Vampire-Loving Barmaid Hits Jackpot for Charlaine Harris

Neemah A. Esmaeilpour for The New York Times

Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries, starring a telepathic barmaid and vampire friends.

'Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse vampire mystery romance novels have conquered the best-seller list and spawned the popular HBO series “True Blood.

By MOTOKO RICH, writing in The New York Times, Published: May 19, 2009

MAGNOLIA, Ark. — Charlaine Harris was sitting in the small dining nook of her suburban cedar-and-stone home one afternoon last week when she took the call from her editor in New York. After she hung up, she yanked both fists down and let out a triumphant, “Yes!”

Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer (left) in “True Blood” on HBO, based on Ms. Harris’s “Dead Until Dark.”

Ms. Harris, the author of the Sookie Stackhouse vampire mystery romance novels, had just heard that the latest book in the series, “Dead and Gone,” would make its debut on the New York Times hardcover fiction best-seller list this Sunday in the No. 1 spot. It was a first for Ms. Harris, who has published 26 novels in nearly three decades and sold the original book in the Sookie series, “Dead Until Dark,” for just $5,000 nine years ago.

Read Motoko Rich's full story at NYT.