Harry Dresden

Harry is the only wizard in Chicago who advertises in the phone book. That's how a frightened boy finds him in the first aired episode, sure that monsters are after him. Harry charges little, takes almost anything and usually ends a case hurt.

Lt. Connie Murphy is his main police contact. She calls Harry when a crime scene makes no sense, but she'd rather not hear too much about magic.

Harry's mother, Burdine, was a powerful witch who died when he was small. His father, a stage magician, raised him. Around age 11 Harry's powers surfaced, and his uncle, Justin Morningway, wanted the boy. When Harry's father refused, Justin killed him with black magic.

Harry ended up killing his uncle in self-defense. He inherited a fortune, gave it all to charity and kept the Morningway estate, where he refuses to live.

Harry's caseload is all over the map. He helps the ghost of a murdered girl who can't rest until her killer, also dead, answers for it. He tries to save a woman from a Hellion and finds an unexpected link to her. Bianca, a powerful vampire, hires him to learn who's trying to kill her.

He also looks into college students who use magic to beat security systems and start dying one by one. And he teams up with the assistant of the murdered private investigator who taught him the trade to find the killer.

Because of Justin's death, the Council keeps Harry in its sights. Warden Donald Morgan lives in Chicago for that purpose: he goes by the book and clashes with Harry whenever he can. Still, when innocents are at risk, the two sometimes work together and keep it quiet.

In "Things That Go Bump," Morgan and the ancient Mai take refuge at Harry's home and get trapped there by a powerful spell as the walls close in. The wizard who spends his days watching Harry suddenly needs him.

In "What About Bob?", a woman Harry gets involved with steals Bob's skull and delivers it to Justin. Harry learns that death wasn't the end for his uncle: Justin left a magical double ready to bring him back. Harry has to face the man who destroyed his family all over again.

In the books, Harry is also the wizard in the phone book, but his past is different: the mentor he killed as a teenager was Justin DuMorne, and his father died of natural causes.