The Dresden Files

***The Dresden Files*** is a Adult Urban fantasy series written by Jim Butcher.

## Overview

The Dresden Files tells story of Harry Dresden — full name: **Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden** — Chicago’s first (and only) Wizard P.I.. Harry takes on cases involving the Supernatural. In the process he encounters all kinds of creatures and get drawn into the affairs of the Supernatural nations such as the White Council of Wizards—who mostly have it in for him, Faerie Courts, Vampire Courts, Angels—Fallen and Heavenly, Demons, Ghosts, Black-Magic Wizards and others. Harry goes through multiple changes throughout the course and though he has a dark side, he always stays true to standing up to nasties for the underdog no matter the consequences to himself and never compromising his values.

## Books

View the complete list of chronological **reading order** of all works on the wiki here...!

1. *Storm Front* (Apr. 1, 2000; 322 pgs)
2. *Fool Moon* (Jan. 9, 2001; 421 pgs)
3. *Grave Peril* (Sept. 1, 2001; 378 pgs)
4. *Summer Knight* (Sept. 3, 2002; 371 pgs)
5. *Death Masks* (Aug. 5, 2003; 451 pgs)
6. *Blood Rites* (Aug. 3, 2004; 439 pgs)
7. *Dead Beat* (May 3, 2005; 400 pgs)
8. *Proven Guilty* (May 2, 2006; 406 pgs)
9. *White Night* (Apr. 3, 2007; 416 pgs)
10. *Small Favor* (Apr. 1, 2008; 420 pgs)
11. *Turn Coat* (Apr. 7, 2009; 420 pgs)
12. *Changes* (Apr. 6, 2010; 438 pgs)
13. *Ghost Story* (July 26, 2011; 481 pgs)
14. *Cold Days* (Nov. 27, 2012; 515 pgs)
15. *Skin Game* (May 27, 2014; 454 pgs)

### Short stories

**Shorts — in *Side Jobs*:**

* 0.2. "Restoration of Faith" (2010; free ebook)
* 5.5. "Vignette" aka "Publicity and Advertising" (2011; free ebook)
* 7.5. "Something Borrowed" (2006)
* 9.2. "It's My Birthday, Too" (2007)
* 9.5. "Heorot" (Jan. 2008)
* 10.1. "Day Off" (Oct. 2008)
* 10.3. "Backup" (Oct. 2008; eBook novelette) [Thomas' POV]
* 10.5. "The Warrior" (Jan. 2009)
* 10.7. "Last Call" (July 2009)
* 11.5. "Love Hurts" (Nov. 2010)
* 12.5. "Aftermath" (2011) [Murphy's POV]

**Shorts — Not in *Side Jobs*:**

* 0.5. "Welcome to the Jungle" (2008; graphic novel)
* 2.5. "B is for Bigfoot" (Aug. 28, 2012)
	+ Set between *Fool Moon* & *Grave Peril*
* 6.5. "I Was A Teenage Bigfoot" (May 29, 2012)
	+ Circa *Dead Beat*
* 10.9. "Curses" (July 2011)
	+ Set between *Small Favor* & *Turn Coat*
* 10.11. AAAA Wizardry
* 11.2. "Even Hand" (July 2010) [Marcone's POV]
	+ Set between *Turn Coat* & *Changes*
* 11.9. "Bigfoot on Campus" (June 5, 2012)
	+ Set between *Turn Coat* & *Changes*
* 13.1. "Bombshells" (Dec. 3, 2013) [Molly's POV]
	+ Set between *Ghost Story* & *Cold Days*
* 14.5 "Cold Case" (Nov. 1, 2016)
* 15.5 "Working for Bigfoot" (June 30, 2015)

## Publishing Information

* Publisher: ROC, Roc Hardcover, Penguin Group (USA).

## Blurbs

### *Storm From*

Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations.
Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates.
No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or
Other Entertainment.
Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he’s the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things — and most of them don’t play well with humans. That’s where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a — well, whatever. There’s just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry’s seeing dollar signs. But where there’s black magic, there’s a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry’s name. And that’s when things start to get… interesting. Magic. It can get a guy killed.

