In 1996, Charlaine began her second series, the Lily Bard “Shakespeare” books, set in the fictional town of Shakespeare, Arkansas. Lily is the survivor of a terrible assault that has left her an emotional cripple, and the first book, Shakespeare’s Landlord, begins her first steps back to a normal life and normal relationships. Drawing on her own experiences, Charlaine has said that writing Lily helped her clean out many of her own dark places. More somber in tone than the Teagarden books, the Lily Bard novels didn’t necessarily appeal to the same fans. The books did receive excellent critical response, however, and picked up a good paperback deal. Despite receiving a lot of good press, the series ended in 2001 with the release of Shakespeare’s Counselor. Lily Bard was a fresh and distinct new character and provided a bridge to the next stage of Charlaine’s career.

THE SOOKIE STACKHOUSE SERIES

Hoping to reach a broader audience with her next series, Charlaine began developing a character that was quite unlike any she had ever written before. She hoped to draw on the same reader base she’d created, and the new series’ success was helped in many ways by the foundation she had created with the Aurora Teagarden and Lily Bard books. Full of a unique blend of dark humor, unforgettable characters, and a well-developed mystery with a twist of romance, Dead Until Dark, the first of the Sookie Stackhouse series, was released in 2001. The book was so different that it had taken her agent nearly two years to find a publisher, but Charlaine had faith in Sookie and her story. Now recognized as the first in a series that helped introduce the new genre called urban fantasy, the Sookie Stackhouse novels have been embraced by an ever-widening audience of fans and have received much critical acclaim. Charlaine established herself as an important and versatile author in this new genre. Dead Until Dark won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2002. Now published in thirty languages, the series, which spans eleven novels, continues to reach new fans all over the world.

SOOKIE NOVELS AND STORIES IN THE ORDER THEY SHOULD BE READ:

Dead Until Dark
Living Dead in Dallas
Club Dead
Dead to the World

“Fairy Dust”
“Dracula Night”
Dead as a Doornail
“One Word Answer”
Definitely Dead
All Together Dead
“Lucky”
From Dead to Worse
“Gift Wrap”
Dead and Gone
“Two Blondes”
Dead in the Family
“Small-Town Wedding”
Dead Reckoning
“If I Had a Hammer”

TRUE BLOOD

The end of 2006 brought a new dimension to the popularity of Sookie Stackhouse when it was announced that Alan Ball and HBO had contracted to turn the popular books into the television series True Blood. Fans on the website spent the next year closely following the casting and filming information as they eagerly anticipated their first view of the Sookieverse brought to life.