5 Of The Best Books By Anne Rice That Aren't The Witching Hour

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Before her death at the age of 80 in 2021, no one delivered a spooky horror book perfect for the fall TBR more reliably than Anne Rice. With her tales of vampires, witches, mummies, wolves, and other costume staples, the woman was essentially a Spirit Halloween in writer form. Her 1990 novel "The Witching Hour," the first in the "Lives of the Mayfair Witches" series, is one of the pillars holding up that metaphorical retail warehouse. It introduced us to Dr. Rowan Mayfair and the expansive history of the Mayfair family, who have been haunted by a seductive demon for centuries.

Fans of "The Witching Hour" are likely aware that the series was completed by two sequels, 1993's "Lasher" and 1994's "Taltos," but maybe not its connection to Rice's larger body of work. The characters themselves show up throughout "The Vampire Chronicles," Rice's primary fictional universe, but its themes, style, and, of course, New Orleans setting also regularly resurface. While some of Rice's series and standalone stories are vast departures from the world of "The Witching Hour," others will make fans feel right at home.

Rowan Mayfair appears again in 2003's "Blood Canticle," the 10th and final planned installment of "The Vampire Chronicles" until Rice decided to bring it back from the dead with 2014's "Prince Lestat." Rowan not only crosses paths with that famous French bloodsucker, she and Lestat de Lioncourt fall passionately in love in what is possibly the most ambitious crossover outside of the Marvelverse. It's a little complicated due to Rowan's marriage to Michael Curry, but when is it not when it comes to witch/vampire romance?

Another character from "The Lives of the Mayfair Witches" appears in "Blood Canticle," too: Mona Mayfair. Rowan's teenage ward is on the brink of death, and it's up to Lestat to save her the only way he knows how. The rest plays out in a sort of "Now That's What I Call Vampire Chronicles" fashion, to be expected of a final chapter that should hit with "The Witching Hour" fans but may miss with others. In fact, "Blood Canticle" was famously review-bombed by readers on Amazon when it was released, but it seems to have since redeemed itself with Goodreads users, who have given it 3.74 out of 5 stars.

Merrick Mayfair is a member of the Mayfair family of witches not mentioned in "The Witching Hour" who eventually becomes deeply embedded in the story of Rowan Mayfair and co. Her life is recounted in 2000's "Merrick," the seventh volume of "The Vampire Chronicles." If you're a fan of AMC's "Interview with the Vampire" series, you may already be familiar with her as the witch who conjures the spirit of the young vampire Claudia in Season 3.

That encounter is detailed in "Merrick," but the book also delves into the witch's early family life and adoption by the Talamasca, the secret society that keeps tabs on supernatural happenings that readers will recognize from "The Witching Hour." In a rare departure for Rice, we accompany Merrick as she leaves the dark and cozy embrace of New Orleans for the wilderness of Guatemala to retrieve ancient treasures. Those who plan to read on to "Blackwood Farm" may want to start here to fully appreciate Merrick's final acts. "Merrick" has 3.77 stars on Goodreads.

Don't let the pastoral title fool you — there's plenty of darkness afoot in "Blackwood Farm," the 2002 ninth installment of "The Vampire Chronicles." This is the story of Quinn Blackwood, heir to the eponymous estate, who befriends the vampire Lestat. Quinn is dealing with his own paranormal bugaboo, much like the Mayfair witches, although it's revealed in "Blackwood Farm" that Quinn shares an ancestor with the witches, so it's kind of a family tradition.

This is going to get a little complicated, so try to stay with us. The events of "Blackwood Farm" immediately precede those of "Blood Canticle," though they occur after the story told in "Merrick," an important chronology to keep in mind. Rowan Mayfair appears briefly in "Blackwood Farm," too, although the most important Mayfair in the story is Mona, who Quinn falls deeply in love with. Yes, she's technically his third or fourth cousin if our math is correct, but that's far from the weirdest familial relationship in this series. And it does make for drama that fans can appreciate — they gave it 3.9 stars on Goodreads.

If the antics of Aaron Lightner are your favorite part of "The Witching Hour," your best bet may be to go back to the introduction of the Talamasca in 1988's "The Queen of the Damned." The third volume of "The Vampire Chronicles" also marks the first appearance of Talamasca member David Talbot, who later plays an important role in "Merrick." In "The Queen of the Damned," they task their newest member with traveling to New Orleans to get to the bottom of some vampy shenanigans.

Meanwhile, the queen in question is Akasha, ancient Egyptian royalty and the first vampire. She's awoken from a sleep of many centuries with a new lust for the afterlife, dead set on sinking her teeth into eternal main character Lestat. "The Queen of the Damned" details Akasha's gruesome origin story and evil scheme with a level of bone-chilling that's sure to satisfy fans of "The Witching Hour." Just ask Goodreads reviewers, who gave it 3.93 stars.

Often, the best place to start is the beginning, and when it comes to the best Anne Rice books that aren't "The Witching Hour," readers overwhelmingly agree. Rice's first novel ever, 1976's "Interview with the Vampire," has everything Mayfair witch worshippers love: an outsider introduced with a dropped jaw to a world of unimaginable supernatural power, the spooky realism of New Orleans, and of course, the temptation of a tantalizing tormenter. Lestat, you character.

But the vampire, in this case, is Louis de Pointe du Lac, Lestat's most infamous protégé. Telling his story to a San Francisco journalist in the book that started "The Vampire Chronicles," Louis recalls meeting Lestat, adopting Claudia, and traveling the world as they come to terms with their afterlives. The book has numerous adaptations, including a film, a TV show, and even a musical by Elton John (who is also an author and has a must-read memoir). "Interview with the Vampire" has cemented its place as the pinnacle of paranormal pop culture and remains one of the best books by women from the 1970s that hold up to this day. No wonder it has 4.02 stars on Goodreads with over 670k reviews.

To compile this list, we pored over Anne Rice's bibliography and identified titles that share narrative or stylistic elements with "The Witching Hour." Specifically, we looked for crossover stories featuring characters from the Mayfair family of witches, themes of demonic temptation and initiation into the supernatural realm, and notes of urban fantasy and relative realism among Rice's supernatural settings. 

We found that books from the "Vampire Chronicles" series were overwhelmingly most similar to "The Witching Hour," but we considered all standalone books and volumes of every series by Anne Rice except the two direct sequels to "The Witching Hour." We sorted the resulting list by average Goodreads review score from lowest to highest.