Dead Beat (The Dresden Files)

Plot summary

It's three days before Halloween and nearly a year after the events in Blood Rites. Mavra, from the previous novel, orders Dresden to locate The Word of Kemmler for her within 3 days, or Murphy will be set up for the murder of one of Mavra's minions last year. Dresden learns that Bob used to belong to Kemmler, the most powerful necromancer in a thousand years, and narrowly survives an encounter with an evil personality hidden within the spirit.

Investigating further, he rescues the medical examiner Waldo Butters from Grevane, an evil necromancer at the local morgue. During the encounter he learns of another book; Die Lied der Erlking. Searching for a copy of this book, he meets Shiela, a supposedly helpful clerk with a photographic memory, and has another run in with two mysterious, cloaked figures outside of an occult book store.

With Halloween fast approaching, Dresden learns that three groups of necromancers are planning to use the two books in a ritual that will turn them into a minor god. Seeking to stop the ritual, Harry contacts the White Council and prepares to summon the Erlking himself, to prevent any of the necromancers from doing so. While the summoning goes as planned, the two cloaked figures manage to free the Erlking. With help from a handful of Wardens, Butters, his half-brother Thomas, and a zombiefied Sue the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the now Warden Dresden sets out to put a stop to the necromancers' plans.

When the dust settles, Harry finally has his hand on a copy of The Word of Kemmler. He gives it to Mavra along with a warning: Threaten his friends again and he will pull out all the stops, seizing whatever power he can (including the power in the book, Lasciel's coin, and an offer from the Queen of the Winter Court) and make a mission of putting Mavra down for good.

Introduced characters