When a powerful centuries-old vampire hits Anita Blake's town, a battle of the undead ensues.

'Most women complain that there are no single straight men left. I'd just like to meet one that's human.' I'm Anita Blake, expert on creatures of the night. I've dined with shapeshifters, danced with werewolves, and been wooed - but not won - by Jean-Claude, the Vampire Master of the City. And now a darkly dangerous vampire named Alejandro has hit town. He wants me for his human servant. A war of the undead has begun. Over me ...

Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, battles a centuries-old vampire with the soul of the city-and Anita's life-at stake in this supernatural thrill ride from New York Times bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton. Anita Blake is an expert on creatures of the night. She has dined with shapeshifters, danced with werewolves, and been wooed, but not won, by Jean-Claude, the Master Vampire of the city. Now there's a new vampire in town named Alejandro and he wants Anita for his servant. His attempts to win her lead to a war of the undead.

For the first time in trade paperback: the fifth novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series from Laurell K. Hamilton. When Branson, Missouri, is hit with a death wave 'four unsolved murders' it doesn't take an expert to realize that all is not well. But luckily for the locals, Anita Blake is an expert in the kinds of preternatural goings-on that have everyone spooked. And she's got an 'in' with the creature that can make sense of the slayings-the sexy master vampire known as Jean-Claude.

Magician Gilbert Blake has spent his entire life conning drunkards in the seediest pubs in the darkest towns, careful to hide the true depths of his power. But when he spends a little too much time in Shadowsea and the infamous slumlord Count Reuben gets wind of his abilities, hiding within the Circus of the Damned may be Gilbert's only chance at survival. But there's more to the Circus than meets the eye. Every time a performer dies, a new one must take his place, or the entire circus suffers the consequences. And while the handsome ringmaster Jesse isn't one to coerce unwilling performers into giving up their souls to the devil, a recent death in their ranks makes Gilbert exactly what they need. Yet the longer Gilbert stays with the Circus, the more danger he seems to bring them. Being with Jesse is more than Gilbert could have hoped for, but as Count Reuben's men continue to search for Gilbert and the Circus loses another performer, they all face running out of time long before the Devil claims his due.

Meet Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, in the first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series that “blends the genres of romance, horror and adventure with stunning panache”(Diana Gabaldon). Laurell K. Hamilton’s bestselling series has captured readers’ wildest imaginations and addicted them to a seductive world where supernatural hungers collide with the desires of the human heart, starring a heroine like no other... Anita Blake is small, dark, and dangerous. Her turf is the city of St. Louis. Her job: re-animating the dead and killing the undead who take things too far. But when the city’s most powerful vampire asks her to solve a series of vicious slayings, Anita must confront her greatest fear—her undeniable attraction to master vampire Jean-Claude, one of the creatures she is sworn to destroy... “What The Da Vinci Code did for the religious thriller, the Anita Blake series has done for the vampire novel.”—USA Today

As Fran travels around Europe with the GothFaire, she has to deal with hundred-year-old ghosts, a paranoid mother, and the rules of dating one of the undead.