Magic, it can get a guy killed

When we think about wizards we think old men with long white beards and pointy hats. Or guys with long robes, long hair carrying a long carved staff way taller than them.

You do not imagine for one minute a guy wearing a leather duster coat driving a beaten Blue Beetle.

Harry Dresden is Chicago's first and only wizard P.I. You can even find him in the newspaper:

HARRY DRESDEN — WIZARD

Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations.

Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates.

No Love Potions, Endless Purses, Parties or Other Entertainment

But despite his uniqueness, the business sucks. Probably it sucks because Harry is the quintessential good guy. He helps everyone in need even if this puts his life in danger.

He fights all sort of monsters, vampires, demons, spirits, faeries, werewolves and opens our eyes to a different world. A world where magic exists and we need someone like Dresden to protect us. And who can do this better than him? He is the son of Margaret La Fay - a very powerful witch with connections into the Fae world, feared by other wizards and close companion of white court vampires, he is the grandson of Ebenezar McCoy, one of the most powerful wizards in the White council (wizard government), and godson of Leanansidhe, fairy of the Winter court and second to Mab - the queen of Winter.

He works with Chicago police special investigations unit run by Karrin Murphy, a petite blonde with upturn nose who strikes fear in all her male colleagues with her combat skills. He fights the vampires, deals with the Fae which are a far cry from the Tinkerbell picture we see in fairy tales going more into the monsters with pretty faces and incredibly charming powers area, takes up with a knight of the white cross, Michael Carpenter, doubling their powers in fighting the forces of evil.

He lives in a basement apartment in a big century-old wooden boarding house with a private underground room where he has set his laboratory. The apartment is small, only a living room, bedroom and kitchenette but has no electrical appliances, heating or warm water since wizards and technology do not work well together. But he has Mister, his big cat and his personal assistant, Bob, who is a spirit of intellect who resides in a skull on a shelf in Harry's lab among candles and romance novels. Bob has been assisting mages since the dark ages and his knowledge is immense but what makes him a great addition to Harry's life is his smart-mouth and very dirty mind. Let Bob wander around and you can find him in college rooms spying on naked girls and stirring trouble. A later addition to Harry's household is a Foo Dog called Mouse who will grow super-fast from a small puppy to reaching Harry's waist line. Mouse is a Temple dog, a protector with special senses, extreme speed and power. He helps Harry in battles, dominating almost every monster that comes their way.

The 'Dresden files' novels sum up to 17 books till now and we are hardly waiting for the next one 'Peace talks' (release date undisclosed yet).

Well, we must thank Laurell K. Hamilton for helping Jim Butcher in sharing Harry Dresden with us. She introduced him to her agent and this is how things got moving.

The first novel is 'Storm front'.

Here we get to know all major characters in Dresden's world. The White council (government body for all wizards) makes an intro through Morgan, Harry's wizard version of parole officer, and on the other side we have the bad guys like gentleman Johnny Marcone, the underground lord of Chicago, and the vampires of the red court. A lot of police work gets done by Harry himself or together with Chicago's S.I. team. Susan Rodriguez, the charming reporter and Harry's love interest, and Mac, the owner of Annaly - the get together place for all creatures in Chicago area get some secondary appearances together with Bob and of course Mister, Harry's 30 pounds cat.

Magic, monsters, investigative work, a little romance, we have everything for a great novel.

And of course Harry gets into trouble but comes up alive if a little scruffy on the sides.

In 'Fool Moon' things  go a little more interesting because we get wizardry with a side of werewolves. We have bad werewolves and good werewolves. And we definitely have the bad gentleman Johnny Marcone getting involved even more into the paranormal area. He realizes things will get worse and wants Harry as a bodyguard but that will not happen. Still they will work together in capturing a ferocious band of werewolves deeply infiltrated into FBI and Chicago PD.

On the positive side, Harry gets to know the Alphas, a pack of college werewolves (the good guys) which will prove to be a great addition to his short list of friends.

In book number three, 'Grave Peril', Harry looses a lot and gains something that will prove invaluable in the long-term. When he has to represent the White council at a Red Court vampire party, he reluctantly takes Susan along and this will prove to be one of the mistakes that will hunt him forever. Red Court vampires with Bianca and Mavra running it prove to be a real challenge but Harry has to deal on the side with demons and a very intrusive and with her very own special plan - his godmother Leanansidhe.

He gets Michael Carpenter's help but still gets overwhelmed and at one point loses both Susan and God's sword Amoracchius. He fights the demons, rescues the sword but Susan, the only woman he loves will be lost to him. And if this was not bad enough, he manages to start a war between the Red Court and White council.

