A Touch of Dead (Sookie Stackhouse: The Complete Stories) [Hardcover]

Charlaine Harris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 2009

Visit our Sookie Stackhouse series feature page.

View our feature on Charlaine Harris’s A Touch of Dead.

Every Sookie Stackhouse short story ever written—in one special volume—from the New York Times bestselling author.

New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris has re-imagined the supernatural world with her “spunky” (Tampa Tribune) Southern Vampire novels starring telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse. Now, for the first time, here is every Sookie Stackhouse short story ever written— together in one volume.

Stories include “Fairy Dust,” “One Word Answer,” “Dracula Night,” “Lucky,” and “Giftwrap.”

For years, Charlaine Harris has delighted fans with her mystery series featuring small-town waitress-turned- paranormal-sleuth Sookie Stackhouse. Now, Ace is pleased to republish her second novel in the series in hardcover. In this book, Sookie is pursued by a very sexy vampire—and a very deadly monster. With HBO and Alan Ball, creator of Six Feet Under, launching an all-new series, True Blood, based on the Southern Vampire novels, the demand for Charlaine Harris and Sookie Stackhouse is going to be bigger than ever.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The most interesting character is Sookie, which is lucky as she's the main one, the fact that she can read minds and how she does it is brilliantly illustrated in the opening 'Fairy Dust' and 'Lucky'. A brilliant example of how an author should do a short story collection." NEXTREAD.CO.UK "The tales are appealingly fast-paced, lighthearted and sexy (though there's nowhere near the level of sex and violence of the TV series), and the Sookie of these stories is, in her own straightforward way, just as winning as the Sookie of True Blood." -- James Skipp TOTAL SCI FI I really enjoyed that Harris told each story 'how it was'. Sookie may have her issues but the emphasis is always on the plot at hand and what's going on. It's also refreshing to see how Harris treats her otherworldly characters; while they're powerful enough they're also susceptible to human failings (and I'm not just talking about sex!) that make them more endearing to the reader and easier to get into." GRAEME'S FANTASY BOOK REVIEW --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Charlaine Harris is the author of the New York Times bestselling series of supernatural romantic mysteries starring Sookie Stackhouse, the telepathic bar maid, and a cast of vampires, werewolves and things that really do go bump in the night. She is married, with children, and lives in southern Arkansas. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Ace; 1st edition (October 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441017835
• ISBN-13: 978-0441017836
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (342 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,509 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charlaine Harris (born November 25, 1951 in Tunica, Mississippi) is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing for over twenty years. She was raised in the Mississippi River Delta area. Though her early works consisted largely of poems about ghosts and, later, teenage angst, she wrote plays when she attended Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. She began to write books a few years later.
After publishing two stand-alone mysteries, Harris launched a lighthearted series "starring" Georgia librarian Aurora Teagarden, with Real Murders, a Best Novel nominee for the 1990 Agatha Awards. Harris wrote eight Aurora titles. In 1996, she released the first of the much darker Shakespeare mysteries, featuring the amateur sleuth Lily Bard, a karate student who makes her living cleaning houses. Shakespeare's Counselor, the fifth--and last-- was printed in fall 2001.
After Shakespeare, Harris created The Sookie Stackhouse urban fantasy series about a telepathic waitress who works in a bar in the fictional Northern Louisiana town of Bon Temps. The first of these, Dead Until Dark, won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001. Each book follows Sookie as she tries to solve mysteries involving vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures. The series, which now numbers nine titles, has been released worldwide.
Sookie Stackhouse proved to be so popular that Alan Ball, creator of Six Feet Under, announced he would undertake the production of a new show for HBO based upon the books. He wrote and directed the pilot episode for that series, True Blood, which premiered in September of 2008. It was an instant success and was quickly picked up for a second season.
In October 2005, Harris's new mystery series about a young woman named Harper Connelly debuted with the release of Grave Sight. Harper has the ability to determine the cause of death of any body. There are now three Harper titles (GRAVE SIGHT, GRAVE SURPRISE, AN ICE COLD GRAVE) with a 4th (GRAVE SECRET) to be released in 2009.
Harris has also co-edited three very popular anthologies with her friend Toni L.P. Kelner. The anthologies feature stories with an element of the supernatural, and the submissions come from a rare mixture of mystery and urban fantasy writers.
Professionally, Harris is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and the American Crime Writers League. She is a member of the board of Sisters in Crime, and alternates with Joan Hess as president of the Arkansas Mystery Writers Alliance. Personally, Harris is married and the mother of three. She lives in a small town in Southern Arkansas and when she is not writing her own books, she reads omnivorously!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

