The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter) (1994)

From back cover Jove paperback October 2002: "THEY WERE TREATING ME LIKE I WAS A VERY DANGEROUS PERSON. At five-three I am not imposing. Raise the dead, kill a few vampires, and people start considering you are one of the monsters. Sometimes it hurt. But now... it had possibilities. 'Do you really thing I came here unarmed?' I asked. My voice sounded very matter-of-fact... 'Want to bet your life on it?'"