STORM FRONT

The offbeat Dresden Files is an expanding series of detective novels about Harry Dresden, a wizard with a consulting practice in modern-day Chicago. Harry's profession offers him little money, lots of mockery, the suspicion of his magical colleagues, plenty of danger, and not much income. It offers readers some unconventional detective work, whimsy, humor, and suspense. Here Dresden discovers that mobsters have enlisted occult forces for nefarious purposes. The casting of James Marsters of TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" to narrate indicates who the intended audience is. Marsters does a nice, low-key job with the first-person narrative, flagging slightly at the home stretch (as does the text), but perking up for the finish. He handles the male and female, and the human and para-human, characters with equal aplomb, even managing some moving pathos out of unpromising moments. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB / MAR 03]