A young boy asks Harry Dresden for help, but this sorcerer/private investigator assumes that it's just a child's imagination of monsters under the bud. Little does he know but soon discovers that the boy possesses remarkable magic potential, which a group of magic-types called the Ravens seek to harness.
Dresden looks into a haunting and discovers that a ghost haunting her father was murdered by a man who was involved in a soul-swapping racket.
Dresden's search for a young woman's killer leads him to discover a line of werewolves being killed. There's a saying that if you are turned into a werewolf, that killing nine of the same bloodline will remove the curse. Now, Dresden must stop the first werewolf from completing this goal.
Dresden is approached by a woman claiming a man named Primko stole money from her aunt. But Dresden soon discovers that Primko isn't even a man, but a Hellion, sent to Earth to retrieve the woman's boyfriend, also a Hellion, but on the run, hoping to become a human to be with his love.
The vampire Bianca calls in her favor with Dresden, whose life she saved five years before. Someone's trying to kill her and she wants to know why. Dresden discovers that her girlfriend is the one trying to get rid of Bianca because she wants to be a more powerul and influential vampire. Dresden stops the girlfriend from carrying out her intentions, and he evens the score with Bianca.
Dresden goes toe-to-toe with a woman who kills her husband, gets the insurance money, then brings him back to life to do it all over again. When Dresden gets to close to the truth, the woman ensnares him and changes his memory to think he's her husband.
When a college student gets hit by a car and killed right in front of him, Harry investigates and discovers that she was part of a coven of college students using magick to become master thieves who specialize in difficult heists. He soon learns that their brand of magick is destructive and that they need to be stopped before they are killed by it.
Dresden has to prove to the wizard council that he wasn't responsible for the bloody deaths of a mobster and his girlfriend.
When a crusty old P.I. is murdered, Dresden works with his assistant to find his killer. Their investigation leads to a fertility clinic, where it appears that an Incubus is trying to have a child with a human woman.
Dresden's new girlfriend absconds with Bob's skull and gives it to his uncle, whom Dresden killed himself. Meanwhile, Bob might like his new situation and may not want Dresden to rescue him.
Dresden is stuck with Murphy, Ancient Mai and two other Wardens in his place as a sinister darkness surrounds them. As a result, Dresden must reveal to Murphy that he's involved with magic. But then he discovers that Murphy isn't the real Murphy but, instead, a dragon.
The arrival of Murphy's father puts pressure on her relationship with Dresden. The situation becomes more complicated when the leading gang expert in the department interferes with Murphy's investigation of the strange drowning death of a top gang member. Other bad people start to die, all with the same M.O.: dying in ways they had previously and narrowly escaped.