Definitely Dead

Before you read book #6, I recommend you pause and do some sleuthing to save yourself the "wtf?" moment that happens when you realize that you're missing some information. What you're looking for is a short story called "One Word Answer" that was published in a collection called Bite, and in this story, you learn about Sookie's cousin Hadley. Hadley became a vampire and then met her final death, and Sookie has been named the sole heir. In addition, during her short time as a vampire, Hadley became a favorite of the queen of Louisiana. I say all this because I was pretty miffed when I was reading book 6, as this information is summarized as though it has happened in the series and it was most definitely not in one of the novels. If you google the title and author, you can find a pdf somewhere.

In any case, the plot of book six rests on this information. Sookie goes to New Orleans to pack up Hadley's apartment and finds a bit more than she bargained for. Quinn (the were-tiger) is back and even manages to have a semi-normal date with Sookie (before it's interrupted by a werewolf attack). The Pelt family continues to persist in trying to discover what happened to their daughter. The Queen of Louisiana has just married the King of Arkansas, but things aren't exactly going smoothly. And while Eric has all the information about what happened while his memory was lost, he still can't quite figure out what Sookie means to him now, which pushes him into making Bill reveal some rather major information.
We're definitely seeing a shift away from Sookie's absorption with her relationships (not like she was ever only boy-crazy, but she's become a bit older and wiser), and while we certainly aren't discounting the fellas, Sookie is becoming more and more involved in the supernatural world in her own right as the Queen calls upon her for her assistance.
Trivia: evidently Charlaine Harris had finished this manuscript just prior to Katrina, and considered changing it as a result of the hurricane, but because of the season in which it takes place, she left this novel as it was and, instead, worked Katrina's destruction into the next.