If you’re a fan of fantasy or private detective books, you might be interested to know that there is a series of books that takes both concepts and mashes them together —The Dresden Files.
The Dresden Filesbooks and other media are centered on the adventures and cases of Harry Dresden, a wizard and private investigator available for hire in modern day Chicago. The series was dreamed up and written by Jim Butcher, who by his own admission (in the author’s note of Dead Beat) took the heroes from his own favorite books, like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings and Sam Spade from The Maltese Falcon, the 1930 novel written by Dashiell Hammett, and combined them to create his very own magically cable, crime-solving hero.
At the time of writing, there are currently 17 novels (of the originally planned 20), 2 collections of short stories, 6 short stories that appear in anthologies, a novella, and 11 Graphic Novels that provide the story ofThe Dresden Filesuniverse.
Books
Short story collections & anthology appearances
*These collections of short stories feature stories from Jim Butcher, as well as other authors.
Graphic novels
Novella
It’s safe to say that there’s a lot of material considered lore in the world of Harry Dresden. If you’re just beginning to dip your toe into the series, then you might be wondering what order you should read the books in, so let’s look into it.
The definitiveDresden Filesreading order
I will always recommend this reading order only to those who have read the books themselves before. Storm Front, the first book in the series, is the best introduction to Harry Dresden and will provide the best understanding of the world in which the books are set.
With that said, here’s the chronological reading order for all of the various Dresden Files publications. The actual books will be bolded, just to make things more clear:
Will there be more books inThe Dresden Filesseries?
Yes, although nobody knows when. OnJim Butcher’s website, the release date for ‘Twelve Months‘ is listed as TBD, mentioning that ‘Mirror Mirror‘ will be book number 19 in the series.
