Brief Cases by Jim Butcher is a collection of short stories in the very popular Dresden Files series, named for the central character Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard – or at least the only one with an ad in the phone book. I don’t normally go in for short story collections, but occasionally with an established universe my completionist instincts will kick in. In this case I had already read Side Jobs, a similar collection by the same author in the same universe.
If you liked one, you’ll probably like the other; perhaps even too much, because they share at least one story in common. Despite that there was enough new material to be interesting, including some time with the camera focused on the smaller characters. There’s an adorable story featuring Harry’s daughter and his dog Mouse at the zoo, with carefully layered viewpoints from everyone, including the dog. There are two Molly stories (one new), and one detailing Butters’ first excursion as a polka loving medical examiner and [spoiler].
If you’re a fan of the universe already and you enjoy short story collections, there’s content to enjoy here. My only caveat is that $15 (as of this posting, in the Kindle Edition) is a bit steep for a collection of short stories where not all the content is new, even when the total page count runs to 450 pages.
