The Dresden Files



""My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. When things get strange, when what goes bump in the night flicks on the lights, when no one else can help you, give me a call. I'm in the book.""

- Harry Dresden

A horror/fantasy/mystery series of novels, thirteen and counting plus associated short stories and comic miniseries and the like, by Jim Butcher. Harry Dresden is a wizard and private detective operating out of modern day Chicago, and reluctantly hired by a special police task force as a consultant on supernatural crimes. A cross between urban gothic fantasy and Film Noir, the Genre Savvy main character cracks jokes about the various tropes it uses. Adapted into a drama series on the Sci Fi Channel. There's also a tabletop RPG, which is much more faithful to the books, as it's written from the characters' perspective.

Harry meets a wide variety of characters in the series, including Karrin Murphy, the Action Girl cop who's aware of the city's supernatural underworld; Bob, a spirit of intellect who lives in a skull -- human-shaped ghost in the television series -- is Harry's literal Magical Computer; Michael Carpenter, a modern-day paladin wielding a holy sword; Billy the Werewolf and his pack of Alphas (a group of young heroic wannabes); Thomas Raith, the Loveable Rogue incubus White Court vampire; Harry's on-and-off love interest Susan Rodriguez; and Molly Carpenter, Michael's oldest daughter and Harry's apprentice. Like many detective stories, Harry meets a ridiculous number of femmes fatales, crime bosses, and hired goons, which is frequently lampshaded in the series.

There are currently 13 novels in the series:


 * 1) Storm Front (2000)
 * 2) Fool Moon (2001)
 * 3) Grave Peril (2001)
 * 4) Summer Knight (2002)
 * 5) Death Masks (2003)
 * 6) Blood Rites (2004)
 * 7) Dead Beat (2006)
 * 8) Proven Guilty (2007)
 * 9) White Night (2007)
 * 10) Small Favor (2008)
 * 11) Turn Coat (2009)
 * 12) Changes (2010)
 * 13) Ghost Story (2011)
 * 14) Cold Days

Novels 1 - 9 have been collected in 4 different omnibus editions

Additionally, there are 12 short stories published in various collections:
 * 1) "Restoration of Faith"
 * 2) "Publicity and Advertising"
 * 3) "Something Borrowed" (published in My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding)
 * 4) "It's My Birthday, Too" (published in Many Bloody Returns)
 * 5) "Heorot" (published in My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon)
 * 6) "Day Off" (published in Blood Lite)
 * 7) "The Warrior" (published in Mean Streets)
 * 8) "Last Call" (published in Strange Brew)
 * 9) "AAAA Wizardry" (published in the Our World RPG Book)
 * 10) "Even Hand" (published in Dark and Stormy Knights)
 * 11) "Love Hurts" (published in Songs of Love and Death)
 * 12) "Curses" (published in The Naked City)
 * 13) "Bigfoot on Campus" (Published in Hex Appeal)

As well as 2 novellas:
 * 1) Backup
 * 2) Aftermath

All of the shorter material except for "AAAA Wizardry," "Even Hand," and "Curses" has been collected in an anthology called Side Jobs released October, 2010. As for the other three, Butcher has promised that all of the shorts would be available in collected form, so as he put it, he'll just have to write enough short stories to get another anthology.

Two comics have been released so far:
 * 1) Welcome to the Jungle: A prequel to the series.
 * 2) Storm Front: An adaptation of the first novel.
 * 3) Fool Moon: An adaptation of the second novel.

Word of God says that the series will have at least twenty books, which will then be capped off by an apocalyptic trilogy. Because, to quote the author, "Who doesn't love apocalyptic trilogies?"

Two adaptations and spinoffs have been made so far:
 * A single season TV adaptation was produced in 2007 and can be viewed here; tropes specific to it go on its own page.
 * A Tabletop RPG set in the world of the series. Trope Page here

In addition to the page links at the top, there is also a shout out page. The recap page is under major construction, so help with it would be appreciated.

Due to length, the trope list has been split off to subpages:

 * Tropes A-M
 * Tropes N-Z