Brief Cases: More Stories from The Dresden Files

  Following the excellent Skin Game, the next book on my journey through The Dresden Files was to be Brief Cases, the second short story collection Butcher has released. I didn't go in with high hopes for it, as I found the first collection to be rather middle of the road. Some of the stories in Side Jobs were noteworthy in their quality, or lack thereof, but most were just incredibly forgettable. Others annoyed me, either because they included important reveals that hadn't been in the novels (Gard being a Valkyrie was the most notable of these) or because they just weren't very good. 

So, it was my hope that Butcher might actually be able to do it right the second time, as the one constant for this series has been improvement. So, did Butcher manage to land an anthology this time, or is it better to skip it altogether? Assume spoilers for everything up to and including Skin Game 

A Fistful of Warlocks was fine. It was a generic western story, where a gunslinger (Warden Luccio) walks into town to deal with some criminals that have been on the run. I enjoyed the decision to set this during the Wild West era, showing us Luccio before she got old, or bodyswapped with a psychotic warlock. 

The use of Wyatt Earp as a character feels a tiny bit strange, almost like a Doctor Who episode. Just because you go back to that era, doesn't necessarily mean you need to include a notable name from it too. The appearances from Kemmler and Grevane were fun, however, especially since we seemingly got to see one of Kemmler's many deaths play out on screen. 

3/5 

B is for Bigfoot was a lot of fun. I always enjoy seeing Butcher's take on mythological creatures, since he tends to put these little twists on them that go against the more common depictions of them. Giving Bigfoot an accountant, and having the first story about him focus on his son being bullied in school is a prime example of this. 

I also just found it incredibly pleasant to return to a less jaded, hurt Harry, who was still free of the scars the Red Court War gave him. He's in a relationship with Susan, Karrin doesn't hate him anymore, life is actually reasonably decent for him. And that reflects in his character. The later paranoia that starts forming is completely absent, he's able to take people at face value. 

The villain is another thing that I really appreciated, since thus far, we haven't really seen much of these in the main series, at least not in any meaningful capacity. We get told that they're really dangerous, and should be tread carefully around, but this actually kind of shows why. 

3.5/5 

AAAAWizardry is great. It's an incredibly low stakes story, where Harry is teaching a class about the 4 As in Wizardry to a class of would be Wardens, while telling them a story about a case he worked to help a member of the paranet. We cut between the class, and the case itself, with each cut signifying a different A. 

This is a story with a decent amount of heart, and you could use it to demonstrate to someone exactly the type of character Dresden is. The side characters in it are also established really effectively, each one feeling fully realized very quickly. This one plays to a lot of Butcher's strengths, being fast paced, action heavy, and almost entirely focused on the characters, and how they react to the situation's they've landed in. 

4/5 

I Was a Teenage Bigfoot is the second of the three Bigfoot stories in the anthology, and while not being as strong as the first in my opinion, I still really enjoyed it. It has a more fun opening than the first Bigfoot story, having Bigfoot fuck with a group of him hunters, just to facilitate a meeting with Harry. Once again, Harry finds himself fixing an issue for Bigfoot regarding his son. He's gotten sick, which isn't supposed to happen. 

This leads to Harry deciding to don a full suit, something that is exceedingly rare, but always funny for the image it conjures, as it's so anathema to who Dresden is. He comes to blows with the school repeatedly, who refuse to allow him in, and he has to use all his charm and wit (and a little bit of forzare) just to be allowed to help this kid. Naturally, shenanigans ensue. 

This was a solid story, up until the motivation for the villain was revealed, which I thought was a little too goofy, and took me out of the story. 

3/5 

Curses is a story that was always going to be doomed to fall a little bit flat for me. I don't care about sports in any way shape or form. I care even less about baseball. So when I copped that this story was going to be about a superstition surrounding baseball, most of my interest seeped out of me 

All the parts are in this story to make it really work for me, with the exception of Harry's ogling of Jill, which, weirdly enough, 17 books in, still has yet to grow on me. The primary antagonist of the story is great though. Gwynn is a genuine delight when he's in a scene. The final scene is also very sweet 

2/5 

Even Hand was fantastic. Johnny Marcone has long since been a favourite character of mine, stealing every scene that he's in. I'm also incredibly partial to his goons, Gard and Hendricks, so getting to see more of them will never be a pain point for me. I'd never have guessed that Butcher would let us directly into Marcone's head, so this took me by surprise from the get go. 

