Harry Dresden, Chicago's only practicing professional wizard, should be happy that business is pretty good for a change. But he also knows that whenever things are going good, the only way left for them to go is bad. Way bad. Recent examples: A duel with the lethal champion of the Red Court, who must kill Harry to end the war between vampires and wizards. Hit men using Harry for target practice. The missing Shroud of Turin, and the possible involvement...

"Free Live Free," said the newspaper ad, and the out-of-work detective Jim Stubb, the occultist Madame Serpentina, the salesman Ozzie Barnes, and the overweight prostitute Candy Garth are brought together to live for a time in Free's old house, a house scheduled for demolition to make way for a highway. Free drops mysterious hints of his exile from his homeland, and of the lost key to his return. And so, when demolition occurs and Free disappears,...

"When T'Challa gets special permission to have his friends from America, Sheila and Zeke, come to Wakanda, he can't wait to show them his home for a change. But their tour is brought to a halt when one of T'Challa's peers, Tafari, summons dark forces in order to return Wakanda to the "old ways" before Vibranium was discovered. Tafari manages to banish the King and Queen along with all the tribal elders to an alternate dimension in exchange for the...

In dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue -- Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice Prior, the decision is between staying with her family and being...