Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris

In Deadlocked, Harris once again skillfully weaves several plot conflicts together that Sookie must navigate without getting herself of any of her friends into more trouble than they already have. At the same time, various more mundane events proceed relatively smoothly, such as Tara and JB's baby's arrival, her brother, Jason's engagement, and Sookie's mental transition from employee to part owner of Merlotte's bar. Harris does a good job of reminding us all that in the midst of crises, life proceeds apace all around us.

The vampire King of Louisiana, Felipe de Castro, has arrived in Bon Temps ostensibly to get to the bottom of the disappearance of his lieutenant, whom Sookie and her allies disposed of in the last adventure. There are undertones, however, that indicate that Felipe knew what Victor was up to all along, and manipulated matters so that his ambitious ally would be destroyed when he crossed Eric, who is a much stronger vampire than indicated by his relatively humble position in the heirarchy.

The first big wrinkle in the fabric shows up at a party hosted by Eric when a blood donor is mysteriously murdered shortly after being kicked out of the house when Sookie arrives unexpectedly to catch Eric in the bedroom, drinking the girl's blood. Sookie and Bill have to figure out who actually killed the girl so that the human police's suspicions are directed away from Eric.

The fairies are restless, too. Claude's strip club seems to be staffed almost entirely by them, and he may be gathering them for purposes of his own. When he journeys with the fairy prince, Niall, back to the fae lands, Sookie's cousin Dermott is unable to keep them under control, and soon there are reports of strange animal killings in the nearby woods.

Sam's girlfriend, Janalyn, is jealous of Sookie, and keeps trying to find some way to discredit her with Sam. Since Janalyn is also the enforcer for Alcyde's pack, Sookie must take somewhat politcal approach to keeping her at bay.

And finally, the Queen of Louisiana's vampires pays Sookie a visit to tell her that she wants to take Eric as her consort, and that Eric's maker signed a contract allowing her to do so. This throws a huge monkey wrench in the middle of their relationship, and Sookie and Eric are forced to make choices about what they most truly love in the climax of this book.