But the forever resourceful wizard Dresden will find a way to sort things out but not in book number four 'Summer Knight' because let's face it, a war in mortal world is nothing in comparison with a one in the faerie world that Harry is asked to help preventing. Plus he is way too messed up after Susan semi-turning into a vampire and disappearing that he does not get out of the house, showers or eat a decent meal for months. But when he does, shit hits the fan really fast since on top of everything he is on vampires hit list with a ransom on his head so when the Faeries get him involved in their issues, it seems like an additional burden that he cannot avoid. Luckily he manages to get out of this one alive and prevents the world to be destroyed. Again.

People of God should not deal with magic but some of them cannot help not to get involved especially when the Shroud of Turin is missing and Fallen Angels are roaming around. So they turn to Harry like he does not have enough on his plate. The war with the vampires takes a new turn when Ortega, a Red Court noble,  challenges Harry to a duel. He claims that this will end the war but it just shows how much the vampires hate Harry's guts.

On the good side, he gets a mediator for the duel in the person of the Archive, a small girl containing the sum of humanity's written knowledge who comes at a package deal with an extraordinary bodyguard called Kincaid. On the bad side, Fallen angels muck things up and threaten to release the plague while trying to coerce Harry through many means to pick up a Denarian coin and be possessed by a fallen angel.

But the Cross Knights gather up for a fight against the Denarians, Susan comes back shortly to help and mess up Harry's mind and Ebenezar McCoy makes an appearance and shows a side of himself that Harry would have never guessed. Plus Harry catches briefly one of the Denarian coins and this is how a very interesting relationship with a fallen angel starts to develop.

If till now we saw vampires as cruel, hideous bloody monsters, in book six 'Blood Rites' we get to meet the sexy vampires. Thomas Raith and his gorgeous sister Lara Raith plus an adult movie set are an explosive combination especially since people are dropping dead on the sides and nobody has any idea why. This is where Harry comes along. He realizes it is a curse that makes people drop dead and he needs to make it stop really soon. Since Thomas and Lara are involved Harry gets to meet their family and find out a little more about his mother, himself and Thomas.

All this with a little side dish of Red court vampire fight taken with the help of Ebenezar McCoy and hit-man for hire Kincaid, makes for a really good story.

Still Harry Dresden is nothing but a man of surprises. And he has a lot of very interesting friends. In 'Dead Beat' we get to know a little better the polka man, mister medical examiner Waldo Butters. He is new to the supernatural world but has a sharp mind and, when provoked, quite a fearless side.

His open mind is put to the test when he goes side by side with Harry against necromancers and ghouls but this time they get help from the White council through the Wardens captain Anastacia Lucio and young Warden Carlos Ramirez and Waldo gets to ride a dinosaur through Chicago which is an amazing experience. We also get to see why is a good idea to know the funny snarky side of Bob and forget all about his past life. That side of him is nightmare inductive and is better left dormant.

In the next book, 'Proven guilty', things are really changing. All his life Harry had to watch his step and try not to get into more troubles with the White council. Now, with the vampire war decimating the wardens, Harry gets to be a warden himself which is weird for him, especially since he has the shade of Lasciel prowling his mind. On top of it, he gets to investigate the rumors of black magic in Chicago and why the faeries do not support the White council in the war with the Red Court. But this time finding the truth brings more problems than ever before because Molly Carpenter, Michael's daughter is involved and she is walking in a very unfortunate way on Harry's footsteps. She discovers magic but her magic or better saying her lack of knowledge of magic laws brings her into a huge pile of troubles that can cost her life.

The only person who can help her is Harry and by doing this he puts his and her life on the line. One small mistake and they are both gone.

But no matter how messed up his life is, when things from the past come knocking he always answers. Elaine, his former lover and his half-brother Thomas drag him into an investigation about missing practitioners and with this the White vampire court comes in. Thomas has a lot of relatives and not all of them are as charming as Lara Raith but their hunger for power is as insatiable as ever.

This is the last place where Harry has to be but he will do everything to help his brother even if this means dragging Gentleman Johnny Marcone into it, taking a walk into the Nevernever and fighting White court vampires, all with a side of fallen angel manipulation and mental pressure.

In the end still almost everyone wins or it seems that way.

When someone asks you for a small favor, you get instantly suspicious and many times for good reason. Harry knew deep inside that no good came come out when Mab, the queen of Winter asks him for a favor. And a weird one for that matter. Harry has to protect Johnny Marcone and of course be her Emissary. Protecting Marcone would be not a great problem if the man himself was not already abducted by the Denarians.

So everybody gathers around and prepare the rescue mission: Harry, Murphy, Michael, Thomas and as negotiators we have Ivy with her ruthless bodyguard Kincaid. Plus Marcone's special bodyguard the not so human Miss Gard.

