The Sookie Stackhouse books in order are easy to follow if you only want the 13 main novels. The extras are where it gets tricky, since there are short stories, Sookieverse side stories, collections, companion books, and the True Blood TV show.
Charlaine Harris’s series is also known as The Southern Vampire Mysteries, and it follows Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress in Bon Temps, Louisiana. Vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches, shapeshifters, and plenty of trouble keep pulling her into a much bigger supernatural world.
I’d start with the main novels in publication order. After that, the short stories and bonus material are mostly for readers who want more of the Sookieverse.
Jump to:
- Sookie Stackhouse Books in Publication Order
- Sookie Stackhouse Short Stories, Side Stories, and Collections
- Sookie Stackhouse Books in Chronological Order
- Sookie Stackhouse Books vs. True Blood
- About the Sookie Stackhouse Series
Sookie Stackhouse Books in Publication Order
The main Sookie Stackhouse series has 13 novels. This is the simplest order to follow, and it’s the order I’d recommend for first-time readers.
- Dead Until Dark (2001)
- Living Dead in Dallas (2002)
- Club Dead (2003)
- Dead to the World (2004)
- Dead as a Doornail (2005)
- Definitely Dead (2006)
- All Together Dead (2007)
- From Dead to Worse (2008)
- Dead and Gone (2009)
- Dead in the Family (2010)
- Dead Reckoning (2011)
- Deadlocked (2012)
- Dead Ever After (2013)
After Dead is not a regular Sookie novel, but it does work as a follow-up after the final book. Read it only after Dead Ever After, because it explains what happens to many characters after the main series ends.
- After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse (2013, Companion)
Sookie Stackhouse Short Stories, Side Stories, and Collections
The extras are the only part of the Sookie Stackhouse series that can get confusing. Some short stories feature Sookie directly. Others are set in the same world but follow side characters. Then there are collections and companion books that reprint or expand earlier material.
For most readers, the main novels are enough. The stories below are best for completionists or anyone who wants to spend more time in Sookie’s world.
Sookie-Focused Short Stories
These short stories connect most directly to Sookie’s story. They were originally published in different anthologies, but the easiest way to get them now is The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories.
- Fairy Dust (2004, Short Story)
- One Word Answer (2005, Short Story)
- Dracula Night (2007, Short Story)
- Lucky (2008, Short Story)
- Gift Wrap (2008, Short Story)
- Two Blondes (2010, Short Story)
- Small-Town Wedding (2011, Novella)
- If I Had a Hammer (2011, Short Story)
- Playing Possum (2012, Short Story)
- In the Blue Hereafter (2014, Short Story)
Sookieverse Side Stories
These stories are set in the Sookieverse, but Sookie is not always the focus. I’d treat them as optional unless you’re trying to read every connected corner of the world.
- Dancers in the Dark (2004, Novella)
- Tacky (2006, Dahlia Short Story, originally in My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding)
- Bacon (2009, Dahlia Short Story, originally in Strange Brew)
- The Britlingens Go to Hell (2009, Short Story, originally in Must Love Hellhounds)
- Dahlia Underground (2010, Dahlia Short Story, originally in Crimes by Moonlight)
- A Very Vampire Christmas (2010, Dahlia Short Story)
- Death by Dahlia (2011, Dahlia Short Story, originally in Down These Strange Streets)
- Layla Steps Up (2018, Novella)
Dancers in the Dark and Layla Steps Up focus on Layla and Sean, not Sookie. Tacky, Bacon, Dahlia Underground, A Very Vampire Christmas, and Death by Dahlia are Dahlia Lynley-Chivers stories. They belong to the wider world, but they are not required for the main Sookie reading order.
Sookie Stackhouse Collections and Companion Books
These are helpful extras, but they are not new main-series novels. Some collect previously published Sookie stories, while others add companion material or stories set in Sookie’s world.
- A Touch of Dead (2009, Collection)
- The Sookie Stackhouse Companion (2011, Companion)
- After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse (2013, Companion)
- Dead But Not Forgotten: Stories from the World of Sookie Stackhouse (2014, Shared-World Anthology)
- The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories (2017, Collection)
A Touch of Dead collects the early Sookie stories through Gift Wrap. The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories is the easiest choice if you want all the Sookie-focused short fiction in one place.
Dead But Not Forgotten is different. It is a shared-world anthology edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner, with stories by other authors set in Sookie’s world. I wouldn’t read it like a regular Charlaine Harris Sookie story.
Sookie Stackhouse Books in Chronological Order
Publication order is the simplest reading order for a first read. The short stories fit between certain novels, though, so a chronological read can be fun if you already know the series or want the most complete Sookie-focused order.
This list sticks with Sookie’s main story. The wider Sookieverse side stories are listed separately above because they do not all feature Sookie.
- Dead Until Dark
- Living Dead in Dallas
- Club Dead
- Dead to the World
- Fairy Dust (Short Story)
- Dracula Night (Short Story)
- Dead as a Doornail
- One Word Answer (Short Story)
- Definitely Dead
- All Together Dead
- From Dead to Worse
- Lucky (Short Story)
- Gift Wrap (Short Story)
- Dead and Gone
- Two Blondes (Short Story)
- Dead in the Family
- Small-Town Wedding (Novella)
- Dead Reckoning
- If I Had a Hammer (Short Story)
- Deadlocked
- Playing Possum (Short Story)
- Dead Ever After
- In the Blue Hereafter (Short Story)
- After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse
Most of the Sookie-focused short fiction is collected in The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories, which is the easiest single-volume option for the short stories.
Sookie Stackhouse Books vs. True Blood
The Sookie Stackhouse books inspired HBO’s True Blood, which aired for seven seasons from 2008 to 2014. The show stars Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, Stephen Moyer as Bill Compton, Sam Trammell as Sam Merlotte, and Alexander Skarsgård as Eric Northman.
The show starts from the same basic setup as Dead Until Dark, but it moves away from the books pretty quickly. Some characters get larger roles, some storylines change, and the show builds its own version of Bon Temps.
So if you watched True Blood first, I would still start the books with Dead Until Dark. Treat the show and the books as two different versions of the same world rather than one exact adaptation.
About the Sookie Stackhouse Series
Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse series blends urban fantasy, mystery, paranormal romance, and Southern supernatural drama. The books are set mostly in and around Bon Temps, Louisiana, where Sookie works as a waitress at Merlotte’s Bar and Grill.
Sookie seems ordinary at first, but she is telepathic, and that makes her life more complicated than most people realize. Vampires are public knowledge in this world, and Sookie’s ability pulls her into vampire politics, supernatural conflicts, murders, betrayals, and messy relationships.
The main novels tell Sookie’s story from beginning to end. The short stories add extra moments along the way, while the Sookieverse side stories fill in pieces of the wider world. That’s why the simplest first read is still the 13 main novels in order, with the extras saved for later.
Looking for similar books in order?
If you want more fantasy authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Fantasy Books in Order index.