Vampires, part 1

I should start this off by saying that I really love vampire books. It started in high school (or maybe the first year of college) when a coworker at the Towson Library recommended Anne Rice's Interview of the Vampire to me. That got me hooked and I read everything she wrote (even the ones that weren't so great).

Well, it's been awhile since she ended that series and by accident late last year I stumbled on Charlaine Harris' "Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire" series. Sookie is a telepathic waitress in a bar in rural Louisiana. She likes vampires because she can't read their minds (they are dead after all and therefore don't have brain waves to read). Oh, I forgot to mention that ever since the Japanese created a synthetic blood alternative, the vampires, no longer needing to hunt humans to survive have come out in the open to interact in society. The weres, shapeshifters, witches, and fairies (as in godmothers) have not yet revealed themselves to society as a whole, but all play key roles in Sookie's life.

This series is cataloged as Mystery. There is an common story line that connects the books in the series (7 titles so far), but each individual story contains a murder or series of murders that Sookie and her telepathic ability helps to solve. These books have a very light feel to them, in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of gore (for it usually takes a stake or a beheading to kill a vampire). There is often a climactic battle of some sort with all sorts of supernatural carnage. But they still have an overall humorous, easy tone to them.