Fool Moon (novel)

First edition cover
Author(s)	Jim Butcher
Cover artist	Lee MacLeod
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	The Dresden Files
Genre(s)	Science fiction, Fantasy novel
Publisher	Penguin Putnam
Publication date	January 1, 2001
Media type	Print (Paperback) & AudioBook (Audio Cassette & Audio CD)
Pages	352 pp (first edition, paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0-4514-5812-5 (first edition, paperback)
OCLC Number	45752301
LC Classification	CPB Box no. 1853 vol. 14
Preceded by	Storm Front
Followed by	Grave Peril

Fool Moon is a 2001 contemporary fantasy novel by author Jim Butcher. It is the second novel in The Dresden Files, which follows the character of Harry Dresden, present-day Chicago's only professional wizard.

Plot

After the events in Storm Front. Kim Delaney, who Dresden helped to control her magical talents, asks Dresden how to create a set of three magical circles, which could be used to contain powerful entities. Dresden withholds the information, because such circles are generally used to contain demigods and archangels.

Lt. Karrin Murphy asks Dresden to consult on a homicide. A henchman of Johnnie Marcone's was found near a group of wolfish paw prints. Dresden follows a lead that takes him into a confrontation with a gang of teenage werewolves and their pack leader, Tera West. At the police station, he gets a tip from FBI Agent Harris that the Streetwolves biker gang might know something about the murder, learning The Streetwolves and their packleader Parker are lycanthropes. They do not change shape, but become bestial in their minds. Dresden escapes unscathed, but now the Streetwolves want him dead.

Marcone shows up in Dresden's office. He offers to hire Dresden as his security adviser, for protection. Dresden refuses. On his way out the door, Marcone says that these killings are connected to Harley MacFinn and his Northwest Passage Project. Before Dresden can check on Harley MacFinn, Lt. Murphy arrests him. Kim Delaney's shredded body is found in MacFinn's apartment next to a summoning circle. Tera West sneaks in and frees Dresden. Tera tells Dresden that he must draw the containment circle around her fiancé Harley MacFinn before the moon rises, or innocent people will die. MacFinn is a loup-garou, an incredibly powerful werewolf that can only be killed with inherited silver. Dresden is shot during his escape from police custody, and is rescued by Tera. Desperate, he calls Susan and bums a ride in exchange for an exclusive on the wolf murders.

Ignoring Dresden's warnings, Murphy arrests and jails MacFinn in his human form. Dresden races to the station to get to MacFinn, but the moon rises, and MacFinn changes, slaughtering the suspects in the holding cells, the desk sergeant, and Murphy's staff. Dresden drives off MacFinn and goes in search of Marcone. While searching for MacFinn, Dresden is attacked by the Streetwolves, and learns the FBI agents are hexenwolves behind the murders after capturing one of them.

At moonrise, they pile into a rented van and head to Marcone's estate to save him from MacFinn. Dresden and his allies are captured by the FBI hexenwolves and thrown into a pit with the transformed MacFinn, but Marcone frees them. Dresden and Murphy kill the FBI hexenwolves and MacFinn. Dresden and Murphy burn the hexenwolves' belts before Chicago PD arrives—so they can never be used again. Susan evacuates the Alphas and Chicago PD arrests Marcone on general principle.

Tera West, revealed to be a wolf that can change into a human, returns to her family in the Northwest. One major question is left unsolved, though-where did the FBI agents get their belts?

Plot points introduced

• Werewolves: Early in the novel the character of Bob explains that there are at least four different variations of werewolves, each of which has different magical properties, strengths, and weaknesses. Dresden encounters all four variations throughout the book.
• Dresden's enemy: At the end of the novel, Dresden concludes from the events in Storm Front and Fool Moon that there is a powerful magical being who is working to make chaos and create deadly trouble.

List of characters

Returning characters

Main article: List of The Dresden Files characters

• Harry Dresden: The protagonist; a professional wizard.
• Lieutenant Karrin Murphy: The Director of Special Investigations, Chicago PD.
• Detective Ron Carmichael: Murphy's partner at SI. He is killed by Harley MacFinn in his shapeshifted form.
• Gentleman Johnny Marcone: The crime lord of Chicago.
• Susan Rodriguez: A reporter at the Midwester Arcane and Dresden's love interest.
• Bob: An intelligent air spirit who resides inside a skull in Dresden's sub-basement laboratory.
• Hendricks: One of Gentleman Johnny Marcone’s bodyguards.
• Mister: Dresden's 30+ pound house cat.
• Mac: The owner-operator of McAnnally's tavern.

Characters introduced in this novel

• FBI Agent Denton: FBI investigative team leader.
• FBI Agents Benn, Harris and Wilson: Members of Denton's FBI team.
• Kim Delaney: A young woman being mentored by Dresden in the magical arts.
• Harley MacFinn: A millionaire environmentalist with lupine qualities.
• Tera West: A mysterious woman with lupine qualities and the fiancée of MacFinn.
• The Alphas: A gang of college-age men and women who have werewolf abilities.
• Billy Borden: One of the Alphas.
• Georgia: One of the Alphas.
• Chaunzaggoroth: A demon informant; Dresden calls him "Chauncy."
• The Streetwolves: A Chicago biker gang of lycanthropes.
• Parker: The leader of the Streetwolves.
• Detective Rudolph: A new officer at SI.

Fool Moon in other media

• Certain plot elements of this novel, specifically FBI agents who are both lovers and secretly werewolves, were reused in The Dresden Files television episode "Hair of the Dog." Most plot elements, however, are entirely original.
• This book is available as a Kindle book.

External links

The first chapter of the book and several MP3 clips are found on the author's official website.