Publisher's Blurb:

"There are a lot of monsters in Anita Blake's life. And some of them are human. One such individual is the man she calls Edward, a bounty hunter who specializes in the preternatural. He calls her to help him hunt down the greatest evil she has ever encountered. Something that kills and maims and vanishes into the night. Something Anita will have to face alone..."


"MY NAME IS ANITA BLAKE. I'D LIKE YOU TO MEET EDWARD... ''Edward was a hit man. He specialized in monsters. Vampires, shape-shifters, anything and everything. There were people like me who did it legal, but Edward didn't sweat the legalities or, hell, the ethics. He was an equal opportunity killer. I may be one of the few friends that Edward has, but it's like being friends with a tame leopard. It may curl on the foot of your bed and let you pet its head, but it can still eat your throat out...'' "

Publication Date:

Hardcover - January 2000
Paperback - September 2002(Jove)

ISBN:

0-441-00684-1(), 0-515-13450-3(Jove PB)

Covers and Cover Art:

The above cover was from the 2000 paperback publication of the book. The artists are: Judith Murello & Erika Fusari. Additional cover designs for North America and the UK can be seen here.

Synopsis:

Edward calls in his marker on Anita. He needs her for backup on a job. Anita travels to New Mexico to help Edward track down a bizarre killer.



For a more detailed plot summary of the book, see here

Primary Characters:

Anita Blake
Edward

Recurring Characters:

Bradley Bradford, FBI agent

Non-Recurring Characters:

Cesar - wereleopard
Seth - werejaguar
Lieutenant Marks
Detective Hernando Ramirez
Doctor Evans
Lenora Evans

New Characters:

Olaf
Bernardo Spotted-Horse
Donna
Peter
Rebecca

Character Deaths:

Office Jarman
Deuce: henchman
Blade: henchman
Russel
Newt
Harrold
Simon
Amanda
Tlaloci
Red Woman's Husband

Important Revelations:

• Anita struggles with the concept of love and other characters' opinions of it. Ramirez has a very romantic sense of it, he explained that his grandma had been in love with two men and then saw his grandfather and instantly fell in love with only him. Anita calls Ramirez naive and yet is saddened when he flinched as she removed the Red Woman's Husband's heart. Lenora Evans and Anita have another talk about love and how it confines an individual's freedom. Anita seems scared of that, not exactly of sharing a living space but sharing parts of herself.
• Edward urges Anita in the beginning of the book to have a nice uncomplicated one-night stand with someone, even Bernardo. Anita thinks about that from time to time, even thinking of Ramirez in that light but decides against it when being his girlfriend could compromise her status on the murder cases. Ramirez might be slightly sensitive as well, and Anita notes that maybe she's more attracted to people who aren't entirely human like herself. Anita has thought before that as much as Richard and Jean-Claude embrace and desire her for her somewhat humanity, she embraces their inhumanity.
• Unlike the case in Blue Moon, Anita is secure in her Christian faith, especially when faced with characters that consider themselves gods, such as Itzpapalotl and the Red Woman's Husband. Her faith helps her resist and ultimately defeat the Red Woman's Husband, who needed his victims to believe themselves worthy sacrifices to him.

About the Title:

As with previous novels, "Obsidian Butterfly" refers to a location within the novel itself. In this case, the "Obsidian Butterfly" is the name of a nightclub operated by Itzpapalotl, a vampire who claims to be the Aztec goddess of the same name. "Obsidian Butterfly" is one of the English translations of Itzpapalotl, rendering the nightclub and the book eponymous.

Information on this Page has been Gathered from the Following Sources:

1. LKH at Penguin Putnum Publishing
2. Obsidian Butterfly on Wikipedia
3. Obsidian Butterfly, the novel.

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