Every single line was an absolute joy to read, and shows just how gifted with character voice Butcher really is. I've seen a good few writers struggle to capture multiple distinct voices in first person, and he's certainly not one of them. Marcone's inner monologue instantly has a different texture to it than Harry's, and I'm here for it. 

Seeing his first encounter with the Fomor (and knowing they were active in Chicago even before the events of Changes) was also something I had no expectations of seeing. It also explains why they had already moved on Chicago even before Harry's death became a widely known thing in the supernatural community. They had beef to settle. 

The only downside to this story was that I'm not getting a full Marcone novel anytime soon 

5/5 

Bigfoot on Campus is our final Bigfoot story, and by far and away the strongest of the three. It manages to be just as fun as the last two, while having some serious heart to it. The White Court vampires are always something I'm going to enjoy seeing outside of Chicago, since it means the story doesn't have to be centralized on the Raiths. 

Don't get me wrong, I love the Raiths, but the White Court is constantly built up to be so much more than just them, yet we never actually seem to get the chance to have that realized on the page. But here, we get that, and it's fantastic. We see that not all White Court leaders are built the same, some of them are actually quite pathetic. 

And of course there's River and Irwin, a meeting that we've been waiting for all book at this point, and unsurprisingly, considering Butcher's history with pay off, it lands spectacularly. 

The framing of the story being Dresden telling it to a cop who isn't familiar with him is a really fun one, the little cuts to him actually telling the story serving as nice breaks from the main event. Once again, Butcher showed off his character work, having Dean be an incredibly likable character in what amounts to probably less than a thousand words. 

4/5 

Bombshells was a solid story that faltered towards the middle. Following Molly after the events of Ghost Story, we find her still struggling with the fact that she helped facilitate the death of Harry at the end of Changes. This premise offers a lot of really tantalizing potentials, most of which sort of go unanswered, which is a massive shame, since for the most part, we don't really get to see Molly deal with those feelings in a meaningful way. 

The dealings with the Fomor, and the infiltration into the Svartalf party were mostly mixed. The initial break in was incredibly lackluster, mainly just serving to be an extended Charlie's Angels reference. This was, for the most part, lost on me, since I've never consumed anything relating to Charlie's Angels. The story acting as a sequel to the Marcone story earlier in the book was a nice little treat that I hadn't expected. 

However, I'm incredibly tired of Molly pining for Harry. It's been going on since Proven Guilty, and I'm just finding myself inordinately bored of the whole thing at this point. It's not a pairing I enjoy the implications of, I hate the semi-justification's that even Karrin has been doing in recent books, it's just gross and boring. And even now, having been inside the head of the character who's doing the pining, I don't get why she wants to be with Harry outside of him being tall, hot and a badass. Molly spends a page or two talking about it, without actually saying anything. Contrast this to Dresden thinking about characters he's had romantic interest in, and I get what he sees in them outside of attraction. I know that the next story is another Molly focused one, so if that appears in the next one, a lot of my opinions are likely to remain the same. I hope not, but lord only knows with this “pairing” by now. 

The best part of this story was how it concluded, with us getting to see Molly find out that Harry was still alive. However, this didn't hit as hard as it probably should have, since due to where this book falls in the reading order, I've already seen the payoff for that back in the early stages of Cold Days, which was 2 books ago. This is arguably one of the biggest issues with these 2 short story collections. A lot of the revelations throughout were already referenced in the mainline series, taking the oomph out of these shorter entries. 

3.5/5 

Cold Case was excellent. Following the events of Cold Days, it's another Molly PoV, this time showing her first outing with the mantle of the Winter Lady. A highlight of the last two books has been Harry battling the urges of the Winter Knight's mantle, and this is a fresh flavour of that, which tastes just as sweet. The Winter Lady's mantle encourages Molly to be a lot colder towards people, on top of also having an incredibly pushy libido. Molly constantly thinks about sex. 

