Charlaine Harris

It’s hard to fathom that the creative spark behind one of HBO^®’s sexiest, edgiest, bloodiest urban fantasy series is, in fact, a nice Southern girl. But with every eye-opening episode, True Blood creator Alan Ball draws on the genius of Mississippi-born Arkansas resident Charlaine Harris. Though currently best known for her Sookie Stackhouse “Southern Vampire Mysteries” series, Harris—an almost supernatural talent herself—is also author of the Aurora Teagarden mysteries, the Lily Bard series and the Harper Connelly series. Thanks to Sookie’s telepathic abilities and Harper’s unusual relationship with dead people, Harris has some serious crossover appeal, with admirers that identify themselves as mystery lovers, sci-fi fans, and even romance readers. “For those of us who've been reading Charlaine Harris even before the dawn of Sookie Stackhouse, it's no mystery why she's become such a sensation,” says Jane Dentinger, Editor-in-Chief of Mystery Guild. Whether it's vampire mysteries, psychics or the Aurora Teagarden lady librarian mystery series, this is a writer who can do it all. Happily, the success of the True Blood television series has drawn more and more readers into Charlaine Harris’ urban fantasy world, ensuring that Sookie Stackhouse and her fantastic and fiendish friends will be sinking their teeth into our TV sets and bookshelves for a long time to come.