A Touch of Dead

As Charlaine Harris says in her dedication, this book is for all her readers who want "every last sip of Sookie" they can get their hands on. It contains several short stories - all canon - about our favorite telepathic waitress from Bon Temps, LA. * "Fairy Dust" is where she first meets Claude, and she assists Claude and Claudine to discover just how their triplet sibling Claudette was murdered. * "Dracula Night" finds Sookie invited to Fangtasia to celebrate the birthday of the Prince of the Vampires, where she discovers Eric has a bad case of hero worship. This one is really funny. * "One Word Answer" gives us the story of when Sookie was informed of her cousin Hadley's death, and Sookie's introduction to the Queen of Louisiana, as well as Mr. Cataliades. * In "Lucky," Sookie and her witchy roommate Amelia team up to try to discover who has been breaking in to Greg Aubert's office (the most successful insurance agent in Bon Temps). * Finally, alone on Christmas Eve, Sookie has the blues in "Gift Wrap" until she discovers a naked, injured Were in the forest behind her house. A very attractive, quickly healing, naked Were. Did I mention he was naked? Things are looking up for Sookie! This was a great deal of fun to read - it was a fast read; I think it took me about 2 1/2 hours to get through it. I couldn't help myself - I just devoured it like it was a big ol' bon bon. If you're a fan of Sookie, you'll love this collection of short stories, to get you by until the next book comes out (Dead in the Family: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood), May 4, 2010 in hardcover).

I was uncertain about this book, because I've read so many reviews that were terrible, but I loved it. It was a Christmas gift (thanks, sweetie) and I devoured the book in a couple of days. Very easy read. The cool thing is that it filled in the blank spots between Sookie Stackhouse novels, like when she met the queen, the fact that the Fairie twins were actually triplets, and a few other things.

First, let me say that I adore True Blood. It's one of my all-time favorite shows. However, I'd never read any Charlene Harris before that. Too bad for me! Wow--I really, really got into this book. I think it was the perfect introduction to this talented author. Firstly, her main character, Sookie, is just so great. She's complex and interesting and really touches the reader with her vunerabilities--which, of course, is the recipe for a great character. Bill is good too, though sometimes, he can be a little overbearing. But the show is about Sookie and so is the books. All I can say is that if you are looking for a good book to read that will introduce you into this great, new, vampire world, I don't think you can go wrong with this one. Just my opinion. I also would recommend Dead Sexy Vampire Erotica: Two Dark and Thirsty Stories.

This book is an excellent addition to the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire series. The author Charlaine Harris had published these short stories, but in different anthology books, and this book was the best (and cheapest) way to read them all in one item. The book starts with an introduction by Harris, who tells us about the stories. "A Touch of Dead" includes five of them: Fairy Dust, Dracula Night, One Word Answer, Lucky, and Gift Wrap. The connection of time frame of these short stories range from post-book 4 (Dead to the World) to post-book 9 (From Dead to Worst). Most of the stories are not directly tied to the Sookie series, except "One Word Answer," which is essential to new readers of the books. This is a key story that occurs right before book 6, "Definitely Dead." Just to be clear, "A Touch of Dead" does not include any other of Harris' short stories. Each short story has an illustration, which I love. All of them were made by Lisa Desimini, who had been doing this since the first Sookie book, "Dead until Dark." They are all brand new, since the short stories did not have any drawings when previously published. This is not a new Sookie Stackhouse serial book (the tenth one will be out in May 2010), but if you want a new item for your Sookie collection, this is a must!

As stated in all the other reviews, this is a collection of previously published short stories. I understood that from the description, but love the Sookie Stackhouse world, and wanted to read them anyway. I found this purchase to be great for me, because I am sometimes disappointed by other authors in a short story collection. If all you want to read is Sookie, this is the collection for you. Besides, May 2010 is an awfully long time to wait for the next Sookie Stackhouse book!