Missouri-born Anita Blake has a license to kill. In addition to being a state-sanctioned vampire executioner, she also raises the dead for a living for Animators, Inc. When a trail of dead vampires shows up (the law has recently made it illegal to slay without a warrant), the master vampire of the city hires Anita to solve the crimes. Guilty Pleasures is the first in the Anita Blake series, an urban fantasy odyssey that kicks ass and takes names. Even though world-building and character development takes precedence to building a decent mystery, Guilty Pleasures still makes a good introduction to an attractively spooky twin of St. Louis, Missouri.