Fool Moon (The Dresden Files)

First edition cover
Author	Jim Butcher
Cover artist	Lee MacLeod
Language	English
Series	The Dresden Files
Genre	Science fiction, Fantasy novel
Publisher	Penguin Putnam
Publication date	January 1, 2001
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Paperback) & AudioBook (Audio Cassette & Audio CD)
Pages	352 pp (first edition, paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0-4514-5812-5 (first edition, paperback)
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

Kim Delaney, a young woman whom Harry has helped control her magical talents, is paying for his steak dinner at McAnally's tavern. She asks Dresden to explain how a set of three magical circles that could be used to contain demigods and archangels works. Harry explains the two outer rings of the circle but withholds the information about the third ring because he feels that it might get her into trouble with the White Council and she is not experienced enough to control it. Police detective Karrin Murphy enters McAnally's and asks Dresden to consult on a homicide. She's still angry that Dresden didn’t give her the names of wizards that could have committed the triple murder (in Storm Front). Murphy was the officer responsible for bringing in the Beckitts and they are now in jail. Marcone spread(or rather not denied) the rumor that Dresden was on contract to assasinate the ThirdEye dealers and Murphy’s been under investigation by Internal Affairs. Now, her job is on the line unless she can crack a series of full moon murders. The most recent murder is particularly bad. Marcone's man was gutted and shredded in a pool of blood. The only clue is a wolfish paw print. Dresden follows a lead that takes him into a confrontation with a gang of teenage werewolves and their pack leader, Tera West.

Surviving that meeting, Dresden writes a guide to werewolves for Murphy. Bob had provided him with intel on all four kinds of wolven theriomorphs: hexenwolves, werewolves, lycanthropes, and loup-garous. At the police station, he gets a tip from FBI Agent Harris that the Streetwolves biker gang might know something about the murder. It’s a set up. The Streetwolves and their packleader Parker are lycanthropes. People who do not change shape, but become bestial in their minds, Dresden escapes unscathed, but the Streetwolves now want him dead.

Marcone shows up in Dresden’s office. He asks to hire Dresden as his security adviser. Marcone is aware the wolf creatures want to kill him and needs protection. Dresden refuses. He doesn't want to deal with Marcone, a mobster. On his way out the door, Marcone sayst that these killings are connected to Harley MacFinn and his Northwest Passage Project. Dresden is tempted to kill Marcone and "make the world a better place".

Before Harry can check on the clue he is arrested. Kim Delaney’s shredded body is found in MacFinn’s apartment next to a summoning circle. When Murphy had hired Dresden at McAnally’s, she had pocketed Kim’s summoning circle drawing. Here is yet another dead woman linked to Dresden—it’s like Linda Randall all over again (in Storm Front). She knows that Harry is likely innocent, but she is angry at not being kept in the loop. To express her displeasure at Dresden’s withholding information she wants, Murphy severely beats Harry, handcuffs him and has Carmichael lock him in a cop car. Tera West sneaks up to him and gets him loose. Tara knows that Dresden has to draw the containment circle around her fiancée, Harley MacFinn, a loup-garou before the moon rises, or innocent people will die.

Dresden is shot during the escape from Murphy. Bleeding and in agony, Dresden runs until he passes out. He awakes, safe and bandaged. But he and Tera are miles from Chicago and moonrise is coming. Desperate, he calls Susan and bums a ride. Susan is less than thrilled to meet him with a naked were-woman. Dresden promises a great story. He tells her about the murders, Marcone, and the Northwest Passage Project. Unable to resist an exclusive story, Susan drives them back to Chicago.

Although warned that it would lead to deaths of bystanders, Murphy arrests and jails MacFinn in his human form. Dresden races to the station to get to MacFinn, but the moon rises. MacFinn changes into a loup-garou. It slaughters the suspects in the holding cells, the desk sergeant, and Murphy’s staff. Dresden blows it through the wall with a firebolt. The loup-garou gets up and lopes off to avenge itself upon its enemy, the man who opposes the Northwest Passage Project: Marcone.

Dresden is on his way to catch the loup-garou when he is captured by Parker and the Streetwolves. They take him to their lair, the Full Moon Garage, and they attempt to dismember him for their entertainment. Dresden is inadvertently saved by a shoot out among the lycanthrope Streetwolves, Johnny Marcone, and the FBI. The FBI agents each touch a talisman belt around their waists and change into were-creatures: hexenwolves. They exterminate Parker and the Streetwolves. Marcone and Hendricks escape. Tera and the Alpha werewolves rescue Dresden. And, Dresden captures FBI Agent Harris.

Harris explains that Denton and the hexenwolves were behind all the full moon killings. The plan is to kill Marcone and "make Chicago a better place". They set up MacFinn to take the fall. Yeah, a bunch of innocent people were killed each full moon, Harris admits, but it’s just collateral damage. Marcone’s a monster; he’s got to go. Harris doesn’t realize that the belts have turned Denton and the agents into uncontrollable, murderous monsters.

Disgusted, Dresden keeps Harris' talisman belt. Dresden, Susan, Tera, and the Alphas regroup at a safe house to bandage their wounds and figure out their next move. They decide the best move is to take on all the hexenwolves all at once. Otherwise, Denton will pick them off one by one and then kill Susan to wrap up the loose ends. Susan and Dresden have a few quiet moments before the final battle. She changes his bandages, changes his outlook, and gifts him with a black, leather duster. Then, it's show time.

At moonrise, they pile into a rented van and head to Marcone’s estate to save him from MacFinn. If Dresden cannot corral MacFinn, he'll have to kill him. In Marcone’s backyard, a running battle ensues. The attacks are complicated by betrayal and killing bloodlust. Dresden uses the talisman belt. The killing power of the belt combines with Dresdens propensity for black magic, and he almost looses control to bloodlust. At the end of the blood bath, MacFinn's curse is lifted. Dresden and Murphy burn the hexenwolves' belts before Chicago PD arrives so they can not be used by anyone again. Susan evacuates the Alphas. Chicago PD arrests Marcone to harass him, even though he was the victim. And, Tera changes from human form into a wolf and returns to her family in the Northwest. Dresden realizes there are wolves who can shapeshift into human form. The remaining question that bothers Dresden is where did the FBI members get the belts? Harry thinks that it was some magical entity or group that has been working to create chaos.

Plot points introduced

• Werewolves: According to Bob, early on in the novel, there are at least four different variations of werewolves, all with 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 . (Much later in the series, this concept re-appears as the "Black Council.")

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.
• 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 McAnally'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 John Stallings: An officer and a friend at SI.
• 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.