The Harlequin (2007) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

Characters edit see section history

• Anita Blake: Vampire Executioner, Animator, Necromancer, Federal Marshall, Jean-Claude's Human Servant, Nimir-Ra of the Blood Drinker's Clan, Lupa & Bolverk of Thronnos Rokke Clan, 1/3 of a triumvirate with Jean-Claude and Richard, 1/3 of a triumvirate with Damian and Nathaniel, Succubus, Damian's Master, Carries four strains of lycanthropy - wolf. leopard, lion and a mystery strain
• Jean-Claude: Master Vampire, Master of the City of St. Louis, Anita's lover, Anita's Master, Richard's Master, 1/3 of a triumvirate with Anita and Richard, owns Guilty Pleasures, Circus of the Damned, The Laughing Corpse & Danse Macabre, Incubus
• Richard Zeeman: Werewolf, Ulfric of the Thronnos Rokke Clan, Junior High School Teacher, 1/3 of a triumvirate with Anita and Jean-Claude, Anita's ex-fiance, Jean-Claude's Wolf to Call
• Nathaniel Graison: Wereleopard, Member of the Blood Drinker's Clan, Anita's Leopard to Call, Stripper at Guilty Pleasures, 1/3 of a triumvirate with Anita and Damian, Anita's live-in lover
• Micah Callahan: Wereleopard, Nimir-Raj of the Blood Drinker's Clan, Head of the Lycanthrope Coalition, Anita's live-in lover
• Damian: Old vampire who will never be a master. Is Anita's vampire servant. Is also part of a triumvirate with Anita and Nathaniel. Dancer at Danse Macabre
• Edward: Human, Anita's friend, Assassin, Bounty Hunter, Vampire Hunter, Federal Marshall
• Olaf: Human, Serial Killer, Hates females, Wants to stalk Anita and hunt with her
• Jason Schuyler: Werewolf, Member of the Thronnos Rokke Clan, Jean-Claude's pomme de sang, Stripper at Guilty Pleasures, Anita's lover, Nathaniel's best friend
• Buzz: Young Vampire, Security at Guilty Pleasures
• Requiem: Jean-Claude's third in command, Master Vampire, Stripper at Guilty Pleasures, Anita's lover
• Clay: Werewolf, Member of the of the Thronnos Rokke Clan, Head of Security at Guilty Pleasures, Security at Circus of the Damned
• Lisandro: Wererat, Security at Circus of the Damned
• Byron: Vampire of Belle Morte's line, was turned when he was 15. Prefers men sexually, but has helped feed the ardeur. Stripper at Guilty Pleasure
• Graham: Werewolf, Security at Guilty Pleasures, Security at Circus of the Damned, Wants to be Anita's pomme de sang
• Claudia: Wererat, Security at Circus of the Damned. Is very large in stature-especially for a woman.
• Fredo: Wererat, Security at Circus of the Damned. Carries knives
• Sampson: Son of a master vampire, half-mermaid. Potentially a siren but his power's have not been awoken. His mother wanted Anita to try to awaken his powers.
• Rafael: Wererat King
• Louie: Wererat, Rafael's 2nd in command, Richard's best friend, Biology Professor
• Dr Lillian: Wererat, doctor for most of the lycanthrope community
• Cherry: Wereleopard, Registered Nurse, Member of the Blood Drinker's Clan
• Wicked: Warrior Vampire, Truth's brother
• Truth: Warrior Vampire, Wicked's brother
• Donovan Reece: The Swan King for the entire USA
• Willie McCoy: Vampire, manager of the Laughing Corpse, dating Hannah
• Hannah: Vampire, dating Willie McCoy
• Avery Seabrook: Vampire, former member of the Church of Eternal Life, but was drawn to Anita by her necromancy during a murder investigation. Is now blood oathed to Jean Claude. Newly dead- less than 2 years.
• Joseph: Werelion, rex of the local pride
• Asher: Master Vampire, Second in command to Jean-Claude and manager of Circus of the Damned. Jean-Claude & Anita's lover
• Haven: Werelion from Chicago. Anita's beast had recognized him, but he has returned and is planning to take over the St. Louis pride.
• The Mother of all Darkness: The leader of the vampire council, Vampire, Were-sabre-toothed tige, first known vampire. Smells of rain and jasmine. Has been 'asleep' for a very long time. Also known as Marmee Noir
• Peter Parnell: Edward's almost step-son. Wants to be a bounty hunter like Edward- but is still young, only 16.
• Malcolm: Master Vampire, Leader of The Church of Eternal Life
• Jake: Werewolf, member of the Harlequin
• Giovanni: Add a description of this character.
• Dolph: Also known as Sgt. Storr, he is the head of the Regional Preternatural Investigation Team. Has issues with the 'monsters'. His son is marrying a vampire.
• Remus: Werehyena, Security at Circus of the Damned
• Soledad: Weretiger
• Zerbrowski: A member of the RPIT, more understanding of Anita and the monsters, likes to tease and joke.
• Narcissus: Werehyena, head of the local hyenas.
• Greg: Werelion. Submissive and weak
• Travis: Werelion. Submissive and weak.

