Werewolves! Loup-garou! And a talking skull named Bob! Gosh, this series makes me want to break out Ars Magica (Hey, ArsM4 is free!) and a map of Chicago. Most of the relationship exploration focuses on Dresden’s cop buddy, Karrin Murphy. So far, this has felt like the weakest book of the series—though I may just be disappointed that it introduced less interesting world features than Storm Front or Grave Peril (or for that matter Summer Knight).

Books read this year: 37