What books comprise the Lives of the Mayfair Witches? Below
is a brief synopsis of each book in the series and cover art from
both domestic and international editions.
Recommended Reading Order
The Witching Hour
Lasher
Taltos
Blackwood Farm
Blood Canticle
Merrick can be read at any point as it does not directly involve the
First Street Mayfairs but if the order is to be exact, it is between
Taltos and Blackwood Farm
*The cover mockups were made with
Free Online Book Mockup Maker
Covers shown are hard cover, trade and mass market paperback
where available
The Witching Hour
"The doctor woke up afraid."
This short sentence opens the long and detailed Lives of the Mayfair
Witches as the first sentence of the first book.
Rowan Mayfair has grown up in a life of wealth and privilege in San
Francisco. A neurosurgeon with an unusual gift for healing patients,
Rowan knows nothing of her family, the Mayfairs of New Orleans.
Michael Curry grew up in New Orleans but moved to San Francisco after
high school and never returned. A firefighter's son, he had the
opportunity to go to college, then build a successful business restoring
historic Victorian homes.
An accident at sea brings Rowan and Michael together. After Rowan
rescues Michael from drowning in San Francisco Bay, Michael wakes up
with a psychic power in his hands and an urgent mission that sends him
back to New Orleans. Just as he leaves, Rowan gets a call telling
her that her birth mother has died. Rowan immediately arranges to
leave San Francisco for New Orleans and when she gets there, her and
Michael's destinies merge in one gloomy old mansion and a ghost that has
haunted the Mayfair family for over 300 years.
Lasher
Lasher, the ghost that has haunted the Mayfair family for thirteen
generations, has been born in the flesh to Rowan Mayfair. With
Rowan as his captive, Lasher manages to stay several steps ahead of the
massive international manhunt initiated by the powerful Mayfair
family.
As the investigation continues, Mayfair women are dying of a
strange hemorrhage due to miscarriage of an embryo that
might not even be human. Genetic testing is quickly revealing
that many members of the Mayfair family possess an extra set of
chromosomes that lie dormant unless two people with the extra set of
chromosomes reproduce.
As more and more evidence of a possibly heretofore unknown species
emerges, including samples sent in secret by Rowan herself, trouble
brews in the Talamasca that makes things dangerous for those members
already involved with the Mayfair family.
On top of that, massive funds from the Mayfair accounts are being
withdrawn, and as it becomes clear that Rowan's signature was forged
on more than one occasion, and as reports come in of Rowan's declining
health, and with more and more women dying, it becomes a matter of
extreme urgency that Rowan be found...and that Lasher be
stopped.
Taltos
Lasher is dead; Rowan is alive and healing slowly. A tentative
peace has been restored to the Mayfair family, until Talamasca scholar
and Mayfair bridegroom Aaron Lightner is murdered by a hit-and-run
motorist. This causes Rowan to immediately come out of her state
of catatonic grief, and initiate a search for the persons responsible
for Aaron Lightner's death.
Before Rowan and Michael leave for London, it is discovered that Mona
Mayfair, the 13-year-old Designee of the Mayfair Legacy upon Rowan's
death, is pregnant. Mona had seduced Michael during Rowan's
captivity with Lasher, and it looks like Mona is Michael's last chance
to have children.
As Mona's pregnancy progresses at an alarmingly fast rate, Rowan and
Michael close in on Aaron's killers. They meet Ash Templeton, who
aides Rowan and Michael on their quest to get to the bottom of the unrest
in the Talamasca and avenge Aaron. Ash then tells them the long and
violent history of the Taltos, all the while keeping it secret from them
that he knows who Mona is...
Blackwood Farm
The Blackwood family has owned Blackwood Farm since Manfred Blackwood
built his empire in the 19th century. The present day family has
no belief in ghosts, witches, or vampires but Quinn Blackwood has had a
doppelganger as his playmate, friend and confidante all his life.
When Quinn inherits Blackwood Farm upon the deaths of his grandparents,
he sets about administering the estate with the help of Jasmine and her
family, who have worked at Blackwood Farm for generations. When
Quinn finds the old Hermitage at Sugar Devil Island, deep in Sugar Devil
Swamp, he provokes the wrath of Petronia, a mysterious androgyne who
wants the Hermitage to herself.
A series of violent encounters puts Quinn in the hospital at Mayfair
Medical, where he meets Mona Mayfair, who is the only other person in
his life who can see Goblin, his doppelganger. Quinn and Mona
quickly fall in love, and he meets Rowan and Michael, who warn him that
Mona is very sick and that any sex between the two must be protected.
The child Mona bore Michael had been a Taltos who disappeared with
Ash Templeton, but the birth left Mona critically ill.
When Quinn goes on a three year tour of Europe, he and Mona stay in
touch by email until Mona becomes so ill that she can no longer use a
computer. Shortly after Quinn returns to Blackwood Farm, Petronia
attacks him, abducts him and turns him into a vampire.
As a vampire, Quinn has to make a difficult choice - find Mona and tell
her what he's become or shield her from it? But a bigger problem
is brewing: Goblin is becoming more and more violent and dangerous.
Unable to stop him, Quinn seeks out the assistance of Lestat,
knowing he is taking a great risk by going into New Orleans, Lestat's
protected territory...
3D models I made with the cameo that appears on the cover of
Blackwood Farm
Blood Canticle
Lestat is back, up from his death sleep on the altar of St.
Elizabeth's. After he has helped Quinn send Goblin into the
hereafter, and lost his beloved Merrick in the process, his grief is
interrupted by an intense exchange inside Blackwood Manor.
Mona now knows Quinn is a vampire, and Quinn is about to offer the Dark
Gift to Mona. Once Lestat has intervened, he meets Rowan Mayfair,
and quite possibly falls in love for the first time in his existence.
Now Lestat has to juggle training two new vampires, and his love for
Rowan Mayfair.
