The Dresden Files/Recap/Summer Knight
Harry has become a virtual recluse after the events in Grave Peril. He spends all of his time isolated in his lab, desperately trying to find a cure for his girlfriend's new initiation into vampirehood. But when the White Council of Wizards comes to town to discuss the war Harry started, toads start raining from the sky, and Mab, Queen of the Unseelie fey, drops by his office, Harry has to snap out of his funk. The wizards decide that the best way to end the war is to hand one Harry Dresden, slightly damaged, over to the vampires--unless Harry agrees to take Mab's case. So unless he wants to become a vampire treat, Harry has to act as Winter's emissary, determine who has murdered the mortal champion of Summer, and prove Mab innocent. Of course, things are never that simple. It turns out that Summer's emissary is Harry's old back-from-the-dead flame, and she is under the same amount of compulsion to prove Mab guilty. With the help of Billy the Werewolf, Lt. Karrin Murphy, and Toot the pizza-obsessed fairy, Harry attempts to question the suspects: the Winter Knight, Maeve the Winter Lady, Aurora the Summer Lady, and the ancient Mothers of Winter and Summer. All the while, he is distracted by various attempts on his life by a gun-for-hire ghoul, an angry ogre, and a chlorofiend (plant monster). He also takes on an investigation for a bunch of changelings who are worried that their friend is in danger.
- Personal conflict: Elaine, Harry's once girlfriend who betrayed and tried to help his old master enthrall him, is back in his life.
- Sidekicks: Billy the Werewolf, Lt. Karrin Murphy
- Big Bad: Aurora, the Summer Lady
- Monster of the Week: The Tigress (an assassin ghoul), Grum the ogre, a chlorofiend (plant monster)
- Lesser of Two Evils ally: Lea, Harry's incredibly creepy fairy godmother, who spent most of the last book trying to turn him into a dog