Is Death Necessary?

I've noticed that a lot of the complaints Laurell K Hamilton's work gets from her so-called negative readers is that nobody ever dies anymore. None of the characters are ever in mortal peril - an about-face from the early books. It's true; she has a massive cast of characters who are never in danger anymore.

Is this a problem because her later books differ so much from the earlier ones? Is it a problem because her cast is so large? Or do we as readers just expect death in urban fantasy/paranormal novels? Is it a requirement of the genre that characters get killed off?

Obviously all stories need conflict, or they're not stories. And personal danger makes for great conflict, as well as adding tension and excitement. But is death absolutely necessary? What do you all think?