### *Fool Moon*

Harry Dresden - Wizard. Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment. Business has been slow. Okay, business has been dead. And not even of the undead variety. You would think Chicago would have a little more action for the only professional wizard in the phone book. But lately, Harry Dresden hasn't been able to dredge up any kind of work--magical or mundane. But just when it looks like he can't afford his next meal, a murder comes along that requires his particular brand of supernatural expertise. A brutally mutilated corpse. Strange-looking paw prints. A full moon. Take three guesses--and the first two don't count...

### *Grave Peril*

Harry Dresden has faced some pretty terrifying foes during his career. Giant scorpions. Oversexed vampires. Psychotic werewolves. It comes with the territory when you're the only professional wizard in the Chicago-area phone book. But in all Harry's years of supernatural sleuthing, he's never faced anything like this: The spirit world has gone postal. All over Chicago, ghosts are causing trouble - and not just of the door-slamming, boo-shouting variety. These ghosts are tormented, violent, and deadly. Someone - or something - is purposely stirring them up to wreak unearthly havoc. But why? And why do so many of the victims have ties to Harry? If Harry doesn't figure it out soon, he could wind up a ghost himself...

### *Summer Knight*

Ever since his girlfriend left town to deal with her newly acquired taste for blood, Harry Dresden has been down and out in Chicago. He can't pay his rent. He's alienating his friends. He can't even recall the last time he took a shower. The only professional wizard in the phone book has become a desperate man. And just when it seems things can't get any worse, in saunters the Winter Queen of Faerie. She has an offer Harry can't refuse if he wants to free himself of the supernatural hold his faerie godmother has over him--and hopefully end his run of bad luck. All he has to do is find out who murdered the Summer Queen's right-hand man, the Summer Knight, and clear the Winter Queen's name. It seems simple enough, but Harry knows better than to get caught in the middle of faerie politics. Until he finds out that the fate of the entire world rests on his solving this case. No pressure or anything...

### *Death Masks*

Harry Dresden, Chicago's only practicing professional wizard, should be happy that business is pretty good for a change. But now he's getting more than he bargained for. A duel with the Red Court of Vampires' champion, who must kill Harry to end the war between vampires and wizards... Professional hit men using Harry for target practice... The missing Shroud of Turin... A handless and headless corpse the Chicago police need identified... Not to mention the return of Harry's ex-girlfriend Susan, who's still struggling with her semivampiric nature. And who seems to have a new man in her life. Some days, it just doesn't pay to get out of bed. No matter how much you're charging.

### *Blood Rites*

Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, takes on a case as a favor to his friend Thomas-a vampire of dubious integrity-only to become the prime suspect in a series of ghastly murders.

### *Dead Beat*

There's an entire world that exists alongside the everyday life of mankind. There are powers, nations, monsters, wars, feuds, alliances - everything. Wizards are part of it. So are a lot of other things you've heard about in stories, and even more you've never heard of...Vampires. Werewolves. Faeries. Demons. Monsters. It's all real. Harry Dresden knows full well that such creatures exist. Paranormal investigations are his stock-in-trade, and Chicago is his beat as he tries to bring law and order to a world that exists on the edges of imagination. Luckily Harry's not alone in this struggle. And though most inhabitants of the Windy City don't believe in magic, there's a department that's been set up within the Chicago PD to deal with "strange" cases: the Special Investigations department. Karrin Murphy is the head of SI and a good friend of Harry's. So when a deadly vampire threatens to destroy Murphy's reputation unless Harry helps her, he has no choice. The vampire wants the Word of Kemmler and all the power that comes with it - but first Harry has to determine what the Word of Kemmler is. Now Harry is in a race against time - and six necromancers - to find the Word before Chicago experiences a Halloween night to wake the dead.

