Burnt Offerings (1998) (edit title/settings)

Summary edit see section history

Characters edit see section history

• Anita Blake: Vampire executioner, animator/necromancer and protagonist to the story. She is 5'3" with curly dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. She is part of triumvirate with Jean Claude and Richard. She is lupa (or female leader) to the werewolf pack and Nimir-Ra (female leader) to the wereleopard pard.
• Jean Claude: Master Vampire of the City of St. Louis. He is Anita's lover and part of a triumvirate with Anita and Richard. He is over six feet tall with long black curly hair and midnight blue eyes.
• Anita: Add a description of this character.
• Jason: Stripper at Guilty Pleasures, best friend to Nathaniel, occasional lover of Anita, also Jean-Claude's pomme de sang; flirt
• Stephen: werewolf: Slightly taller than Anita, with blond hair and blue eyes, Anita describes Stephen as beautiful as a china doll. Stephen is one of the strippers at Jean-Claude's club Guilty Pleasures (stage name "Harlow") and serves as one of Jean-Claude's personal wolves. He is one of the many beautiful yet vulnerable sex workers Anita takes under her wing during the course of the series. He shows attachment to both Anita and Richard. When Raina tries to force him to be in her films, Anita saves him. His twin brother Gregory is a wereleopard. Stephen has been dating the wereleopard Vivian.
• Richard: Richard Alaric Zeeman stands at six feet and one inches, with brown hair, brown eyes, and what Anita describes as disturbingly perfect good looks. He became Ulfric (King) of the Thronos Rokke ("Rock Throne") pack of werewolves after killing Marcus, the previous Ulfric. Richard holds a degree in preternatural biology and is working on a Master's degree part-time. He has a day job as a junior high school science teacher. He is very closeted about his lycanthropy for fear of losing his job. Richard was Anita's boyfriend in earlier books, her one-time fiance, and is still her on again, off again lover.
• Nathaniel Graison: Nathaniel is a striking wereleopard in his early twenties, approximately 5'6" with long mahogany auburn hair, lilac eyes, "pretty" rather than handsome features, and a muscular swimmer's body. In his animal form, Nathaniel is a black were-leopard. A stripper at Guilty Pleasures, (stage name: "Brandon"). He is still highly submissive to the point that he is almost unable to function with a master or a mistress.
• Nathaniel
• Asher: Vampire who is beautiful beyond description but who was tragically burned on one-half of his body. Loves Jean-Claude
• Rafael: He is the Rat King and one of Anita's friends. Rafael is strongly Mexican, and is described as "tall, dark and handsome" (Lunatic Cafe) with a stern face and sensual lips. He has a crown branded into his forearm to mark him as Rat King and his clan is called the Dark Crown Clan. He and Nikolaos were in conflict over control of the city's rats and wererats until Anita killed her. Anita saved his life so he offers her bodyguards or any other help when she needs them. Rafael also has treaties with Richard and Jean-Claude. He has an ex-wife who moved with his child to another state to get away from him because of what he is. He has visitation rights.
• Zerbrowski: member of the RPIT team
• Dolph
• Larry
• Ronnie
• Willie
• Rudolph "Dolph" Storr: police detective who consults with Anita on especially difficult RPIT cases
• The Traveler: Council vampire
• Yvette: vampire; One of Morte D'Amour's followers, Yvette is a sadist who enjoys rotting on people. She tortures Warrick for many years
• Balthasar: human servant to the Traveler
• Padma: Padma, also known as the Master of Beasts, is originally Indian and wears a turban. He is one of the weaker members of the Vampire Council as he can only gain strength from his human servant through direct feeding. His unique power is the ability to "call" all animals, not just a single species. Using this power, Padma can bend animals and shapeshifters to his will, and can also use the power as if it were a shapeshifter's "beast" - forcing his power into another, controlling their shapeshifting, and even killing them.
• Zane: wereleopard; Tried to be alpha and pimp when Gabriel died; happy to hand things over to Anita. Has an on-again off-again relationship with Cherry. He is described as being tall and thin with multiple piercings and frequently changes the color of his hair. Has fangs on upper and lower teeth that won't shift back (result of too much time in animal form). Jason has also described him as being a "bisexual bastard"
• Warrick: One of Morte D'Amour's followers, Warrick was made into a vampire in the 13th century by Yvette, when he was a member of the Crusades. Warrick had the rare ability to control and create fire (pyrokinesis), and believed it to be a gift from God, this as well as his ability to become a master vampire were suppressed while he served in the presence of the Vampire Council. Upon arriving in the United States he was a sufficient distance from the Councils debilitating influence reaching the status of master vampire while in St. Louis, he also gained the almost unheard-of ability to walk in sunlight<which he claimed/believed came from God> and an animal to call, which was revealed to be the butterfly.
• Balthazar
• Sylvie: 2nd in command in the werewolf pack
• Reynolds
• Willie McCoy: newly dead Vampire, the only vampire Anita knew alive
• Veronica "Ronnie" Sims: female friend of Anita's who dating a wererat and is a PI
• Padgett
• Kevin
• Larry Kirkland: new re-animator; Anita's mentee
• Gregory: Stephen's brother ,werepanther
• Damian: Damian is a green eyed, red haired Viking vampire.
• Merci
• Donc
• Blake
• Raina: Raina was a fantastically beautiful werewolf. She was the lupa of the werewolves, "psychotic bitch", and an extreme sadist. She often used her sexuality to manipulate other wolves into doing her bidding. She and Marcus helped punish werewolves and wereleopards for refusing her by putting them into pornographic snuff films. She was shot and killed by Anita while trying to have Anita killed in one of her snuff films in The Killing Dance. Ironically, Raina's "munin" (spirit) now "haunts" Anita . Sometimes Anita calls her to get information or help with healing. In return Anita must do her a favor (usually something sexual).
• Tucker
• Mckinnon
• Fernando: Padma's son
• Vicki
• Liv: A large Nordic vampire with bodybuilder muscles who pledged her loyalty to Jean-Claude when he became Master of the City of St. Louis.
• Browning
• Pete
• Wren: Lieuetant in the St. Louis firefighters
• Irving
• Louie: a wererat professor
• Lilian
• Thomas: Werepanther, one of Padma's loyalists
• Lorraine
• Hannah: One of Jean-Claude's vampires. Hannah is also dating Willie McCoy.
• Gabriel: A sinister looking wereleopard with dark curly hair, Gabriel was the alpha of the St. Louis pard, The Blood Drinkers. While living, Gabriel was called leoparde lionne (a protective leader) by pard members. Posthumously, pard members admitted Gabriel led as a lion passant. Gabriel was a severe sadomasochist who contracted lycanthropy when Elizabeth shifted into leopard form during sex and mauled him nearly to death, the crowning moment of his life. Gabriel forced his pard to participate in Raina's pornography operation.
• Gideon: A handsome weretiger with blonde-brown hair, his eyes are yellow-and-orange. His voice sounds like he is growling. He is a somewhat reluctant servant and animal to call of Padma, the Master of Beasts.
• Tammie Reynolds: She is the first detective witch and she chose to work with RPIT. Being a witch, she knows more about detailed spells or rituals than Anita does. Anita knows the basic ideas behind stuff, she says she took a few general classes in college. Tammy is five foot ten inches in height, somewhere around Anita's age, but she still has an innocence like Larry does which is slowly being worn away with police work.
• Vivian: Wereleopard. Vivian is African-American, with Irish genetics as well, for a very pale but dark coloring. She makes Anita think of a delicate beautiful doll and feel protective of her. Anita believes she is the most beautiful woman she had ever met, perfect in proportion with brown eyes.
• Jamil: Skoll, or first enforcer of the St. Louis pack. Jamil is just shy of six feet, with rich brown skin and waist-length hair woven into corn rows.
• Malcolm: A powerful master vampire, Malcolm is Head of the Church of Eternal Life in St. Louis
• Gwen: werewolf and girl friend of Sylvie
• Irving Griswold: A short, balding werewolf with a day job as an investigative reporter for a Saint Louis newspaper. Irving remains closeted at his day job in order to avoid discrimination, and frequently exchanges information with Anita.
• Harry: Co-owns Burnt Offerings, vampire
• Marcus: He was the former Ulfric of the werewolf pack. He was a surgeon and one of the pack's only doctors. He had a lupa named Raina, who together helped put both werewolves and wereleopards into pornographic snuff films. He was killed by Richard in a battle for supremacy and eaten by the entire pack.
• Elizabeth: wereleopard
• Caroline: One of the church members to the Church of the Eternal