What no one expects is that this proves to be a trap. The Denarians do not want Marcone, they want to capture Ivy, force her to pick up a Denarian coin and become one of them and this is a hell of a problem. Harry knows that they have to do everything to help Ivy  even if that means returning all captured Denarian coins to Nicodemus and his team.

At the beginning of Harry's story we often find the figure of Morgan as a magical version of a parole officer with a personal grudge so needless to say they do not like each other. This is why when Harry finds Morgan at his doorstep looking for refuge from the hands of the White Council he gets a little conflicted. To help Morgan and be a better man or throw him back to the wolves?

But to muddle things more, the little trouble Morgan got into, which is being framed for the murder of a senior council member, has the touch of the Raith clan all over it and a couple of other supernatural beings and to get out of it requires the help of most people Harry knows, plus White council, and Demonreach, the super powerful spooky island spirit.

Not everyone gets out of the confrontation this time, some get more dead than others, the White council gets halved and in the shades a Grey council is being formed since the trust into the White council is being shattered.

In the twelfth book of the series, 'Changes', the past comes crashing into Harry's life again but this time the bad news have a silver lining. His former lover, Susan Rodriguez disappeared into South America, fighting along others against the vampires of the Red Court as Harry slowly got back to his life. Till she calls him and tells him that they have a daughter together - Margaret Angelica  and she was kidnapped by Duchess Arianna Ortega. He tries to get Maggie back with the help of the White council but those are way too scared of a war with the Red Court that they refuse to help.

In the same time the Red Court sent assassins to get rid of Harry but via Odin he finds out that Arianna wants to use Maggie to perform a blood curse to kill Harry and his family which Harry believes is Thomas but he finds out that is Ebenezar as well, when the old man reveals that he is Harry's grandfather. He escapes the vampires by the skin of his teeth but they manage to blow up his apartment with him inside. He gets his back broken in the process and to get back into the rescue mission he has to make a deal with the devil, in this case Mab.  He will take the Winter mantle after rescuing his daughter so he is gathering everyone meaning: Leanansidhe, Sanya, Thomas, Molly, Karrin, Susan and her sidekick Martin and go into battle. Each member is keen on destroying the Red Court but Harry and Susan go the extra mile for their daughter and manage to destroy the whole court but with the price of Susan's life.

'Ghost Story' was for me the hardest story to digest. It is different, dark, has too many ghosts, parallel worlds and a super weird Molly inside that made the read slightly difficult. Or at least the first half of the book. Till you realize that Harry planned his own death hiring Kincaid and asking Molly to help in order to get out of the deal with Mab. How twisted is that? Like he could ever escape Mab.

But when he wakes up on the Demonreach island where Mab kept him in limbo, everybody is equally happy and pissed to see him.

Harry finally gets to be the Winter knight and sees that it has advantages and disadvantages. Some of his magic does not work anymore but he has a new arsenal of tricks and toys that do not come without a price tag. And the price tag is his soul.

His first task given by Mab is to get rid of Maeve, the winter lady and this is an enormous trouble for Harry since Maeve is nuttier than squirrel poop and dangerous as hell.

Plus the Demonreach island proves to be a prison for dangerous supernatural beings set up by Merlin himself and it is about to blow up and take with it far more that anyone dares to lose. Everyone gathers up, Karrin, Molly, Mr Kringle, the Wild hunt comes along and everyone tries to stop Maeve and Lily's game.

In the end both of the ladies turn out dead and the interesting news is that Molly gets to be the Winter lady which will prove to be a challenge to explain to her parents.

In the fifteenth book Harry gets a new and even more dangerous ask from Mab. His days as the winter knight are getting 'better'. Yay!

He has to help Nicodemus and his team break into Marcone's vault to steal an item from the inner vault. The item is the Holy Grail and the inner vault belongs to Hades and is linked to the Nevernever. Easy peasy.

Everything plan is bound to fail and his hate towards Nicodemus and his clique makes Harry and Karrin do some serious mistakes.

But Butters saves the day in the end and the knights of the cross get a new team member.

Harry realizes that all the time he was a pawn in Mab and Marcone hands and this does not settle well with him. And even more the fact that Nicodemus got away and he still has the Holy Grail.

On the bright side Maggie has found a nice place in the Carpenter's home and has Mouse as a personal bodyguard who will never leave her side.

'Side Jobs' and the most recent addition 'Brief cases' add a little more details to the previous stories.'Brief cases' was released this summer and in the audio-book we have the master Jim Butcher reading for us some chapters along James Marsters (as Marcone), Cassandra Campbell (as Anastacia Lucio), Julia Whelan and Oliver Wyman.

We get to meet Big Foot and his son and more interesting character stories for Marcone and Molly and special cases for Harry.

A lot of magic and action to entertain us till the release of the new book 'Peace Talks'!