Charlaine Harris


Charlaine Harris Schulz is an American author who specializes in mysteries. She is best known for the adaptations of her series The Southern Vampire Mysteries, which was adapted as the TV series True Blood. The television show was a critical and financial success for HBO, running seven seasons, from 2008 through 2014. A number of her books have been bestsellers and this series was translated into multiple languages and published across the globe.
Harris was born and raised in a small town in the Mississippi River Delta area of the United States. She now lives in Texas with her husband; they have three grown children and grandchildren. She began writing from an early age, and changed from playwriting in college to writing and publishing mysteries, including several long series featuring recurring characters.

Life and career

Harris was born and grew up in Tunica, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta. In her early work she wrote poems about ghosts and teenage angst. She began writing plays while attending Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. Her most recent mysteries have been in the urban fantasy genre.
After publishing two stand-alone mysteries, Harris began the lighthearted Aurora Teagarden books with Real Murders, nominated as a Best Novel 1990 for the Agatha Awards. Harris wrote several books in the series before the mid-1990s, when she began branching out into other works. She did not resume the series until 1999, with the exception of one short story in a Murder, She Wrote anthology titled "Murder, They Wrote".
In 1996, Harris published the first in the Shakespeare series, featuring cleaning lady detective Lily Bard, set in rural Arkansas. At the time, a New York Times interview with Harris noted that she "live in small-town Arkansas". The fifth book in the series, Shakespeare's Counselor, was published in fall 2001, followed by the short story "Dead Giveaway", published in the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in December 2001. Harris has said she is finished with that series.
Next Harris created The Southern Vampire Mysteries series, about a telepathic waitress named Sookie Stackhouse who works in a Northern Louisiana bar. The first book, Dead Until Dark, won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001. Each book follows Sookie as she tries to solve mysteries involving vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures. The series has been published in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Spain, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Argentina, Poland, Serbia, Brazil, Great Britain, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Portugal, Iceland, Czech Republic, Romania, Estonia and Israel. Harris wrote thirteen novels in the series; the last, Dead Ever After, was published in May 2013. A supplemental book, After Dead, was published in October 2013.http://charlaineharris.com/?p=256
October 2005 marked the debut of Harris's new series, entitled The Harper Connelly Mysteries, with the release of Grave Sight. The series is told by a young woman named Harper Connelly, who after being struck by lightning, is able to locate dead bodies and to see their last moments through the eyes of the deceased. In October 2010, it was announced Harper Connelly's series had been optioned for a television series named Grave Sight.
2014 marked the debut of the Cemetery Girl series, a graphic novel series co-written with Christopher Golden and illustrated by Don Kramer.
Professionally, Harris is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and the American Crime Writers League. She is a member of the board of Sisters in Crime, and alternates with Joan Hess as president of the Arkansas Mystery Writers Alliance.

Personal life

In her personal life, Harris has long been married. She and her husband have three grown children and two grandchildren. She is a former weightlifter and karate student, she is also an avid reader and cinemaphile. Harris formerly resided in Magnolia, Arkansas, where she was the senior warden of St. James Episcopal Church, and currently lives in Texas.

[Aurora Teagarden] Series (1990–present)

Lily Bard (Shakespeare) Series (1996–2001)

Sookie Stackhouse Series (2001 - 2014)

For more detailed information see The Southern Vampire Mysteries/True Blood.
#TitleAlso InPublication DateISBNComments
1Dead Until DarkMay 2001
2Living Dead in DallasMar 2002
3Club DeadMay 2003
4Dead to the WorldMar 2004
4.1Fairy DustPowers of Detection
A Touch of Dead
The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories
4.2Dracula NightMany Bloody Returns
A Touch of Dead
The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories
4.3Dancers in the DarkNight's Edgenovella
5Dead as a DoornailMay 2005
5.1One Word AnswerBite
A Touch of Dead
The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories
6Definitely DeadMay 2006
6.1TackyMy Big, Fat Supernatural WeddingDahlia short story
7All Together DeadMay 2007
7.1LuckyUnusual Suspects
Between the Dark and Daylight
A Touch of Dead
The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories
8From Dead to WorseMay 2008
8.1Gift WrapWolfsbane and Mistletoe
A Touch of Dead
The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories
8.2BaconStrange Brewmakes an offhand reference to
Jim Butcher's wizard, Harry Dresden;
a Dahlia short story
9Dead and GoneMay 2009
9.1The Britlingens Go to HellMust Love Hellhounds
9.2Dahlia UndergroundCrimes by Moonlighttakes place during All Together Dead;
a Dahlia short story
10Dead in the FamilyMay 2010
10.1Two BlondesDeath's Excellent Vacation
The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories
10.2Small-Town WeddingThe Sookie Stackhouse Companion''
The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories		novella
10.3A Very Vampire ChristmasGlamour MagazineDec 2010a Dahlia short story
11Dead ReckoningMay 2011
11.1Death by DahliaDown These Strange Streetsa Dahlia short story
12DeadlockedMay 2012
12.1If I Had a HammerHome Improvement: Undead Edition
The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories
12.2Playing PossumAn Apple for the Creature
The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories
13Dead Ever AfterMay 2013The final Sookie Stackhouse novel
13.1The Blue HereafterGames Creatures Play
The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories
14After Dead: What Came NextThe World of Sookie StackhouseOctober 29, 2013
15Dead But Not Forgotten: Stories from The World of Sookie StackhouseNovember 25, 2014

Harper Connelly Series (2005 - 2009)

  1. Grave Sight
  2. Grave Surprise
  3. An Ice Cold Grave
  4. Grave Secret ;

    Graphic Novels

  5. Grave Sight Part 1
  6. Grave Sight Part 2
  7. Grave Sight Part 3

    Cemetery Girl Series (with Christopher Golden)

  8. Book One: The Pretenders .
  9. Book Two: Inheritance
  10. Book Three: Haunted

    Midnight, Texas Trilogy (2014 - 2016)

  11. Midnight Crossroad
  12. Day Shift
  13. Night Shift

    Gunnie Rose Series

  14. An Easy Death
  15. A Longer Fall
  16. The Russian Cage

    Stand Alones

As editor

Television

Her series of novels The Southern Vampire Mysteries was adapted into the show True Blood. The series lasted seven seasons and totaled 80 episodes. It was nominated for dozens of awards. True Blood aired on HBO. The show was also the most viewed show on HBO since The Sopranos.
In 2014, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries began adapting Harris' Aurora Teagarden novels into a series of television films, starring Candace Cameron Bure.
Harris's series Midnight, Texas was developed as a TV series by NBC and began airing on their network in 2017.

Video games