Working for Bigfoot: Stories from the Dresden Files

Butcher emphasizes the lighter side of his Chicago-based wizard PI, Harry Dresden, in this collection of three novellas with a common client, a Sasquatch known as River Shoulders. In “B Is for Bigfoot,” River Shoulders hires Harry to look out for the Sasquatch’s half-human son, Irwin, who is unaware of the truth of his parentage. Irwin, an elementary school student, is the target of bullies, who prove to be motivated by more than just ordinary cruelty. Having successfully resolved that problem, Harry is again approached by River Shoulders when Irwin is taken ill with a mysterious malady as a teenager in “I Was a Teenage Bigfoot.” In the concluding section, “Bigfoot on Campus,” River Shoulders fears that his now college-age son is in danger. Butcher leavens classic hard-boiled first-person narration (“She was blond, about five-foot-six, and my logical mind told me that every inch of her was a bad idea”) with humor in these amuse-bouches aimed squarely at longtime fans. Agent: Jennifer Jackson, Donald Maass Literary Agency. (July)