Asked to deal with an enraged ghost, Harry Dresden, Chicago’s resident wizard, is puzzled and disturbed not by the ghost’s wrath but by the fact that someone had cast a torture spell on it, goading it into action. Harry’s disturbance increases when he discovers that the same spell has been cast on one of his friends. Harry begins to realize that he and his friends may be targets of a vengeful spirit, and as he desperately tries to discover which of his many enemies has it in for him, his friends are attacked one by one. The spirit, whom Harry refers to as the Nightmare, continues to torment Harry’s friends until he manages to cast a spell preventing it from harming anyone else until it kills him, which leads to a showdown that Harry might not survive.

Fantasy Girl: I love all of the Harry Dresden urban fantasy books. Jim Butcher is a fantastic writer and his books are chock full of action, adventure, and humor.

“My name is unimportant, but you can call me Jack. I’m a musician by choice, a magician by profession, and a bastard by disposition. I’d been doing the magic thing for about five years when they found me. They said I had a talent, that I was smart enough and fit enough and enough of a shit that I could serve my country in a way most people never even get to hear about. And I did want to serve my country, didn’t I? I didn’t really want to contemplate what might happen if I said no.”

And so Jack found himself on the front line of a secret war that most people simply wouldn’t believe was possible, working for a secret organization tasked with defending England from whatever supernatural threat faces it. MI5 know nothing about it and would laugh if they found out—but they wouldn’t laugh for long. Whether wiping out a group of demon summoners, infiltrating a coven determined to assassinate the prime minister, or rooting out a neo-Nazi sect who are trying to bring back Hitler from the dead, Jack is a very modern sort of magician—trained in a variety of the dark arts but also handy with firearms and skilled in unarmed combat and electronic surveillance. David Devereux has combined lightning action with dark supernatural thrills and produced a blistering new breed of supernatural thriller.

Using magic means it uses you back, and every spell exacts a price from its user. But some people get out of it by “offloading” the cost of magic onto an innocent. Then it’s Allison Beckstrom’s job to identify the spell-caster.

Allie would rather live a hand-to-mouth existence than accept the family fortune—and the strings that come with it. But when she finds a boy dying from a magical offload that has her father’s signature all over it, Allie is thrown back into his world of black magic. And the forces she calls on in her quest for the truth will make her capable of things that some will do anything to control…

Fantasy Girl: I just added Magic to the Bone to my shopping list. It sounds like a good urban fantasy read.

From vampires to mummy con artists, this lively collection explores the many forms the undead can take in stories that range from the chilling to the hysterical. There are those who people the Afterlife, others who wander the lands of the living in ghostly form, and even those who walk about in the flesh.

For anyone who’s ever wondered if the grass is greener on the other side of this mortal coil, this collection will provide a wide range of intriguing answers from those who are undead…and loving it!

Thorn St. Croix is a neomage, people that can use leftover creation energy. When an attractive policeman appears at her door and tells her she is suspected of abducting her former husband, Thorn has to use her powers to hunt for him. Of course, any official who watches her long enough will figure out what she is, which means madness or death for her.

As far as college freshman Brenda Morris knows, there is only one Earth and magic exists only in fairy tales.

Brenda is wrong.

A father-daughter weekend turns into a nightmare when Brenda’s father is magically attacked before her eyes. Brenda soon learns that her ancestors once lived in world of smoke and shadows, of magic and secrets . . .

Former enforcer Mason would normally be concerned with finding ghosts and vampires stalking the Castro section of San Francisco. Fortunately, Halloween provides the perfect explanation for the abundance of ghouls. But someone is trying to possess his old flame, Sarah. Now, with the help of his magical dog Louie, Mason must uncover the black magician responsible.

Trust me or die…That’s the choice Morgan Kingsley, exorcist, is given by the gorgeous rogue demon who’s gotten inside her. The truth is, Morgan has dozens of reasons not to trust anyone, from the violence that torched her house and killed her father to a love life that’s left her questioning her relationship with her erstwhile boyfriend, Brian. But Lugh, a king among demons, won’t take no for an answer. He’s prying into her body, her mind, even her sex life. And he’s just pulled Morgan into a power struggle that could have devastating consequences for both the human and demon worlds.

The Compact of Sorcerers, a brotherhood sworn to protect the wall between the human and demon realms, is thrust into battle with an unseen evil that threatens to destroy them all…

Forensic anthropologist Vivien Cairn fears she’s losing her mind. Her libido has kicked into overdrive, and she’s blacking out, leaving hours of her life unaccounted for and no memory of where she’s been or what she’s done. But when a sexy stranger rescues her from a demon attack, Vivien realizes there’s more than just her sanity at stake.

Keira Kelly is coming into her unexpected and unexpectedly awesome powers… and Rio Seco, Texas ain’t ever gonna be the same! Keira just wants to be left alone without many responsibilities to her supernatural clan and, lately, spend some time with sexy Adam Walker – a vampire trying to get his brethren to give up human blood – on his luxurious Wild Moon ranch. But trouble and her paranormal family keep intruding – Gigi, Keira’s great-great-grandmother and the chief of the clan has sent Tucker, Keira’s 1,200-year-old shapeshifter brother to keep an eye on her!