Title: Living Dead in Dallas
Author: Charlaine Harris
Published: 2002
Publisher: Ace Fantasy
The Southern Vampire novels continue with "Living Dead in Dallas". Featuring a Maenad, werewolves, vampire groupies, vampire hunters, geneologies, and a load of southern style.
Sookie is asked to do a favor for the local Master vampire (to borrow a position, if not quite accurate, from the Anita Blake books): to to Dallas and find out who is destroying the local vampires.
In the Southern Vampire series, not only are Vampires accepted members of the mortal community, somebody in Japan has even developed a faux blood for them to drink in place of feeding off of mortals. Not, of course, that it's much of a replacement...
Sookie agrees to go to Dallas, but only on the condition that any mortals found to be involved will not be killed by the vampires, but instead handed over to the authorities to be properly tried. This creates many interesting quandries, especially once the hunters start trying to kill her as well...
This novel really expands on the lives of many of it's secondary characters, and goes more into Sookie's family, Bill's background, and introduces some interesting mythological characters who really expand the scope of the novel's universe.
What was really fascinating to me was the concept of were-people who would change into the last animal they looked at before the full moon. It put quite a spin on the role of personal choice among predators.
Once again, a great book. Good mystery elements, smooth action and delivery, and well paced, the book will keep you going until the end, and asking "next?..."