weretigers, werepanthers, shape shifters of all sorts, menads, fairies, witches, goblins and even dwarves of myth.  Not only that but each story is a real mystery thriller that is fun to solve, at least for the reader, maybe not so much for Sookie Stackhouse, who is always getting beat up.

Sookie Stackhouse is a bar-maid at Merlotte’s bar in Bon Temps, Louisiana.  She has what she calls a disability, she can hear other people’s thoughts.  She tries her best not to but sometimes it is necessary.  Sookie also lives in a world where vampires have “come out of the coffin,” in other words, the vampires have let the world know they exist.  It’s not such a bad thing because now they can drink a newly concocted synthetic blood (True Blood) and not have to feed off humans.  Not all the vamps are full supporters of this which lead to some chilling moments.  Sookie’s boss, Sam, is the owner of Merlotte’s and he has a secret, he’s a shape-shifter.  Now this is the interesting part, shape shifters and other mythical folk have not let their presence be known to the world, they are waiting to see how the vamps fare.

So now you have the back story, here’s what goes on in this book.

Vampires, were-creatures, shifters and one fairy godmother are all up against a sniper with an apparent aversion to nonhumans. As if trying to discover who’s behind the shootings isn’t enough, the telepathic Sookie has to cope with a few other distractions: her “Were” friend, Alcide Herveaux, needs her help in his father’s bid to become the next leader of the local werewolf pack; her boss gets shot; her house partly burns down.  So as you can see Sookie’s calendar is full.

These books are very creatively written and, being told from Sookie’s point of view, provide some great humorous moments.  Humor, romance, supernatural beings, mysteries to solve all wrap up into some great stories that bring out the Scooby Doo feeling for adults. Check them out they are fun.

“Dead to the World” Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 4 by Charlaine Harris

“Dead to the World”
Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 4
by Charlaine Harris
published by Ace, 2004

Continuing in the world of the Southern Vampires and the supernatural events in the life of Sookie Stackhouse, here’s book 4, “Dead to the World.”  This book for me marked a bit of a milestone in the Charlaine Harris creations.  This milestone is that this is the book that becomes more like the world of my favorite author, Jim Butcher.  After all it was Jim Butcher that got me interested in the Charlaine Harris books.

What I mean by this is that when Jim Butcher writes his Harry Dresden novels he combines as many creatures as possible in his tales of the supernatural.  Which makes sense, really, because if there is one creature in the supernatural world there has to be more.  Charlaine Harris started this series of books with vampires and some hinting toward shape-shifters.  By the 3rd book she had vampires, menads, shape-shifters and werewolves.   In this 4th book she introduces the reader to witches, Wiccans and fairies.  Thus creating a fun read in the supernatural world, and not just a romance series involving vampires.  I will admit there were times in this book where I let out a displeasing sigh when the romance novel would burst out of the pages.  But, Ms. Harris knew to keep that as a minor point and to move on with some great supernatural horror and adventure, oh, and some really funny dialogue.  You gotta have your comic relief.

The stories are all told by the main character Sookie Stackhouse, a bar-maid in Bon Temps, Louisiana with the gift of telepathy.  In this installment (which takes place just weeks after the previous book, “Club Dead”) Sookie is ready for the New Year and her resolution is to not get beat up, a resolution that seems to be hard to keep when you run around with vampires and werewolves.

After leaving Merlotte’s, the bar in which Sookie works for Sam the shape-shifter, Sookie sees a nearly naked man running in the cold night.   From there things just get weirder.  She stops to help the man.  The nearly naked man turns out to be Eric Northman, the vampire sheriff for that area of Louisiana.  The problem is that Eric does not know who Sookie is and worse yet he doesn’t know who he is.

As the story unfolds it is discovered a coven of witches have moved into Shreveport, where Eric maintains his area from a bar called Fangtasia.  By the way, the vampires are the only supernatural creature that, in the world created by Charlaine Harris, have made themselves known to the world.  Vampire rights are an issue in this world.  Fangtasia is mainly a “tourist” bar where normal people can come to stare at vampires while the vampires sip on “True Blood,” the synthetic alternative to human blood.

Eric refuses the witches and they curse him.  This curse sends him to Bon Temps without his memory.  Sookie gets help from her brother, Jason, sending him to buy clothes and “True Blood” for Eric.  Eric’s second in command Pam, meanwhile tries to locate the witches so that the vamps can retaliate.