### *Proven Guilty*

There's no love lost between Harry Dresden, the only wizard in the Chicago phone book, and the White Council of Wizards, who find him brash and undisciplined. But war with the vampires has thinned their ranks, so the Council has drafted Harry as a Warden and assigned him to look into rumors of black magic in the Windy City. As Harry adjusts to his new role, another problem arrives in the form of the tattooed and pierced daughter of an old friend, all grown-up and already in trouble. Her boyfriend is the only suspect in what looks like a supernatural assault straight out of a horror film. Malevolent entities that feed on fear are loose in Chicago, but it's all in a day's work for a wizard, his faithful dog, and a talking skull named Bob...

### *White Night*

The inspiration for the Sci Fi channel television series. In Chicago, someone is targeting magic practitioners--the members of the supernatural underclass who don't possess enough power to become full-fledged wizards. Some have vanished. Others appear to be victims of suicide. But now the culprit has left a calling card at one of the crime scenes--a message for Harry Dresden. Harry sets out to find the killer, but his investigation turns up evidence pointing to the one suspect he cannot possibly believe guilty: his half brother, Thomas. To clear his brother's name, Harry rushes into a supernatural power struggle that renders him outnumbered, outclassed, and dangerously susceptible to temptation. And Harry knows that if he screws this one up, people will die--and one of them will be his brother...

### *Small Favor*

The new novel in the New York Times bestselling Dresden Files series. No one's tried to kill Harry Dresden for almost an entire year, and his life finally seems to be calming down. For once, the future looks fairly bright. But the past casts one hell of a long shadow. An old bargain has placed Harry in debt to Mab, monarch of the Winter Court of the Sidhe, the Queen of Air and Darkness-and she's calling in her marker. It's a small favor he can't refuse...one that will trap Harry Dresden between a nightmarish foe and an equally deadly ally, and one that will strain his skills-and loyalties-to their very limits. It figures. Everything was going too well to last...

### *Turn Coat*

When it comes to the magical ruling body known as the White Council, Harry keeps his nose clean and his head down. For years, the Council has held a death mark over Harry's head. He's still thought of as a black sheep by some and as a sacrificial lamb by others. But none regard him with more suspicion and disdain than Morgan, a veteran Warden with a grudge against anyone who bends the rules. — Like Harry. — So when Morgan turns up asking for help, Harry isn't exactly eager to leap into action. Morgan has been accused of treason against the White Council, and there's only one final punishment for that crime. He's on the run, he wants his name cleared, and he needs someone with a knack for backing the underdog. — Like Harry. — Now Harry must uncover a traitor within the Council, keep a less than agreeable Morgan under wraps, and avoid coming under scrutiny himself. And a single mistake may cost someone his head. — Like Harry...

### *Changes*

Long ago, Susan Rodriguez was Harry Dresden's lover—until she was attacked by his enemies, leaving her torn between her own humanity and the bloodlust of the vampiric Red Court. Susan then disappeared to South America, where she could fight both her savage gift and those who cursed her with it. Now Arianna Ortega, Duchess of the Red Court, has discovered a secret Susan has long kept, and she plans to use it—against Harry. To prevail this time, he may have no choice but to embrace the raging fury of his own untapped dark power. Because Harry's not fighting to save the world... He's fighting to save his child.

### *Ghost Story*

The eagerly awaited new novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files series. When we last left the mighty wizard detective Harry Dresden, he wasn't doing well. In fact, he had been murdered by an unknown assassin. But being dead doesn't stop him when his friends are in danger. Except now he has nobody, and no magic to help him. And there are also several dark spirits roaming the Chicago shadows who owe Harry some payback of their own. To save his friends-and his own soul-Harry will have to pull off the ultimate trick without any magic...

