Southern Vampire Novels by Charlaine Harris. In the eight novels collectively dubbed the Southern Vampire series, author Charlaine Harris has vividly imagined telepathic barmaid Sookie Stackhouse and her small-town Louisiana milieu where humans, vampires, shape-shifters and other sentient critters live, not always in harmony but often in some state of arousal.

Sookie Stackhouse is a waitress in a small town in Louisiana, who just happens to be a telepath. The series begins a few years after the vampires have “come out of the closet” and started to integrate into mainstream society. The vampires are officially suffering from an “unknown virus” and feed on synthetic blood as a rule.

In the first novel of the series, Dead Until Dark, Sookie met and fell in love with Bill the Vampire. While some of her neighbors look askance at Sookie for her relationship, others are more accepting of her unusual boyfriend. In addition to the uneasiness of her human friends, Sookie has some challenges from the undead side of her relationship. Touching on the mostly secret and politically complex society of vampires, Sookie is obligated to assist them when her unique talents are needed.

As Sookie navigates the world of vampires, she finds out that other supernatural creatures, which she thought were only myths, turn out to live in the shadows of human society, some of them helpful, others deadly.