Author LJ Smith, whose best-selling Vampire Diaries novels were turned into a hit TV show, has died at the age of 66. Lisa Jane Smith published the original four-book series, about a love triangle involving two vampire brothers and an orphaned young woman,

The New York Times bestselling author released the first three books in the Vampire Diaries series in 1991: The Awakening, The Struggle, and The Fury. The fourth book, Dark Reunio

Despite being most known for 'The Vampire Diaries,' L. J. Smith was the direct and indirect creator of these three television series.