There is a very nice profile of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series in the NYTimes. Harris admits that the vampires are “a metaphor for gays in America.” Harris had written two different mystery series (Shakespeare mysteries and the Aurora Teagarden mysteries) which hadn’t really taken off (maybe because Harris killed off a main character in the Teagarden series, not that I am still bitter some many years later or anything) but that the Sookie series gave her a real “neener-neener-neener moment.”
You can read the entire article here.
After glomming all the Sookie books for the first time this winter (i LOVE when series are new to me and already have a big backlist) i was this.close to picking up the Teagarden mysteries for no other reason than i ran out of Sookie books and loved them. i wasn’t going to do any research, but am so glad for the heads up about the main character dying! i will def be doing more research before commiting to read them!
@Lusty Reader: Don’t read A Fool and His Honey. The first 6 books are entertaining.
While I am a fan of the Teagarden books, despite the pointless killing of a major character (for what? how did that advance the plot at all?), the Lily Bard mysteries made me a little squeamish. Not because they were gory, but because of the extremely dark and depressing (to me) perspective of the protagonist/narrator. The thing I liked best about Sookie when she started the vampire series was her “look on the bright side of things” outlook, which has gradually darkened.
I’m still bitter about the Teagarden mysteries too. I so didn’t see that coming.
I really liked the Shakespeare mysteries, but I was happy when it ended at 5 books, so Harris couldn’t screw up that series too. :p And I’m hoping the Harper Connelly series will end soon on a happy note. I’ve only read the first book in the Sookie series, cause I’m burned out on paranormal series that never end, but I like Charlaine Harris’ writing, so I’ll probably read the series when she finishes it. Whenever that may be.
I like the “Grave” series a lot more than Sookie.
I never liked the character that was killed, and had no problem with that death.
If I had to order Harris’ series in order of like, it would be Grave, Aurora Teagarden, Lily Bard, Sookie Stackhouse.
Sandy and Senetra, can you tell me what you love about the Grave series? I haven’t read them but I liked Harris’s voice (or rather, Sookie’s narration) in what I read of the Sookie series (Dead Until Dark and a chapter or two of Living Dead in Dallas), just wasn’t crazy about the characters, so I’ve been wondering if I should try one of her other series. I was thinking maybe Lily Bard, but perhaps I should try the Grave books instead?
I didn’t like the deceased character either.
I think she was trying to reboot the series by killing the character. She had taken a hiatus from writing the Teagarden mysteries and written the Shakespeare books, but I don’t think they sold too well. Not cozy enough. A Fool and His Honey was published next. Shortly after A Fool and His Honey appeared she published the first Sookie and that series took off pretty quickly. I’m pretty sure the last two Teagardens were written to fulfill the contract. She seemed to have lost interest in the characters.
The Grave series reminds me a bit of the Shakespeare series. Dark.
I loved the grave books. A great relationship between the main characters, though it evolved a little differently.
I too was bothered with the death in the Teagarden books. I was very disappointed.