Seeing Ramirez again was a complete treat. He was one of the highlights of the back half of the war with the Red Court, even when I'd grown bored of the war as a whole. Seeing him put in a more low stakes situation, where he doesn't necessarily have to be fully locked in was a very fun time. 

I've been wondering what the deal with Cthulhu and the like was in Dresden, since the Necronomicon had been referenced a few times in the early days of the series, so getting some concrete answers on that was a lot of fun. If I had to guess, we'll probably end up seeing that become a more central part of the series overall mythos as it hits it's final entries. 

I really enjoyed the Miksani as well. It's rare that we get to see Faeries of Winter stand up to the queens, since most of the stories that we read about the Fae are based in and around Mab's powerbase. 

The final scene in the hotel was quite sad to read, Butcher sells the distress of a dissociative episode very well. I hope we get more short stories of this new version of Molly, since it was really fun to explore what these changes mean for her. Molly's realization about what she was actually there to collect from them was a powerful moment, where she has to deal with the relative powerlessness that she has, despite the new station she's arisen to, while also still showing the effect that Harry's tutelage had on her. 

4.5/5 

Jury Duty was one of my favourites in the collection. This is a story where Butcher decided to let his inner Spider-man reader show, and it fits so well. Harry gets called up for jury duty, sees an injustice being done, and refuses to let that happen. This story was chiefly focused on Harry just being a decent human being. It was super low stakes, so much so it could have been a cold open to one of the first books in the series. And that's a really good thing. 

This is set just after Skin Game so having something low stakes following that is, in my opinion, a really important thing. Harry needs to return to some degree of normalcy after his multi year absence from society. He also needs this small win, that shows that despite the horrible whispering of the mantle, he is still, fundamentally, a good man. There really isn't too much too say about this story, but despite that, it still remains one of the best in the book 

5/5 

Day One focuses on a PoV I never would have guessed we'd see, that of Waldo Butters, ME, reluctant medic, and now Knight of the Cross, as he gets given his first quest from God. It's a fun little story that lets the reader focus on a character that for the most part, has always been in the background of stories, patching people up. 

At times it can get a tiny bit too self indulgent with the whole Butters being a gamer thing, and the Star Wars metaphor feels a little stretched by the end; but this is a story that pays off Butter's series long arc of overcoming his fear in the face of the supernatural. It adds a fun new monster to the mix, and has a genuinely sweet moment between Dresden and Butters, calling all the way back to Dead Beat. 

4/5 

Zoo Day is probably my favourite of the bunch. This is Harry's first proper day of being a dad. He's bonding with his daughter on a trip to the zoo. But, because it's Harry, naturally something comes up that forces him to leap into action and solve a problem. He comes across a warlock who he thinks he can help before things get bad. Maggie, his daughter encourages him to do so. Dresden worries about being a bad father, but Maggie reacts positively to him throughout. Had that been all this was, it still would have been really solid. 

But about a third of the way through, we get a PoV switch. To Maggie's PoV. This covers everything we'd seen in Harry's PoV, showing that a lot of the fears he has, Maggie also has. She's terrified that Harry is going to reject her out of hand because of the PTSD and Anxiety that have come on because of the traumatic events she experienced in Changes. Butcher's description of this had me crying at one point in the story. 

We also get to see that she's already turned into a monster hunter in her own right, showing that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. We get introduced to a monster type that only children can see, and this gives Maggie a little win where she's able to overcome some of her problems. 

And if that's not enough, we then get yet another PoV switch to Mouse, which is just wonderful. We're able to see just how he thinks, and the love he holds for Harry and Maggie. Harry being called “My Friend” by Mouse brought a smile to my face each time it was said. 

This story has nothing but heart, and sets up the future of the series really well. I'm incredibly excited to see more of Dresden as a dad. He's delightfully awkward at it, while refusing to do it by half measure. 

5/5 

Overall, this collection of short stories is a slightly mixed bag. It has a kind of weak first half, but the back half is filled to bursting with incredibly strong offerings that enhance the world of the series significantly. If down the line we end up getting another one of these, I hope that it manages to dodge the pitfalls of this and Side Jobs, while zeroing in on just what this book did well. 

Focusing on PoVs outside of Harry is a must for future short stories, since being given the opportunity to look outside of a walking WMD's PoV is a treat we don't get anywhere near enough of.