Anne Rice: Vampire Chronicles and Mayfair Witches Reading Order

Anne Rice created one of horror fiction’s most extensive shared universes across four decades — the Vampire Chronicles, the Mayfair Witches, and connecting works. AMC’s Anne Rice Immortal Universe (2022–present) has brought a new generation to her books. Here’s the complete guide.

The Vampire Chronicles

Rice’s most celebrated series, beginning with Interview with the Vampire in 1976:

1. Interview with the Vampire (1976) — Louis tells his story to a journalist; Lestat, Claudia, New Orleans

2. The Vampire Lestat (1985) — Lestat’s own account; the origins of vampirism

3. The Queen of the Damned (1988) — Akasha, the first vampire, wakes; the history of the race

4. The Tale of the Body Thief (1992)
5. Memnoch the Devil (1995)
6. The Vampire Armand (1998)
7. Merrick (2000) — crossover with the Mayfair Witches universe
8. Blood and Gold (2001)
9. Blackwood Farm (2002) — further crossover with Mayfair
10. Blood Canticle (2003)
11. Prince Lestat (2014) — return to the series after a decade
12. Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis (2016)
13. Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat (2018)

The complete Vampire Chronicles reading order is on the series page.

The Mayfair Witches

A separate series that shares the same world and eventually crosses over with the Vampire Chronicles:

1. The Witching Hour (1990) — the Mayfair family’s centuries-long relationship with the spirit Lasher

2. Lasher (1993)
3. Taltos (1994)

The complete Mayfair Witches reading order is on the series page.

Reading Order: Do the Series Overlap?

The Vampire Chronicles and Mayfair Witches are separate but set in the same world. Merrick (Vampire Chronicles Book 7) brings in characters from the Mayfair Witches series; Blackwood Farm (Book 9) also crosses over.

For most readers: Start with the Vampire Chronicles (Interview with the Vampire) and read the Mayfair Witches separately. Read them in publication order if you want to encounter the crossovers as designed.

If you’re drawn to the Mayfair story specifically: The Witching Hour works as a standalone starting point.

The AMC Adaptations

Interview with the Vampire (AMC, 2022–present)

A modern retelling set primarily in the early 20th century. Louis (played by Jacob Anderson) is now a Black man in New Orleans; the social context — racism, the closeted nature of Louis and Lestat’s relationship — is central in ways the original novel leaves implicit.

The adaptation is one of the best things AMC has produced: faithful to the emotional core of Rice’s novel while doing something genuinely new with it. Anne Rice’s estate has been closely involved.

Mayfair Witches (AMC, 2023–present)

Adapts The Witching Hour with Alexandra Daddario as Rowan Mayfair. More compressed than the novel; the gothic New Orleans atmosphere is well-realised.

Both shows exist within the “Anne Rice Immortal Universe” and a crossover between the two shows has been confirmed.

How the AMC Shows Differ from the Books

Interview with the Vampire: The racial politics, the explicit queerness of Louis and Lestat’s relationship, and the modern framing (the journalist interviews Louis in Dubai in the present day) are all additions to or transformations of the source novel. The emotional core — Louis’s guilt, Lestat’s theatricality, Claudia’s tragedy — is preserved.

Mayfair Witches: More significantly compressed; the show covers one-third of The Witching Hour’s scope across a season.

Where to Start

Read Interview with the Vampire first. At under 350 pages, it’s the most self-contained of Rice’s novels and the most focused. The introduction of Lestat, Louis, and Claudia; the New Orleans setting; the meditation on immortality and regret — all of it works as a standalone horror novel.

If the AMC show brought you here: the novel will give you substantially more Louis and Lestat than the adaptation’s first season, and the second season’s events depart significantly from the books.