Quotes edit see section history

• “At these prices you should bring the cow out and have a ritual sacrifice at the table.”

  Anita Blake

• “Never tease a woman about her weight, Jean-Claude. At least not an American twentieth-century one." "My deepest apologies." "When you apologize, try not to smile at the same time. It ruins the effect.”

  Anita & Jean-Claude

• “Life's a bitch." "And then you die.”

  Anita Blake & Larry Kirkland

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Washington
• Burnt Offerings: A bar where RPIT is investigating a crime.
• The Circus of the Damned: A Circus in St. Louis owned by Jean Claude. It is also his daytime resting place.

Organizations edit see section history

• RPIT: Regional Preternatural Investigation Team special police division
• Animators Inc.: Anita's place of employment; agency brings up zombies
• Church of Eternal Life: A vampire and vampire friendly church

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Ulfric: Alpha of the werewolves
• Lupa: female head of the werewolves, submissive to the Ulfric
• 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.
• Ma Petite: In French it literaly means "my child" Jean Claude uses 'Ma Petite' as a term of endearment for Anita Blake"Petite" meaning small in French is maybe a reference to her size.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by The Killing Dance, and followed by Blue Moon.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Laurell K. Hamilton (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Craig White (artist) (Cover Artist)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: not available
• Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Some sexually explicit scenes and profanity

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( H ) › Hamilton, Laurell K.
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Horror › Dark Fantasy
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Horror › Vampires
• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Authors, A-Z › ( H ) › Hamilton, Laurell K.
• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy › Series
• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy › Urban
• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Media › Blake's 7
• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy › Dark
• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Thrillers › Suspense
• Books › Romance › Vampires

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history