The Dresden Files

When Scott Sharp, a frightened 10-year-old boy, begs Dresden to protect him and his mother from "monsters" that are lurking in their home, Harry at first dismisses the boy’s fears as the product of an overactive imagination. But when Scott is subsequently kidnapped by sinister beings, Dresden realizes that the boy is an innocent pawn in the supernatural contest between good and evil. The case triggers memories of Dresden's own childhood, when young Harry lived with his father Colm, who performed low rent stage magic in community theaters and children’s parties. When Harry was Scott's age, his talent for real magic began to emerge - which caught the eye of his uncle Justin Morningway, the brother of young Harry's murdered mother. Morningway wanted to take Harry away so he could hone the boy's talents in service of Morningway's malevolent ambitions. Just as Colm had to protect young Harry from his uncle Morningway, so Dresden must now rescue Scott from those seeking to exploit him for their own nefarious purposes.

A grieving father seeks Dresden's help to exorcise the ghost of his murdered daughter Lisa. But when Dresden attempts to cleanse the restless spirit, he's forced to look into the circumstances surrounding her death. Detective Murphy insists that the case is closed - the killer, Gus Boone, died only a few hours later during a botched carjacking attempt. The potential victim - Edward Miller, a wealthy young stockbroker - fought back and killed Boone with his own shotgun. As Dresden investigates further, he suspects that Miller and Boone were actually accomplices in the robbery that led to Lisa's untimely death. The stolen item? An Egyptian stone tablet that holds an ancient secret - a key to eternal life.

Murphy brings Dresden to a Chicago park, where the latest in a series of bizarre killings has taken place. A young woman is dead, her hair shorn and her canine teeth pulled out. Further investigation reveals that the victim was a werewolf, and that she was killed by a lethal dose of silver iodide administered via an aerosol inhalant. It appears that the werewolf chased someone into the park, but the wolf's intended victim turned the tables and killed her with the silver iodide, then harvested the wolf's hair and teeth. But why? Meanwhile, Murphy finds herself forced off the case by an aggressive FBI agent who has been tracking the serial killer across the United States. But Dresden realizes that this is merely the agent's cover story - she's not tracking the killer, she's the mastermind behind this monstrous plot.

Dresden is hired by a beautiful young woman who asks him to recover twenty thousand dollars that's been stolen from her Aunt Frieda. But when Dresden locates the thief, he discovers that the man has been burnt to a crisp by a deadly supernatural force. As he investigates the man's death, Dresden discovers that his beautiful client lied to him about the money, about Aunt Frieda - in fact, about everything. When he confronts her with what he knows, his client fires him - either out of fear, or because she's in the thrall of some dark, supernatural evil. Nevertheless, Dresden risks his life to protect her as they play a dangerous game against a ruthless hellion who understands the rules of the game far better than they do.

After narrowly escaping an assassination attempt, Bianca the vampire seeks help from the only man she can trust: Harry Dresden. But Harry doesn't trust her, and he's reluctant to take her case. Unfortunately for Dresden, he owes Bianca a favor. Five years ago, after he killed his uncle Justin Morningway, Dresden was alone, injured and on the run from the High Council. Bianca took him in, nursed him back to health and kept him hidden from the Council. Now it's time for Dresden to pay the debt. But Dresden starts to suspect that Bianca is setting him up and that he may end up paying the debt with his life.

Kelton Franks walks into Dresden's office and tells Harry he's been having strange premonitions that he's about to die. Harry thinks Kelton's problem is psychological, not supernatural, and refers him to a shrink. But just then Kelton keels over and dies. Was it a simple heart attack, as the coroner insists? Or is there something more insidious going on? When Kelton's body goes missing from the morgue, Harry soon discovers that nothing in this case is as it seems. In order to help him crack it, Bob is forced to reveal an explosive secret from his mortal past.