Guilty Pleasures is the first book in the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series of novels by Laurell K Hamilton. The series also includes The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned, The Lunatic Café, and fifteen more books.http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/works.html The series has been translated into sixteen languages, and there are more than six million copies of the books in print worldwide.http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/works.html

Guilty Pleasures was initially released in 1993, and has been made into a twelve-part comic book series, which also includes a prequel to the novel.http://www.comicvine.com/anita-blake-vampire-hunter-guilty-pleasures/49-18119/

Like her main character of Anita Blake, the author lives in St. Louis and has a degree in biology, as well as one in English.http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/Laurell.html The Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series was Hamilton's second attempt at serial fiction. The first series began with the book Nightseer in the heroic fantasy genre, but the series ended there, as further books in the series were rejected by her publisher.http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/Laurell.html Guilty Pleasures began as the short story Those Who Seek Forgiveness, which the author had received good feedback for, accompanied by rejections, because publishers had a hard time classifying it as either horror or fantasy.http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/Laurell.html

The Supreme Court has granted the undead equal rights to humans. Vampires, zombies and werewolves are recognized citizens of the United States. In St. Louis, Anita Blake - herself not entirely human with her abilities to raise the dead - has become a vampire hunter and executioner, forcing vampires to obey the law or face destruction.http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/guiltypleasures.html

Jean Claude is playing politics in the city with Nikolaus, who is the Master of the City and ruler of all vampires. She is over a thousand years old, but trapped in the body of a 10-year-old girl. To advance his own ends, Jean Claude needs someone to find a serial killer, one that is targeting the innocent vampires of his city, and he has chosen to hire Anita Blake.http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/051513449X/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

• "Anita has to battle ghouls and investigate vampire murders whilst also having to keep various vampires from biting her, even the ones playing on her own team. These vampires aren’t the decent mainstreamers often seen in tv-series, these are the primal ones going for the jugular. Thankfully, Anita has a trigger-happy hunting partner and a desperate ex-junkie to keep her grounded in the real world. The series has some true originality and is easy to read and even easier to get hooked on." — Stefanie Rosenboom, American Book Centerhttp://www.abc.nl/blog/?p=17225

• "Trust is a luxury Anita can't afford when her allies aren't human. The city's most powerful vampire, Nikolaos, is 1,000 years old and looks like a 10-year-old girl. The second most powerful vampire, Jean-Claude, is interested in more than just Anita's professional talents, but the feisty necromancer isn't playing along--yet. This popular series has a wild energy and humor, and some very appealing characters--both dead and alive." — Amazon.comhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/051513449X/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books