A Touch of Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries (15)) Audio CD – CD, October 26, 2009

I personally did not enjoy the writing style with this collection of stand alone stories that Ms. Harris has written, its a nice sentiment to try and keep the world of the sookie stackhouse alive, but personally i could tell from the writing and the words she used that she was writing as if she was looking at from the perspective of the characters at the time but rather after the whole series was over and after dead after ever. I would wish that she would write from the actual time in which these books are taken place at. The first story was a painful reminder of the terrible way that dead ever after had ended and who Ms. Harris has chosen for Sookie to end up with. I just was not satisfied with this book and stopped after the first story. I regret buying the book and paying the $10 for the prime shipping when the sticker on the front of the book said $1. The first story was written simply too fast and had very little pages for a conflict that should have had a couple of chapter instead of the small bit that they provide you. It just didnt feel like a sookie stackhouse book or even story.Overall, if you did not like how the last book ended you will be painfully reminded about who sookie ends up with within the first story which is focused on the twins. I recommend to just end the world of sookie stackhouse with dead ever after and not attempt to read any of the books after that one.

If you've read all the Sookie Stackhouse novels, every once in a while a book will start and you'll think "What?" Often this is because author Charlaine Harris has written a short story that covers some important event(s) that happens between the books. These shorts were originally published in short story collections by a variety of authors, and appear here in chronological order."Fairy Dust" takes place after the novel Dead To The World (Sookie Stackhouse #4), and occurs when Claudine and Claude ask Sookie to help them figure out who killed their sister, Claudette. In "Dracula Night", which takes place before Dead As A Doornail (Sookie Stackhouse #5), Eric is hoping that the original modern vampire will show up to his annual Dracula birthday party. (Pam hilariously likens it to 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown'). In "One Word Answer" Sookie finds out that her cousin Hadley has died and named her the executor of her will. The events in this story lead directly to happenings in Definitely Dead (Sookie Stackhouse #6). "Lucky" takes place after All Together Dead (Sookie Stackhouse #7), and is a fun excursion for Sookie and her witch friend, Amelia, as they try to figure out who has broken into Sookie's insurance agent's office. The last story, "Gift Wrap", takes place before Dead And Gone (Sookie Stackhouse #9), when she is pretty bummed about her Christmas alone -- the second since her grandmother died. But of course it can't be that uneventful! Instead she hears moaning in the woods and decides to go check it out, which leads her to an altogether different Christmas than she'd expected.This is a fun collection and adds to one's enjoyment of the books. I wish I'd known about it sooner!So here's the chronology (so far):Book 1 Dead Until DarkBook 2 Living Dead in DallasBook 3 Club DeadBook 4 Dead to the WorldSS #1 "Fairy Dust"SS #2 "Dracula Night"Book 5 Dead as a DoornailSS #3 "One Word Answer"Book 6 Definitely DeadBook 7 All Together DeadSS #4 "Lucky"Book 8 From Dead to WorseSS #5 "Gift Wrap"Book 9 Dead and GoneBook 10 Dead in the FamilyBook 11 Dead ReckoningBook 12 Deadlocked

For fans of Sookie Stackhouse, this is an intriguing collection of short stories. I had wondered if short stories could capture some of the atmosphere of the novels. In the end, though, this works fairly well.At one level, they provide more context for episodes in the novels, such as the story of the three fairies--Claude, Claudine, Claudette (down to two after this short story). We get a bit more depth here about characters showing up in the novels.Other short stories, such as "Dracula Night" are more "stand alone" stories. Here, we wonder if the visitor at a vampire party is the real Dracula or an imposter. This is unrelated to the novels but a nice little bon bon. We meet some of Sookie's friends such as Pam and Eric Northman. And we see Sookie extricate herself from being a meal for "Dracula."A short story about the murder of Hadley, Sookie's cousin who had been turned into a vampire. She had been murdered and this short story gets at the truth as to her death. We are also introduced to the Queen of Louisiana.What if a witch were an insurance salesman and used spells to keep bad things from happening to his customers? This delightful short story explores that premise. Sookie's witch friend, Amelia, is encountered in this story.Throughout the short stories here, we also meet a number of old friends, including Bubba, Bill, Sam, Amelia (the witch), Mr. Cataliades, and so on.Anyhow, a nice set of shorter works about Sookie.

Absolutely over the moon with my purchase. I have all the Sookie novels and was somehow missing this. Ordered it as ‘perfect condition, like new’. It looked like it had never been opened and there was a sticker on the front stating ‘signed by the author’. A lovely surprise and an absolute bargain. Highly recommend this seller.

If you're new to the wonderful world of Sookie Stackhouse then please don't buy this book...yet. Like many other readers I was expecting the next novel but as you have read by now this is a collection of short stories that occur at different times in the storyline so if you have just started reading the books or aren't too far along then by reading this you'll learn stuff you shouldn't know yet which could spoil your enjoyment of the unfolding story. Otherwise this was like ice cream, delicious but gone too soon which is why it gets four stars and not five.

I've read all of the True Blood books. I love the books and I love the TV Series. The books tide me over until the next series is on tv because I really love my Eric (and of course Sookie) fix! lol. These are short stories - to me they tide you over for little short fixes, but they don't feel like the author put her usual 'all' into them. The short stories come before some of the books, so characters that have previously been killed, crop up. The stories are a little naf, but an easy read and hey, I love her novels of True Blood and these little stories, although not her best, are an easy short burst read. I miss my Eric - come on Charlaine - get writing the next Novel please!

If I had realised beforehand that this was a collection of short stories I would not have bought it, and missed out on a very funny book. Like the other reviewers, I'm looking forward to the 10th book in the series. This is for anyone who has read and enjoyed the other 9 books, as it fills in some gaps between the stories as well as adding a few new ones. Although why the stories weren't included as part of the original books is a mystery to me. The story 'Gift Wrap' is both a lovely and totally unethical story that makes me glad to be 1, happily married and 2, have no fairy great-grandads (to my knowledge). There is also lots involving Bill but not enough of Eric. All in all, a good read with plenty of dark humour.

'Between the Books' books are never 5 star, (otherwise what's in them would have gotten into the regular books in the first place). That being said, the stories in here were quite entertaining.Doesn't give quite the same fix as one of the regular installments though ;0There is quite a broad variety of different short stories. Some of them star Eric, some Sookie's fairy kin, some her witchie housemate etc ... some are romantic, some investigative, some just funny (always good to see Eric in a less than flattering light - the 'Dracula hero worship' thing).I enjoyed that almost as much as I liked Eric losing at Yahtzee in the recent 2nd series TV finale. His face was priceless.