460 of 485 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Touch of Dead, December 30, 2009

By 

Nelaine Sanchez "All About {n}" (Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Touch of Dead (Sookie Stackhouse: The Complete Stories) (Hardcover)

In A Touch of Dead you get five Sookie Stackhouse short stories that Ms. Harris has written over the years and have finally been published together for the first time.

"Fairy Dust" takes place after Dead To The World.
There we meet Claudine and Claude who have asked Sookie for "special" help in order to solve a murder mystery.

"Dracula Night" takes place before Dead As A Doornail.
Eric is throwing a big bash at Fangtasia to celebrate the birthday of the one-and-only, you guessed it Dracula. And Sookie's got an invitation to the fun.

"One Word Answer" takes place after Dead As A Doornail.
Sookie finds out that her long lost cousin is dead and meets some well-known characters for the first time.

"Lucky" takes place after All Together Dead.
Sookie and Amelia are approached by local real estate agent to help him solve a mystery. But this mystery is much more complicated then the girls originally anticipated.

Gift Wrap" takes place before Dead And Gone.
Sookie is spending this Christmas on her own. But when when she finds a naked man on her property and an unexpected guest pays a visit, it just might be a Christmas that is unforgettable.

As a fan of Ms. Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels - this book is a needed addition to your collection. I don't know if you're like me, but there was a time or two where I would start one of the books and feel like.. huh? did I miss something? Now we know why. These short stories fill in some of those gaps no matter how small they were. THIS is what you were missing. I personally never went out to buy any of the books Ms. Harris and Sookie were featured in. With A Touch of Dead, you have them all in one volume and can read them as you are reading all the books or, like me, who is all caught up in the series, can read them all together.

This was a fun, quick read... with a special dose of the Sookie Stackhouse universe we have all come to love. This is a must-read for any fan of the series.

67 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars SERIOUSLY?, July 13, 2011

By 

The Texpatriate (Norway) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Touch of Dead (Sookie Stackhouse: The Complete Stories) (Hardcover)

Are they KIDDING me charging 18.99 for the Kindle version? That's more than the hardcover! What, are they trying not to sell it? I hear it's the publishers trying to set limits, if so, what they are doing is killing their profit margins, turning away customers, and making sure customers don't buy books from that author. It's a shame too, as buying via Kindle can be a very good (and green) alternative to buying paperbacks.

And I hate to say it, but the Charlaine Harris books are the worst of the bunch. If I were the author, I would stand up to the publisher on the fans' behalf.

As it was, I borrowed this book from a friend, it was a fun, short read, not as good as the books, but no where NEAR worth buying for the ridiculous inflated Kindle price.
And yes, pricing policies like these DO affect the reviews of the books and the feelings of the public towards the publishers and authors.

67 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nothing like the Sookie Series, January 13, 2010

By 

A. Nandy (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Touch of Dead (Sookie Stackhouse: The Complete Stories) (Hardcover)

These mysteries are interesting, and occassionally helped to fill holes that the series novels skip over. The stories lack complexity - the plots are not very developed due the length of each story.

Having read all of Charlaine's Sookie Stackhouse Series novels, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the short stories that revolve around the same characters. I was disappointed. I knew they were short stories, but hadn't realized how different they would be. For me, this wasn't a valuable addition to my collection or to the Sookie Stackhouse series.

Bottom line: These are fun, easy, quick reads - but don't expect what you're used to in the series.