September 19, 2022
Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
The basics
Title: Dead in the Family
Author: Charlaine Harris
Series: Sookie Stackhouse #10
- 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)
Add it: Goodreads
Goodreads Summary:
Sookie Stackhouse is dealing with a whole host of family problems, ranging from her own kin (a non-human fairy and a telepathic second cousin) demanding a place in her life, to her lover Eric's vampire sire, an ancient being who arrives with Eric's 'brother' in tow at a most inopportune moment. And Sookie's tracking down a distant relation of her ailing neighbour (and ex), Vampire Bill Compton. In addition to the multitude of family issues complicating her life, the werewolf pack of Shreveport has asked Sookie for a special favour, and since Sookie is an obliging young woman, she agrees. But this favour for the wolves has dire results for Sookie, who is still recovering from the trauma of her abduction during the Fairy War.
Read a full summary of Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris below. If you can’t remember what happened in Dead in the Family and you need a refresher, then you’re in the right place.
What happened in Dead in the Family?
- Sookie tells Amelia that she loves Eric, and they talk about her blood bond. Amelia promises to get more information on that for her.
- Claude visits Sookie and tells her about the Fae War, and how Claudine died to protect Sookie. He says Niall managed to seal the Fae world so they can’t get to the humans any more.
- Sookie is now going to physio in an attempt to recover from her torture at the hands of the Fae.
- Eric tells Sookie that he wasn’t able to save Sookie from being tortured because Victor, the vampire in charge of Louisiana, chained him up. Victor pretended to forget that Eric and Sookie were married.
- Sookie decides they have to get rid of Victor.
- Jason and his girlfriend Michele have Sookie over for dinner. They chat about Jason’s were-panther status and Eric and the Fae and stuff. They talk about the fact that their grandmother had an affair with a Fae.
- Sookie heads to Bill’s after work. She’s surprised to see that he looks terrible. She tells Bill he should find Lorena’s vampire child to get help and heal.
- Alcide asks Sookie if he and his pack can hunt on her land during the full moon. She agrees. She is introduced to a couple of other people in the pack, Basim and Annabelle. Annabelle isn’t very nice.
- The next morning, Basim tells Sookie they found a body. It seems to be Debbie Pelt, who was killed by Sookie.
- Claude asks to stay with Sookie for a while as he doesn’t want to go back to the other Fae.
- Niall sends Sookie a letter through Claude, which tells Sookie that she’s now free as the officials have been paid off.
- Sookie also finds out that Claudine left Sookie all her money.
- Pam picks up Sookie to take her to see Eric. They chat about Victor, who seems to be trying to take over Eric’s area. They agree they should kill him.
- Pam and Eric tell Sookie that the government wants the weres to register like the vampires did.
- On the way home, Bruno (Victor’s second) tells Pam and Sookie to pull over. Bruno tries to strangle Sookie but she’s able to stab and kill him.
- Sookie hides Bruno’s car, and Pam then drops her home.
- Tanya tells Sookie she married Calvin Norris.
- Sookie and Sam go to dinner to talk about how she has been doing. Sam doesn’t approve of Eric and Sookie’s relationship, although it’s none of his business.
- The vampires realise Bruno and his colleague are missing.
- Remy calls Sookie and asks her to babysit Hunter, Hadley’s son. Remy drops Hunter off at Sookie’s place. Sookie chats with Hunter about their shared telepathy skills.
- One of Eric’s staff, Heidi, shows up to look at the garden. She finds traces of two Fae, and two corpses. She also scented Bill, or so she thinks.
- Sookie introduces Hunter to Claude the next morning. They all make breakfast together while Eric sleeps in the closet.
- Agent Lattesta comes over as he’s in town for a trial and wants to provoke Sookie. Hunter tells him he’s a bad man.
- Sookie takes Hunter to the park with Claude, and then to McDonalds. Hunter reads someone’s mind and isn’t subtle about it.
- Eric wakes up and tells Sookie about vampire politics. Why we’re learning this nine books in is anyone’s guess. There are four different clans that are named after gods, which meet every couple of years. The clans all have spies, of course.
- Appius Livius Ocella, Eric’s maker, arrives.
- Appius and his other child, Alexei, are able to enter Sookie’s house without invitation, which is a bit worrying.
- Jason chooses this moment to come and pick up a bit of furniture.
- Appius tells the group how he saved Alexei from certain death in Russia.
- Sookie tells Eric about the new corpse that Heidi detected. Eric asks Alcide about it, and he agrees to stop by.
- Jason and Alcide dig up the body. It’s Basim. Annabelle admits she was with him at some point but he had to leave. Jannalynn attacks Annabelle.
- Alcide promotes Jannalynn to be his second because Annabelle is a traitor. The weres leave the property.
- Eric leaves with Appius and Alexei.
- Detectives Bellefleur and Beck arrive to search the grounds for a body. Sookie allows it. They don’t find anything and have to leave.
- Caroline Bellefleur has been looking for a Bible that will show they’re related to Bill.
- Bill shows up with the Bible and he and Sookie go to visit Caroline. Bill admits that he is Caroline’s great-grandfather.
- Caroline dies the following morning and a funeral is held that evening.
- Sookie finds Bill’s sister, Judith, and tells her that Bill is sick and needs help.
- Antoine is revealed to be a government informant. Sam and Sookie confront him. Lattesa put him up to this to spy on Sookie.
- Dermot apologises to Sookie. He admits that he’s under a spell.
- Sookie goes to speak to Eric, Appius, and Alexei. Sookie scolds Alexei for eating a teenager. Alexei tells Sookie about how his family were murdered.
- Eric tells Sookie that Appius is considering killing Alexei.
- Judith arrives at Sookie’s house and tells Sookie about her and Bill’s vampire history. Lorena turned both Judith and Bill. Bill was the first, and was miserable, so Lorena found Judith, who looked like Bill’s previous wife.
- Sookie tells Judith that Lorena is dead. Judith goes to find Bill.
- Sookie receives $150k from Claudine’s lawyer.
- Sookie goes to church and there are protestors interrupting everything. The police arrive and arrest them.
- Jason and Sookie head to Shreveport. They discuss who could have killed Basim. They’re not sure any theory is solid.
- Alcide asks Sookie to drink a potion to find Basim’s killer. Sookie drinks it, and she starts seeing weird auras. She finds that Ham killed Basim.
- Basim was hired to hide a body on Sookie’s land. Ham killed Basim so that he could be paid instead.
- Sookie isn’t feeling well after the potion and heads to Eric’s to stay there. Eric is… not going great.
- Eric tells Sookie that Alexei killed Bobby and Felicia, injured Eric and Pam, and ran off.
- Michele calls to tell Jason that she has seen Alexei. He’s heading to Sookie’s house. The group heads over there and finds Alexei trying to fight Claude, and Appius is injured too.
- Alexei attacks Claude and another Fae.
- Sookie stops Alexei with a silver chain. Eric stakes Alexei and he dies.
- Sookie wonders if she should kill Appius too. She hesitates for a bit too long, and Coleman (the other Fae) kills Appius instead. Eric kills Coleman.
- Claude explains that Coleman was there to punish Sookie for Claudine’s death, as Coleman was the father of her baby.
- Dermot shows up. Sookie and Claude kiss him to break the spell that Niall put on him.
- Dermot, Sookie, and Claude all climb into bed and go to sleep.
This is a full plot summary of what happened in Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris. Check out our recap list for more recaps. If you can’t find what you need, you can request a recap from us!
