Burnt Offerings

Burnt Offerings is the seventh book in Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series of novels. The series also includes Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned, The Lunatic Cafe, Bloody Bones, The Killing Dance and twelve additional books.http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/works.htmlWorldwide, there are more than six million copies of the series in print, in sixteen different languages.http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/works.html

In 2007, Burnt Offerings was re-released in a hardcover edition. Because the hardcover release was in December, Hamilton used the opportunity to include the book in several charity auction baskets she created for charities such as the Juvenile Diabetes Association. It was also included in Secret Santa contest goodies given out to readers of her blog. http://blog.laurellkhamilton.org/index.php/site/comments/lkh_bit_12_04_07

Laurell K. Hamilton was born in Heber Springs, Arkansas and grew up in Sims, Indiana.http://www.iblist.com/author415.htm As a child, she wanted to be Louisa May Alcott, because she loved the book Little Women, and had yet to read any horror or fantasy novels. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/writers/writerdetails.asp?cid=1021632 She currently resides in St. Louis, much like the main character of her series, Anita Blake. She has degrees in Biology and English, and shares her home with her husband, Jonathon Green, their daughter and two dogs.http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/Laurell.html

In Burnt Offerings, the plot opens with a police case. There is an arsonist on the loose, and Anita has been called in on suspicion that the perpetrator is actually a pyrokinetic. Meanwhile, Larry Kirkland, Anita’s protégé, phones her to pick him up from the hospital, where he and a doctor have been attacked with the items from his own vampire executioner’s kit. Nathaniel, a wereleopard, has also been hospitalized after a brutal assault. At the hospital, Anita gets into an altercation with another wereleopard and learns that the local pack is without a leader. She arranges for their protection before leaving them to investigate her case.

The vampire council has come to town to determine whether Jean Claude is properly administrating his city, and Anita, as his mate, is forced to take part in entertaining them. She is also forced into several fights to test her strength and will, as well as the force that the triumvirate of herself, Richard Zeeman and Jean Claude can call forth when together. Jean Claude introduces Anita and Richard to Asher, an old friend who was created by the same vampire as Jean Claude, making them brothers of a sort.

During the course of her investigation, Anita is led to a vampire bar named Burnt Offerings after the classic horror film, and the Church of Eternal Life, which worships vampirism. She also meets Warrick, a vampire who is able to both stay awake during daylight hours as well as walk in direct sunlight, and is able to call and control butterflies. She discovers a link between the council and the arson attacks, and must meet with them at a formal council dinner to resolve all of the issues at hand.http://books.google.ca/books?id=WHHzd6q-yEcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=burnt+offerings&hl=en&ei=93AzTbH5OI_EsAOzlu27BQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

• "This fast-paced, urban fantasy includes gore, hardboiled mystery and a romantic triangle. The vampires and werewolves are as three-dimensional as the human characters, allowing us to join Anita in wondering who the real monsters are and to understand how her increased personal involvement with them is alienating her from her human colleagues." — Amazon.comhttp://www.amazon.com/Burnt-Offerings-Anita-Vampire-Hunter/dp/0515134473/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_12

• "While a pyrokinetic arsonist targets the havens of St. Louis's legal vampire population, Anita Blake, the local expert on supernatural creatures, finds herself embroiled in a dangerous and deadly game of undead politics in defense of her lover, the city's Master Vampire. The sixth installment of Hamilton's popular "Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter" series exposes the more vulnerable side of its tough-talking, hard-as-nails heroine. Filled with nonstop action, witty dialog, and steamy sex, this title will appeal to fans of Anne Rice and Tanya Huff." — Library Journalhttp://www.amazon.com/Burnt-Offerings-Anita-Vampire-Hunter/dp/0515134473/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_12