A must for the ‘True Blood’ fan (Charlaine Harris)

From Graffiti --

A must for the ‘True Blood’ fan --

By Amy Mendenhall --
October 27, 2009 --

Need a True Blood fix? Fear not, for New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris has released a collection of short stories starring Sookie Stackhouse in “A Touch of Dead.”

In five short stories to go along with the books, Harris explores a bit more of the world of Sookie, the telepath waitress who regularly is in the company of vampires, werewolves, fairies and plenty of trouble. In the introduction, the author tells the reader the time period each of the stories takes place in, and each story is accompanied by a wonderful illustration.

The first one, “Fairy Dust,” follows Sookie as she investigates a whodunit concerning Claude and Claudette’s (who knew they were triplets?) sister. While Sookie must use her telepathic powers on the humans the fairies have captured that they believe are suspects, she also must use her own deductive reasoning. And when the culprit is finally found, Sookie learns just how dangerous fairies can be when you cross them.

In my favorite story of the collection, “Dracula Night,” Sookie is invited to a big celebration at Fangtasia, Eric’s vampire bar. It’s the annual celebration of Dracula’s “birthday” and Eric has spared no expense in prepping for the festivities, hoping against hope that this is the year the Master will show up at the party in his honor. When someone finally does show up claiming to be Dracula, and everything breaks loose, Sookie finds herself in danger, go figure, and dressed to kill.

This is my favorite story due to the humor Harris’ injects into the situation and it also concerns two of my favorite characters, Eric and his second-in-command, Pam.

In “One Word Answer,” a late-night visitor notifies Sookie of a relative’s death. And while the “lawyer” informs Sookie that she now has a legacy due to her vampire relative’s death, it probably is not what Sookie is expecting.

Vampire Bill makes an appearance in this one, as well as one of my favorite secondary characters, Bubba, who happens to be the undead version of someone very famous.

Sookie also has a meeting with royalty in this short story.

In “Lucky,” Sookie is once again called on to use her detective skills to solve who is messing with an insurance agent’s business. Along with her witch friend, Amelia, Sookie tracks down the lead suspects, has a run-in with a vampire and an ex, and runs afoul of a magic spell or two.

Finally, in “Gift Wrap,” Sookie is facing spending Christmas alone this year. Wishing she had something to occupy her time, Sookie opens her door to find a hurt werewolf outside, a rival group of werewolves out to get him, and now has a hunk to spend the holidays with.

It’s all very romantic and unexpected for Sookie, but we the readers get to find out the real story behind it all.

The stories have all appeared in various short story collections previously, but are now available in one package for the Sookie Stackhouse fan. While fans of the television series may need to familiarize themselves with the books before reading (there are spoilers throughout these), this book is a must for any true fan.