DEAD AS A DOORNAIL

The Witch War may be over, but there’s still danger aplenty for the supernatural citizens of Louisiana’s Renard Parish.

Vampires and werewolves owe a debt to waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Dead to the World, 2004, etc.), whose telepathic powers helped them triumph over the witches. So when bar owner Sam Merlotte is sidelined during a rash of attacks that leaves werefox Heather Kinman dead and werewolf Calvin Norris hospitalized, he sends Sookie to Fangtasia to ask vampire Eric to lend him a bartender. Sam, who’d love for Sookie to be more than just his messenger, doesn’t know that she’s been equally in Eric’s debt since he took the bullet Debbie Pelt aimed at her for ruining her relationship with werewolf Alcide Herveux. Eric doesn’t know either: the shotgun blast erased all memories of his brief but torrid affair with Sookie. But Eric obligingly sends ex-pirate Charles Twining to help Sam and short-order cook Sweetie Des Arts. Since Sookie still has the lightproof room Eric used during his convalescence, Charles stays with her, annoying both Alcide, who wants Sookie as his consort, and Bill Compton, Sookie’s first love. Luckily for Sookie’s admirers, Charles is on the scene when her house is set afire by Jeff Marriott, whose grudge against Sookie is as mysterious as his origins.

Sorting out her suitors leaves Sookie scant time to worry about why she’s become a target: here, the mystery is swamped by the ongoing supernatural-soap-opera romance.