"dose of mystery, a cup of fantasy and a pinch of romance blended together"

Since the vampires have came out of the closet, Bon Temps, Louisiana waitress Sookie Stackhouse, a very powerful telepath, has bounced from one life threatening incident to another. One of her biggest problems is the Van Pelts who want to know what happened to their daughter Debbie. Sookie doesn't want to tell the shifter family she killed her in self-defense yet they continue to hound her through representatives to get her to talk to them.

On a date with were-tiger Quinn they are attacked by teen- Weres who were recently bitten. Neither Quinn nor Sookie know who was supposed to be the target. It's almost a relief to travel with the queen of New Orleans's lawyer the mostly demon Mr. Cataliades to New Orleans to settle her cousin Hadley's estate. Sookie is the only heir but someone is going to extraordinary lengths to keep her from looking at Hadley's possessions. Sookie thinks it is because she was the queen's lover and in trying to avoid danger, Sookie once again finds herself in the middle of deadly vampire politics.

Take a dose of mystery, a cup of fantasy and a pinch of romance blended together and readers will have some idea what the Sookie Stackhouse novels all about. Charlaine Harris has created her own sub-genre with tongue in cheek (or should I say fang) humor that pops up the oddest times yet is used brilliantly as a tension reliever during the height of intense action scenes. Readers will thoroughly enjoy this special one of a kind series and after reading this book, will definitely want to obtain the backlist of books in this wonderful series.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted July 19, 2006

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Summary

The new Sookie Stackhouse novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Dead as a Doornail.

Spiked with a "frothy fusion of romance, mystery, and fantasy" (Publishers Weekly), this "deliciously fiendish...increasingly riotous series" (Dallas Morning News) sends the supernaturally gifted cocktail waitress to New Orleans, where she has to deal with the legacy of one of her own family and a host of potentially dangerous characters.