Quotes edit see section history

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• “Maybe God isn't the sex police, Richard. Sometimes I think Christians get all hung up on the sex thing because it's easier to worry about sex than to ask yourself, Am I good person? If as long as you don't have sex with a lot of people you're a good person, that's easy. It's easyt o avoid that. It's easy to think, I'm not fucking anyone, so I'm good. It makes it easy to be cruel, because as long as you're not fucking around, nothing you do can be that bad. Is that really all you think of God? Is he just the sex police for you and Malcolm? Or is it that sex is easy to worry about, easy to avoid, and the whole love-your-neighbor-as-you-love-yourself thing that's hard? Some days it's so hard, I feel like trying to take care of everyone in my life will break me apart. But I do my best. I do my best for everyone in my life every damn day. Can you say that, Richard? Do you do your best for everyone in your life every damn day?"”

  Anita Blake

• “Not true, and someone’s having a better fantasy life with my life than I am.”

  Anita Blake

• “Do not tempt me, Byron. My anger seeks only a target.”

  Requiem

• “I mean, I was like their only chance to avoid a family tragedy of epic proportions.”

  Anita Blake

• “This cloak-and-dagger shit is getting old.”

  Fredo

• “Guns, unlike pagers, do not float.”

  Anita Blake

• “One of my other boyfriends said I hated being in love, and he was right. It always felt so stupid, like your insurance rates should go up, because you’re impaired. Romantically handicapped.”

  Anita Blake

• “You hate most in others what you’re afraid of in yourself.”

  Anita Blake

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• St. Louis, Missouri
• Circus of the Damned: A converted warehouse. From the front it looks like a carnival with posters promoting the freak show, and dancing clowns twirling on top of the glowing sign. The warehouse contains a permanent carnival, a circus ring and a freak show that held mostly mythological creatures. Situated under the Circus is the residence of the Master of St. Louis and the daytime resting place for the St. Louis kiss of vampires.
• Guilty Pleasures: A strip club where male vampires and shape shifters dance for the masses.
• The Church of Eternal Life: A vampire church located in St. Louis. It is considered one of the fastest growing congregations in North America. The Church does not blood-oath it's members, not wanting to "enslave" them to one vampire.

Organizations edit see section history

• Regional Preternatural Investigation Team: RPIT, usually pronounced "Rip-It", is an extension of the St. Louis Police Department charged with keeping the peace between the human and supernatural communities by investigating all crimes with a supernatural aspect, and apprehending and/or exterminating the guilty parties. It has only recently been formed, largely as a half-hearted effort to placate the liberals and the press after the groundbreaking Addison vs. Clark case. Its remit is to investigate all supernatural crimes, whether it be committed against humans or against the supernatural beings themselves, including Vampires, Lycanthropes, Zombies, Ghouls, and more. Derogatorily known as the "Spook Squad", it is not considered a positive career move to join it, and it is comprised mostly of police officers who have aggravated their superiors in some way or another.
• Animators, Inc.: One of the most successful animator companies in the US. Although having begun as a small business in a spare room above a garage, it has grown, moving to bigger and better offices and hiring additional animators and secretarial staff. Though primarily aimed at raising the dead, the nature of the business has attracted other clients who wished to utilize the animator's expert supernatural knowledge, especially after vampires won civil rights. The firm usually receives contracts to have the dead raised as zombies, usually as witnesses in legal cases, setting will disputes, and sometimes as a last chance to have a word with a loved one who has passed away; Anita's place of employment
• Coalition for Better Understanding Between Human and Lycanthrope Communities: AKA The Furry Coalition, There is no official agenda or manifesto for the Coalition, other than to provide help to any were-animal in an emergency and to spread awareness of were animals to humans through the radio, television, and public speeches. In a way, they act as a general PR (Public Relations) firm for Lycanthropy. They have a help hotline, offer counseling and support to both new and existing weres and their families, and give informational seminars to the public.

First Sentence edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Ulfric: the leader or alpha of a werewolf clan
• ardeur: an intense sexual need that some vampires of Belle Morte's line carry. It needs to be fed regularly with sexual activity, can spread to others by touch, and while you are in the hold of it, you are not really in control of yourself. Jean-Claude holds the ardeur, as well as Anita. The ardeur is what causes them to be referred to as 'incubus' and 'succubus', respectively.
• Nimr Ra/Nimr Raj: leaders of a group of wereleopards. The Nimr Ra is the female counterpart to the Nimr Raj, the male.
• Lupa: The female counterpart to the leader of a werewolf clan. Unlike the Nimr Ra/Raj, the Ulfric and lupa are not equals. The lupa is below the Ulfric in status.
• Munin: the werewolves believe that if they devour (literally) part of their dead, then their spirits and memories will always remain with the clan. The spirits can then be accessed by some of the clan members to find out specialized information that the deceased had carried. Anita is also able to access the munin, and one of them- Raina- stays with her all the time.
• triumvirate: this is a specialized term within this series to refer to a grouping of a Master vampire, her/his human servant, and the Master's beast to call. Jean-Claude, Richard, and Anita are one triumvirate. Somewhat out of the rules, Anita, Damian, and Nathaniel are another triumvirate.
• Ma Petite: French: When used as an adjective it translates to honey-sweet. It is also a cute double entendre that refers to Anita's height.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by Danse Macabre, and followed by Blood Noir.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Laurell K. Hamilton (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Craig White (artist) (Cover Artist)
2. Steve Stone (Cover Artist) - Orbit

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3558.A443357 H37 2007
• Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Sexually explicit material

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy › Series
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Erotica › Adult Fiction
• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy › Urban
• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy › Dark
• Books › Romance › Vampires
• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Authors, A-Z › ( H ) › Hamilton, Laurell K.

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Laurell K. Hamilton: Author's Website

More Books Like This edit see section history

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history