Claim: The subject of True Blood is vampires.

The Southern Vampire Mysteries , also known as The True Blood Novels and The Sookie Stackhouse Novels , is a series of books written by bestselling author Charlaine Harris . The first installment , Dead Until Dark -LRB- 2001 -RRB- , won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001 and later served as the source material for the HBO drama series True Blood -LRB- 2008 -- 2014 -RRB- . The book series has been retronymed the True Blood Series upon reprinting , to capitalize on the television adaptation .   In The Southern Vampire Mysteries/True Blood Series , Harris develops a detailed mythology and alternate history that approaches supernatural beings as real ; at the beginning of the series , vampires ' existence has only been public knowledge for a couple of years , while other supernatural beings , such as werewolves , shapeshifters , faeries , etc. , exist but do not go public until later in the series . The setting is contemporary , and the stories occasionally reference popular culture .   The series is narrated in first person perspective by Sookie Stackhouse , a waitress and a telepath in the fictional town of Bon Temps in northwestern Louisiana . The 12th book , Deadlocked , was released on May 1 , 2012 . Harris was originally contracted to write 10 books , but she revealed at Comic Con 2009 that she has signed a contract for three additional books . On May 14 , 2012 , Harris ' Facebook administrator announced that Dead Ever After '' -LRB- May 7 , 2013 -RRB- would be the final book of the series .