Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter
#4014.00 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 30 books Status Ongoing 1993–present Reading commitment High Laurell K. Hamilton Last reviewed 2026-08-25
Overview
Anita Blake is a professional vampire hunter, licensed necromancer, and, later, U.S. Marshal in an alternate St. Louis where vampires and other supernatural beings have legal standing. Laurell K. Hamilton began the series with Guilty Pleasures in 1993, and it is one of the founding works of modern urban fantasy, credited with helping establish many of the genre's conventions around supernatural noir detectives and legally recognized monsters. The series is still ongoing, with its main sequence, now around thirty entries, mixing full novels with a handful of shorter novellas such as Micah and Jason, and it shifted over its run from a detective-fiction structure toward an increasingly explicit focus on Anita's romantic and sexual relationships with vampires and werewolves, a change that drew both a loyal following and significant critical debate among longtime readers. It remains one of the longest-running continuously published urban fantasy series in the genre.
Urban fantasy, Dark fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (30 works) counts toward ranking
Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Laurell K. Hamilton
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Guilty Pleasures | 1993 | 1 | core | 4.04 (137,211 ratings) |
 | The Laughing Corpse | 1994 | 2 | core | 4.13 (89,287 ratings) |
 | Circus of the Damned | 1995 | 3 | core | 4.17 (97,938 ratings) |
 | The Lunatic Cafe | 1996 | 4 | core | 4.13 (82,093 ratings) |
 | Bloody Bones | 1996 | 5 | core | 4.12 (77,768 ratings) |
 | The Killing Dance | 1997 | 6 | core | 4.13 (75,580 ratings) |
 | Burnt Offerings | 1998 | 7 | core | 4.09 (72,532 ratings) |
 | Blue Moon | 1998 | 8 | core | 4.07 (68,649 ratings) |
 | Obsidian Butterfly | 2000 | 9 | core | 4.10 (67,266 ratings) |
 | Narcissus in Chains | 2001 | 10 | core | 3.93 (61,815 ratings) |
 | Cerulean Sins | 2003 | 11 | core | 3.88 (54,473 ratings) |
 | Incubus Dreams | 2004 | 12 | core | 3.82 (52,251 ratings) |
 | Micah | 2006 | 13 | core | 3.68 (48,207 ratings) |
 | Danse Macabre | 2006 | 14 | core | 3.84 (48,896 ratings) |
 | The Harlequin | 2007 | 15 | core | 3.94 (47,261 ratings) |
 | Blood Noir | 2008 | 16 | core | 3.89 (43,430 ratings) |
 | Skin Trade | 2009 | 17 | core | 3.95 (40,323 ratings) |
 | Flirt | 2010 | 18 | core | 3.76 (36,859 ratings) |
 | Bullet | 2010 | 19 | core | 3.87 (35,944 ratings) |
 | Hit List | 2011 | 20 | core | 3.97 (31,283 ratings) |
 | Kiss the Dead | 2012 | 21 | core | 3.86 (27,226 ratings) |
 | Affliction | 2013 | 22 | core | 4.07 (23,274 ratings) |
 | Jason | 2014 | 23 | core | 3.56 (14,511 ratings) |
 | Dead Ice | 2015 | 24 | core | 3.97 (16,429 ratings) |
 | Crimson Death | 2016 | 25 | core | 3.93 (13,777 ratings) |
 | Serpentine | 2018 | 26 | core | 3.98 (11,306 ratings) |
 | Sucker Punch | 2020 | 27 | core | 4.00 (9,784 ratings) |
 | Rafael | 2021 | 28 | core | 4.19 (9,261 ratings) |
 | Smolder | 2023 | 29 | core | 3.86 (7,220 ratings) |
 | Slay | 2023 | 30 | core | 4.23 (6,508 ratings) |
The long-running main sequence, mixing full novels and a few shorter novellas, following vampire hunter and necromancer Anita Blake; still active as of the latest update.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter? Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter's Core Canon is 30 books.
- What is the reading order for Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter? Publication order, starting with Guilty Pleasures. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter finished? Ongoing (1993–present).
- How much reading does Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter take? High reading commitment (estimated from 30 Core Canon books).
- How is Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter ranked? #401 in this site's official ranking, based on 1,408,362 reader ratings across 30 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #401?
Ranked #401 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.00 across 30 core books.
- Backed by 1.4M reader ratings.
- Uneven reception: its books range from 3.56 to 4.23.
- 0.03 behind #400, The Keeper of Lonely Spirits.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 30 books · Ongoing · 1.4M ratings · Ranks #401 overall
Good choice if you want a long-running urban fantasy universe that's still ongoing, with new books still coming.
Reading order
Publication order (30 Core Canon books)
- Guilty Pleasures (1993)
- The Laughing Corpse (1994)
- Circus of the Damned (1995)
- Bloody Bones (1996)
- The Lunatic Cafe (1996)
- The Killing Dance (1997)
- Blue Moon (1998)
- Burnt Offerings (1998)
- Obsidian Butterfly (2000)
- Narcissus in Chains (2001)
- Cerulean Sins (2003)
- Incubus Dreams (2004)
- Danse Macabre (2006)
- Micah (2006)
- The Harlequin (2007)
- Blood Noir (2008)
- Skin Trade (2009)
- Bullet (2010)
- Flirt (2010)
- Hit List (2011)
- Kiss the Dead (2012)
- Affliction (2013)
- Jason (2014)
- Dead Ice (2015)
- Crimson Death (2016)
- Serpentine (2018)
- Sucker Punch (2020)
- Rafael (2021)
- Slay (2023)
- Smolder (2023)
Documented internal/story order
- Guilty Pleasures (1993)
- The Laughing Corpse (1994)
- Circus of the Damned (1995)
- The Lunatic Cafe (1996)
- Bloody Bones (1996)
- The Killing Dance (1997)
- Burnt Offerings (1998)
- Blue Moon (1998)
- Obsidian Butterfly (2000)
- Narcissus in Chains (2001)
- Cerulean Sins (2003)
- Incubus Dreams (2004)
- Micah (2006)
- Danse Macabre (2006)
- The Harlequin (2007)
- Blood Noir (2008)
- Skin Trade (2009)
- Flirt (2010)
- Bullet (2010)
- Hit List (2011)
- Kiss the Dead (2012)
- Affliction (2013)
- Jason (2014)
- Dead Ice (2015)
- Crimson Death (2016)
- Serpentine (2018)
- Sucker Punch (2020)
- Rafael (2021)
- Smolder (2023)
- Slay (2023)
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.00 across 1,408,362 ratings on 30 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Admit Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter accepted 2026-08-25
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-08-26
Rule: Core = the full main sequence, novels and novellas alike, as one continuous numbered run. The series is ongoing; entries after this admission are not yet catalogued.