Storm Front: Book One of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

One of my New Year’s Resolutions this year was to actually read the books people recommended to me (usually, I just smile, nod, and disregard). Recently two of the 7^th grade English teachers up at Homewood Middle School recommended the Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher. In fact, they RAVED about the books. So I picked upthe first book, Storm Front, and started to read…

Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is a wizard working out of an office in Chicago. He’s a finder of lost things, investigator of the paranormal, and, as far as he knows, the only openly practicing professional wizard in the country. He also does some consulting work for the police. And this next case is a doozy – two victims, one male and one female, murdered when their still-beating hearts were thaumaturgically pulled out of their chests. One victim is a high-priced call girl working for Bianca, the local vampire Madam. The other is a friend and bodyguard of Johnnie Marcone, the current head of Chicago’s organized crime. Finding out who-done-it will take all of Harry’s power and deductive reasoning…and even that may not be enough to keep Harry alive when the killer decides to get rid of the meddling busybody on his trail.

Combining a well-plotted detective story with lots of supernatural action and a sarcastic pain-in-the-rear protagonist, Storm Front will thrill fans of Laurell K. Hamilton and Kim Harrison. There are currently eleven books in the series, and hopefully many more to come.