Harry Dresden is the only practicing wizard in the Chicago yellow pages, hiding true magic in plain sight in Storm Front by Jim Butcher. Independent and often heroic, Dresden works in his chosen city while guarding knowledge of hidden realms. Wise-cracking attitude aside, Dresden is a modern knight with a moral code, using magical abilities to protect the ordinary and magical alike.
Private eye Dresden battles wizard politics, family secrets, vampires, ghosts, fallen angels, and the Faerie Courts. He unites the less powerful of Chicago to defend their city, with and without him, in the Dresden Files. For more investigators protecting their cities and bridging the ordinary and supernatural realms, check out these urban fantasy mystery series.
Harper Blaine is a struggling private investigator, until an attack leaves her dead. Revived in minutes, it’s just long enough to discover the Grey, the realm between our world and the next. Like Dresden’s beloved Chicago, Seattle, past and present, is a character in Greywalker by Kat Richardson. Blaine gains supernatural clients and human allies in the Greywalker series.
As a San Francisco private investigator, half-Sidhe changeling October “Toby” Daye works in the human world. Faerie has other plans as she investigates the death of Countess Evening Winterrose in Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire. Daye’s path from Knight to Hero of the Realm includes betrayal, family secrets, and found family in the October Daye series.
Glaswegian Al MacBharrais is a cursed sigil agent. He writes spells with enchanted ink: contracts with visiting Fae to enforce peace and keep humans in Scotland, England and Europe oblivious. Investigating the death of his most recent apprentice, he realizes his curse is more than it seems, and uncovers a plot with far-reaching implications in Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne.
Peter Grant, mixed-race recruit to the Metropolitan Police force, has a brush with the uncanny. He is pulled into a magical world as the first Folly apprentice since World War II in Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch. The magicians of the Folly investigate supernatural crimes and keep peace among the gods in the Rivers of London series.
Do you have a favorite magical investigator? Or use the comments to suggest a book from the wider paranormal mystery field.
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