Harry being a detective again

[KurtinStGeorge]

Dina mentioned in a post that she missed Harry being a PI.  That got me thinking, when was the last time that Harry; as his primary assignment or duty, had to unravel a mystery?  The answer is in Turn Coat.  Harry had to find the real traitor within the White Council.

Since that novel there have been occasions when Harry has had to do some detective work; like finding out where the Red Court was holding their big shindig in Changes, so Harry could rescue his daughter, but mostly Changes was about Harry rescuing his daughter and killing anyone who got in the way.  I'll bullet point the rest of the novels since then.

Ghost Story: Harry is supposed to find out who killed him, but he doesn't solve anything.  Molly gives him the answer.

Cold Days:  It's not a mystery story.  Mab gives Harry a job.  Harry wonders if Mab has lost her mind, so there is some mystery there.  Eventually the Mothers clue Harry in, but Maeve stays pretty much one step ahead of Harry for the entire novel.  It's her insanity that allows Murphy to kill the Winter Lady for Harry.

Skin Game:  Again, it's not a mystery story.  And again, there is the mystery element of what does Nicodemus want to steal and why does he want it.  However, Harry doesn't do any investigation; in fact, Nicodemus openly told everyone one of the items that he wanted to grab and we never do learn what his plans with it were.  Don't get me wrong, I like Skin Game, but there isn't any PI investigation going on in it.

Peace Talks / Battle Ground:  I was really hoping Peace Talks would feature the murder of one of the delegates during the talks that Harry would have to solve.  Of course, a murder did take place before the talks, but Harry didn't really do anything to figure out what actually happened.  Unless you count Harry saying to himself, "What was Thomas trying to say to me?"

I doubt Twelve Months will feature a major mystery for Harry to unravel.  Of course, I could be wrong, but at present my guess is while there might be some mystery element within the novel that Harry will have to unravel, it will be part of the larger story, not the main challenge of the novel.

Harry is no longer an ordinary wizard PI.  He's moving on a much wider playing field in company or close proximity of some of the heavyweights of the supernatural world.  His powers and responsibilities have grown.  Harry is learning to play games of protocol and to a degree he is becoming a politician now.  Not an elected politician, Harry is part courtier; when he is around Mab (Not that he likes it, he just doesn't have a choice.) and is becoming a supernatural political power within Chicago as its defender, the Wizard of Chicago.

This is all well and good, but I wonder if Harry will ever get to use his detective skills again to solve the major mystery of a story.  Not just a B plot or side quest within a novel, but the main dish, the meat and potatoes of a novel.  I'd like to see that happen again.  What do you think?

[Regenbogen]

For me, the PI stuff was never that important. I'm in it for the magic and I love how he got more powerful and how the overall story evolved. I also love the dilemma of the Winter mantle. And how to juggle between a dangerous job and being an only dad.

I also don't want him to loose the Winter mantle, because I think this is where he is supposed to be. This is the best position to be in this fight against the Outsiders.

I don't think there will be much detective stuff as a major plot point, the story has evolved further than that to be sufficient.

[Dina]

Thanks for paying attention to me 
I do miss the mystery solving. At least, as you  said, there are some mystery elements in many books. Harry finally gets the answer and at least in SG he played ahead. But yes, if he has been a better detective he would have solved his own killing and Thomas situation long before.
I agree Harry is now a much more high profile, powerful character, so we probably won't be doing much PI stuff in the future. I will still miss it.

[Mira]

This is all well and good, but I wonder if Harry will ever get to use his detective skills again to solve the major mystery of a story.  Not just a B plot or side quest within a novel, but the main dish, the meat and potatoes of a novel.  I'd like to see that happen again.  What do you think?

  I agree with Dina, I miss the P.I. stuff as well, it was this that set the Dresden Files apart in my opinion.  Since Changes it has become more of a standard fantasy series.  I also think an opportunity was missed to do a really fantastic detective story trying to find out what made Thomas go off the rails etc..  However that's why Changes was called Changes, the character has moved on and I guess so should we.  However I do miss it..

[vincentric]

You guys aren't being fair to Ghost Story Harry. While learning all the rules of his ghostly existence and putting down a threat from Corpsetaker and Evil Bob, he steadily worked toward solving his murder with limited assistance in the span of 4 days.

Actually, the last time Harry was a detective was in The Law. It's not a super tough mystery, but it is more in line with real life PI work.

[Snark Knight]

Actually, the last time Harry was a detective was in The Law. It's not a super tough mystery, but it is more in line with real life PI work.

Jury Duty was also pretty recent, if we're counting short stories.  Sure, Marcone didn't explicitly hire him to take it as a case ... but he maneuvered Harry onto the jury and counted on Harry being Harry to figure out the case wasn't what it looked like and start his own investigation.

[LordDresden2]

What I miss is not just the detective stories, but that's part of it, but the overall 'feel' of the early books.  The scale was smaller, and it felt so gritty.  For the presence of magic and monsters, it was still the real world.  One of my favorite scenes in the early books is Harry and Karrin meeting up for a late-night confab at a Wal-Mart Supercenter.  Harry mentions the open-all-night and the air conditioners roaring, it just feels so real.  I can imagine them on that big parking lot walking inside.

I miss that real-world grittiness.

[Dina]

It is true about the short stories but that is not enough for me.

[Mira]

What I miss is not just the detective stories, but that's part of it, but the overall 'feel' of the early books.  The scale was smaller, and it felt so gritty.  For the presence of magic and monsters, it was still the real world.  One of my favorite scenes in the early books is Harry and Karrin meeting up for a late-night confab at a Wal-Mart Supercenter.  Harry mentions the open-all-night and the air conditioners roaring, it just feels so real.  I can imagine them on that big parking lot walking inside.

I miss that real-world grittiness.

  This is what I really miss and what attracted me to the Dresden Files in the first place.