Learn everything you need to know about Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches books, including the reading order for the supernatural horror series, summaries, details about the tv adaptation, and answers to frequently asked questions about the popular book trilogy. Plus, get a free printable PDF of all of Anne Rice’s books in order as a bonus.
Anne Rice is a bestselling author who’s always popular with readers of The Literary Lifestyle. While most people know her best for her popular series of books, The Vampire Chronicles, her Mayfair Witches books are currently growing in popularity due to the release of the tv adaptation on AMC (more about that below).
So, let’s explore the Mayfair Witches books!
Mayfair Witches Books in Order
- The Witching Hour (1990)
- Lasher (1993)
- Taltos (1994)
(The Mayfair Witches Collection (2000) is a compilation of all three Mayfair Witches books.)
Below are quick plot details about the three Mayfair Witches books. I tried to keep them as spoiler-free as possible, so as not to ruin the storylines for you, but please beware that general advancements in the plot are referenced in each plot summary, as is necessary to describe each book.
1. The Witching Hour (1990)
New York Times bestseller
In The Witching Hour, Roman Mayfair is a modern-day neurosurgeon aware that she has some sort of special powers. She brings back to life Michael, a drowned man off the California coast, who was born in New Orleans and became a childhood orphan one Christmas.
Michael has built a life for himself and, in his near-death experience, has gained startling sensory powers. They fall in love and attempt to unravel both her past and his present, in which they determine they both descended from a male witch named Julien Mayfair.
Moving in time from modern-day New Orleans, where they meet Aaron Lightner, a psychic Talamasca scholar who studied the Mayfairs for decades, and San Francisco to historic Amsterdam and a château in Louis XIV’s France, the identity of the first Mayfair witch is revealed as Suzanne. She once conjured up a spirit named Lasher, which impacted not just her own life, but those of all her descendants.
Throughout generations to come, questions of life and death, and good and evil, play their role in developing the timeline of this family up to the present day, when it reaches a climax on another New Orleans Christmas Eve.
2. Lasher (1993)
New York Times bestseller
In Lasher, after a violent child-birthing experience, Rowan flees in an attempt to save Michael from Lasher. The teenage Mayfair witch, Mona, seduces Michael, which ultimately leads him to try to find Rowan in Europe.
Along the way, Rowan identifies Lasher’s species as Taltos. Lasher pursues her around the globe and throughout different times and worlds, both human and demonic, for an epic and mystical journey.
In the past, Julien attempts to manipulate Lasher by impregnating women, but this enables Lasher to attempt to become human. Soon, past and present storylines collide, when Rowan gives birth to a Taltos named Emaleth, and Lasher’s history is revealed.
3. Taltos (1994)
New York Times bestseller
In Taltos, Ashlar is the founder of a multimillion-dollar company in New York, who believes himself to be the last Taltos, but is told otherwise by a friend.
Meanwhile, there’s dramatic news about Emaleth, Mona, and Aaron. This causes the storylines of Michael, Rowan, and Ashlar to intersect in life-changing ways. The history of the Taltos is also revealed.
Note: Characters from the Mayfair Witches book series also appear in these books in Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles series: Merrick, Blackwood Farm, and Blood Canticle.
Mayfair Witches TV Series
Love the Mayfair Witches book series? Below is a trailer for the AMC tv adaptation:
Further Reading: Differences Between the Book and the TV Show
Frequently Asked Questions
The Mayfair Witches is a book series by Anne Rice containing three books: The Witching Hour, Lasher, and Taltos.
There are three books in the Mayfair Witches series by Anne Rice: The Witching Hour, Lasher, and
Taltos.
You should read the Mayfair Witches series by Anne Rice in this order: (1) The Witching Hour; (2) Lasher; and (3) Taltos.
The Mayfair Witches is based on three books by Anne Rice: The Witching Hour, Lasher, and
Taltos.
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