85) A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris

Touch of Dead is a collection of five short stories about Sookie Stackhouse and her world of vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, witches, fairies and more. The first short story is called Fairy Dust and featured in the anthology Powers of Detection. The tale is about Claude and Claudine's triplet and how she was killed. Sookie helps find out who killed their sister and why. An interesting story that ties up a few questions about the fairy sister we never met.

Dracula Night from Many Bloody Returns is about Dracula's Birthday. The day is celebrated by vampires all around the world and Sookie is invited to Fangtasia to party with Eric and Pam. Eric hopes that Dracula himself will make an appearance at his event but not everyone is convinced.

This second story in this collection is quite cute. The idea that Eric would go to so much trouble for someone and be so naive is quite amusing. I have to admit this one gave me a few giggles and I really enjoyed visiting Fangtasia.

Third up is One Word Answer from the anthology Bite. In this story we find out more about Sookie's cousin Hadley, her death and how she died. This story paves the way for the plot in Definitely Dead. I think the best bit about this story has to be Bubba. Any story with him in is good.

Next up is Lucky taken from Unusual Suspects where Sookie teams up with Amelia to help Greg Aubert, Sookie's insurance agent, find out who is breaking into his office. Not the best story in the book but nice to have a the two gals solving a case together.

Last up is Gift Wrap which was featured in Wolfsbane & Mistletoe. It is Christmas Eve and Sookie is all alone and feeling a little depressed. Of course Sookie doesn't manage to stay alone long and ends up saving a wounded werewolf. Suddenly Sookie finds herself having an evening of paranormal excitement but is she in danger? This a lovely story that has a nice twist to it. A great ending and certainly the best story in the book.

A Touch of Dead is a great trip into the Sookieverse and a must buy for any fans. While I have read all of these short stories in the anthologies they were released in, I really did enjoy visiting them again. It was however a little sad at times because some of the characters involved in these tales are no longer in the books for one reason or another. However they are all wonderfully written and as good as any full length Sookie novel.

I chose to listen to this on audio book and still love the narrator. She really captures Sookie and the other characters so well. I have to make sure that I get hold of Dead in the Family on audio too. However I have to add that I will be getting a copy of this book for my Sookie book collection.

This is a must read and there is no need to really read this short stories in any particular order. Of course if you are not familiar with the series and haven't read all the books these small chapters in Sookie's life may spoil future events for you.