Welcome to rural northern Louisiana, where vampires have legally ‘come out of the coffin’. The politically correct explanation for their ‘disability’ is that vampires have been victim to a virus that leaves them apparently dead for a couple of days, and thereafter allergic to sunshine, silver and garlic. Sookie Stackhouse is a cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana, but she keeps to herself and doesn't date much because of her ‘disability’ to read minds. She meets vampire Bill Compton (Bill! Not Jean-Claude, or Lestat, but plain old Bill!) when he comes into her bar. He’s trying to ‘mainstream’ and settle down on his ancestors’ land, just across the graveyard from her grandmother’s house. She’s instantly attracted to him because she can’t read his mind. To her, that’s a huge plus. She’s exhausted from constantly trying to block other people’s thoughts and jumbled emotions bombarding her mind. Being with Bill is instantly relaxing, like a long tall cool (sexy) drink of water. Little by little she begins to fall in love with him. But being with a vampire also means running into his – er – fellow virus victims, most of whom are a little more unglued and dangerous than Bill. Sookie never dreamt what a big wide world there was out there. When first one, then two, three, four victims are found cruelly murdered suspicion falls heavily onto Bill, and Sookie’s brother Jason. The race is on to identify the killer before an obviously targeted Sookie becomes the next victim. Very sexy, moody, gothic and thrilling, this is an excellent murder mystery with a great supernatural romance. P.S. In a very funny aside in this book, Elvis lives! Don’t miss this wild, wacky world!