To add woe to Sookie’s now Eric-babysitting service, Jason comes up missing.  Thinking the witches may have kidnapped him so Sookie will reveal where she is hiding Eric, Sookie joins the retaliation by helping to recruit the werewolves of Shreveport and the Wiccans of Bon Temps.

In what turns out to be an explosive battle against this dark witch coven by Wiccans, werewolves and vampires, Charlaine Harris has written in an adrenaline fueled thriller with some great humorous moments.

These books just keep getting better.

“Club Dead” (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 3) by Charlaine Harris

“Club Dead”
(Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 3)
by Charlaine Harris
Published by Ace Books, 2003

So are you a fan of HBO’s “True Blood,” yet?  HBO has adapted the first two novels in the Southern Vampire Mysteries series by Charlaine Harris, and if they stay true to form then the next season should cover the events from this book, “Club Dead.”  If so we should have some fun with werewolves and shapeshifters on the series, so be prepared.

I actually started reading this series after I read a short storie in the book of “My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding.”  I picked up that book because it contained a Jim Butcher story revolving around his Harry Dresden wizard character.  I read the Charlaine Harris story based on the world of the Sookie Stackhouse vampires and found the writing to be very fun.  So I gave the first book a chance.  A few months after I read that first book I found out HBO was doing a series based on the book and felt that synchronicity had hit with my reading again.  That and the books are a fun romp in the supernatural world of vampires, shapeshifters and the occasional werewolf.  I will warn you this is another vampire series where everyone wants to be in love with a vampire rather than staking their blood-sucking hearts, but some get staked and as a narrator of her life in the world where vampires have “come out of the coffin,” Sookie Stackhouse has a fun way of looking at life with the undead.

In this book Sookie’s vampire boyfriend, Bill, has been acting secretively, and is on a mission for the Queen of Louisiana Vampires.  Yes the vamps have queens and kings for each state, also within each state there is a region that is ruled by a sheriff.  The sheriff for the region of Louisiana in which Sookie lives (Bon Temps) is Eric Northman a large viking vampire.  Bill is supposed to work for Eric and the queen goes through Eric, except this time the mission Bill is on Eric does not know about.  Before Bill leaves on this mission, he tells Sookie that if he does not return after a set time she is to look on his computer and share the information found there.

A couple of days later Sookie is attacked by a werewolf outside Merlotte’s, the bar where she works, but Bubba the vampire is there to kill the werewolf.  Bubba has got to be one of the funniest minor characters created in this vampire series, you see, Bubba is Elvis Presley, yes the King himself.  It seems the coroner on duty when Elvis died was a vamp and a huge fan.  The problem is that due to the inexperience of the vamp, the drugs coursing through the King’s body and the dead too long aspect some problems occurred in the turning of Elvis/Bubba.  Those problems are that Elvis doesn’t really remember who he was and he’s a bit dimwitted.  So the Louisiana vampires now use Bubba as an errand boy and try to keep him out of the public eye and clear of any household pets as he likes to drink the animals’ blood (cats being a particular favorite). Bubba is always cheerful, goodwill radiating from his fearsome smile. And will only sing when he feels like it. Sookie says that “though every now and then, he exhibited a streak of shrewdness” he follows directions quite literally.

Sookie then learns that the werewolf was sent to find her because Bill is being held captive and being tortured for some information.  Sookie was supposed to have been captured to provide extra leverage in Bill’s torture, but the only thing they knew about her was that she lived in Bon Temps, Bill had not given up any information under torture.

Eric then enlists Sookie and her talents to find Bill. Sookie’s talents,  which I should mention at this time are that she is a telepath, she can hear people’s thoughts.  So undercover with a werewolf, Alcide Herveaux, Sookie goes to Jackson, Mississippi to find Bill.  Even though Eric has dropped the bombshell on her that Bill was planning on leaving Sookie to be with his former lover and maker, Lorena.

In Jackson, Sookie and Alcide create sexual tension between themselves (yep another love interest for Sookie), visit a Supernatural creature bar where they meet a goblin, hide the body of a dead werewolf,  save a vampire from being staked by a religious fanatic, Rescue Bill and stake a vampire.  All in a week for Sookie Stackhouse.

By the way, rumor has it that the guy who played Flash Thompson in the Spider-man movies, Joe Manganiello, will be portraying Alcide in the 3rd series of True Blood.

So if you like the light-hearted, horror-tinged supernatural tales you really should check out this fun series.  Nothing serious here, just fun.