Charlaine Harris: More than just vampires!

Some people really enjoy reading books in series. We're going to be including a list of some popular authors and series on the blog occasionally so that folks can find a list of the series books in order.

Charlaine Harris is a bestselling mystery author who likes to add a dollop of the supernatural to some of her books. While she's best known for her Sookie Stackhouse series, she already had several books to her credit.

Southern Vampire Series:

Sookie Stackhouse is a barmaid in Louisiana. Vampires, shape-shifters and other supernatural beings have come out of the shadows and been granted citizenship, so the bar has quite the varied clientele. Sookie herself is telepathic, a gift—or curse—that has made relationships with humans rather difficult, but she feels quite at home with the “others.” These books are the basis for the “True Blood” TV series. You can read them as standalones, but are somewhat more enjoyable read in order:

• Dead Until Dark
• Living Dead in Dallas
• Club Dead
• Dead to the World
• Dead as a Doornail
• Definitely Dead
• All Together Dead
• From Dead to Worse
• Dead and Gone
• Dead in the Family
• Dead Reckoning (2011)

A Touch of Dead is a collection of the Sookie short stories, many of which have appeared in other story collections.
Note: The library also holds DVD copies of the “True Blood” series.

Harper Connelly Series:

After being struck by lightning, Harper finds she can locate bodies and know how people died. Together with her step-brother/manager Tolliver, Harper travels the country to help solve murders and missing person cases.
• Grave Sight
• Grave Surprise
• An Ice Cold Grave
• Grave Secret

Harris also did two very well regarded non-supernatural mystery series. Aurora “Roe” Teagarden is a librarian and true crime enthusiast in Georgia who meets with a group to rehash murders such as Jack the Ripper or Lizzie Borden. When real murders occur, Roe uses her talents to solve those as well. These books tend to be a bit more lighthearted and don’t necessarily have to be read in order.
• Real Murders
• A Bone to Pick
• Three Bedrooms, One Corpse
• The Julius House
• Dead Over Heels
• A Fool And His Honey
• Last Scene Alive
• Poppy Done to Death

The second series featured Lily Bard, a martial arts expert in Shakespeare, Arkansas is trying to escape her past. These stories were darker and more serious, and should be read in order because of the way Lily’s characters changes. Harris has said that she is finished with the Lily Bard series and doesn’t plan to write any more. In order, the books are:
• Shakespeare's Landlord
• Shakespeare's Champion
• Shakespeare's Christmas
• Shakespeare's Trollop
• Shakespeare's Counselor

Happy reading!