### *Cold Days*

HARRY DRESDEN LIVES!!! After being murdered by a mystery assailant, navigating his way through the realm between life and death, and being brought back to the mortal world, Harry realizes that maybe death wasn’t all that bad. Because he is no longer Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard. He is now Harry Dresden, Winter Knight to Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness. After Harry had no choice but to swear his fealty, Mab wasn’t about to let something as petty as death steal away the prize she had sought for so long. And now, her word is his command, no matter what she wants him to do, no matter where she wants him to go, and no matter who she wants him to kill. Guess which Mab wants first? Of course, it won’t be an ordinary, everyday assassination. Mab wants her newest minion to pull off the impossible: kill an immortal. No problem there, right? And to make matters worse, there exists a growing threat to an unfathomable source of magic that could land Harry in the sort of trouble that will make death look like a holiday. Beset by enemies new and old, Harry must gather his friends and allies, prevent the annihilation of countless innocents, and find a way out of his eternal subservience before his newfound powers claim the only thing he has left to call his own… His soul.

### *Skin Game*

Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard, is about to have a very bad day…. Because as Winter Knight to the Queen of Air and Darkness, Harry never knows what the scheming Mab might want him to do. Usually, it’s something awful. He doesn’t know the half of it…. Mab has just traded Harry’s skills to pay off one of her debts. And now he must help a group of supernatural villains—led by one of Harry’s most dreaded and despised enemies, Nicodemus Archleone—to break into the highest-security vault in town so that they can then access the highest-security vault in the Nevernever. It’s a smash-and-grab job to recover the literal Holy Grail from the vaults of the greatest treasure hoard in the supernatural world—which belongs to the one and only Hades, Lord of the freaking Underworld and generally unpleasant character. Worse, Dresden suspects that there is another game afoot that no one is talking about. And he’s dead certain that Nicodemus has no intention of allowing any of his crew to survive the experience. Especially Harry. Dresden’s always been tricky, but he’s going to have to up his backstabbing game to survive this mess—assuming his own allies don’t end up killing him before his enemies get the chance…

## Awards

9. *White Night*

* Nominee of the 2007 RT Reviewer's Choice Best Book Award "Urban Fantasy Novel" category

11. *Turn Coat*

* Nominee of the 2009 Goodreads Choice Awards "Fantasy" category

12. *Changes*

* 2010 Goodreads Choice Awards
	+ Finalist of the "Best Paranormal Fantasy" category
	+ Nominee of the "Favorite Hero" category (Harry Dresden)

13. *Ghost Story*

* 2011 Goodreads Choice Awards
	+ Finalist of the "Best Paranormal Fantasy" category
	+ Nominee of the "Best Goodreads Author" category

14. *Cold Days*

* Winner of the 2013 Goodreads Choice Awards "Best Paranormal Fantasy" category

15. *Skin Game*

* Finalist of the
	+ 2015 Hugo Award "Best Novel" category
	+ 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards "Best Fantasy" category

## TV series adaptation

* There was a short-lived *The Dresden Files* TV series based on the series and aired on the Syfy Channel.

## References

1. ↑ *Storm Front* (The Dresden Files, #1) - Goodreads
2. ↑ *Fool Moon* (The Dresden Files #2) - Goodreads
3. ↑ *Grave Peril* (The Dresden Files #3) - Goodreads
4. ↑ *Summer Knight* (The Dresden Files #4) - Goodreads
5. ↑ *Death Masks* (The Dresden Files #5) - Goodreads
6. ↑ *Blood Rites* (The Dresden Files #6) - Goodreads
7. ↑ *Dead Beat* (The Dresden Files #7) - Goodreads
8. ↑ *Proven Guilty* (The Dresden Files #8) - Goodreads
9. ↑ *White Night* (The Dresden Files, #9) - Goodreads
10. ↑ *Small Favor* (The Dresden Files, #10) - Goodreads
11. ↑ *Turn Coat* (The Dresden Files, #11) - Goodreads
12. ↑ *Changes* (The Dresden Files, #12) - Goodreads
13. ↑ *Ghost Story* (The Dresden Files, #13) - Goodreads
14. ↑ *Cold Days* (The Dresden Files, #14) - Goodreads
15. ↑ *Skin Game* (The Dresden Files, #15) - Goodreads
16. ↑ *Skin Game nominated for a Hugo!* - Author's official website