Jim Butcher

Wizard detective Harry Dresden, murdered by an unknown assassin, must save his friends and his soul without any magic to help him.

My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. I'm a wizard. I work out of an office in midtown Chicago. As far as I know, I'm the only openly practicing professional wizard in the country. You can find me in the yellow pages, under Wizards. Believe it or not, I'm the only one there.

With rent past due and a decent meal becoming an issue of some importance, Harry needs work, and soon. A call from a distraught

...

Following his death by a mystery assailant, Harry Dresden, Winter Knight to Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, 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.

Despondent over the loss of his vampire girlfriend, private detective and wizard-for-hire Harry Dresden undertakes a mission for the Winter Queen of Faerie to find out who murdered the Summer Queen's right-hand man, the Summer Knight, and clear the Winter Queen of the crime.

An all-star urban fantasy collection featuring short stories from #1 New York Times bestselling authors Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs, Charlaine Harris, Kelley Armstrong, and more . . .
In this short story collection of courage, adventure, and magic, heroes—ordinary people who do the right thing—bravely step forward.
 
But running toward danger might cost them everything. . . . 
 
In #1...

Chicago wizard Harry Dresden's calm life is interrupted when Mab, monarch of the Winter Court of the Sidhe, decides to call in the favor that Harry owes her, sending him on a quest that leaves him trapped between a deadly foe and an untrustworthy ally.

"Harry has faced terrible odds before. He has a long history of fighting enemies above his weight class. The Red Court of Vampires. The fallen angels of the Order of Blackened Denarius. The Outsiders. But this time, it's different. A being more powerful and dangerous on an order of magnitude beyond what the world has seen in a millennia is coming. And she's bringing an army. The Last Titan has declared war on the city of Chicago, and has come to subjugate...

Accused of treason against the Wizards of the White Council, Warden Morgan goes in search of Harry Dresden in a desperate attempt to clear his name and stop the deadly punishment from taking place.

Here, together for the first time, are the shorter works of #1 New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher -- a compendium of cases that Harry Dresden and his cadre of allies managed to close in record time. The tales range from the deadly serious to the absurdly hilarious. Also included is a new, novella that takes place after the cliff-hanger ending of the new April 2010 hardcover, Changes.

The only wizard in the Chicago phone book, Harry is given the task of investigating rumors of black magic in the Windy City, while, at the same time, searching for some malevolent entities that feed on fear who have been set loose on Chicago.