Jury Duty

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Synopsis

Newly returned to Chicago from the island of Demonreach, Harry Dresden is surprised and annoyed at having just received a summons for jury duty. He reluctantly goes and is seated on the jury of a man accused of bludgeoning another man to death. As he listens to the testimony, things simply aren't adding up for him, so when court adjourns for the day, Harry sets out to do some sleuthing. With his werewolf friend, Will, by his side, they go in search of a little girl who may have witnessed the murder and end up in the middle of a turf war between two of Chicago's biggest players, but if Harry can survive the day, he just might see real justice served all the way around.

Review

"Jury Duty" is a short story in the Dresden Files series that takes place after the events of Skin Game. In it, Harry is summoned for jury duty and ends up serving on the murder case of a guy who's accused of bludgeoning another man with a bowling pin. As he listens to the testimony, things just aren't adding up for him and he begins to suspect something supernatural is afoot. When the judge adjourns for the day, Harry hits the streets with his werewolf friend, Will, to do some good old-fashioned investigating. While searching for a little girl who may be the only witness to the murder and someone who can clear the defendant's name, he stumbles upon a turf war between two of the biggest players on the Unseelie Council and must fight his way out to save the day on all fronts.

This was a fun little story that takes readers back to Harry's roots as a private investigator by first having him engage in the mundane occurrence of serving on a jury. In typical Harry fashion, he sees something amiss and can't let it rest until he's solved the case and done right by all involved. We also get to see a little of his newfound fatherly instincts in his dealing with the little girl who's the witness. I enjoyed having Will as Harry's sidekick in this story. IMHO, we haven't seen nearly enough of the werewolves lately. There were perhaps a couple of things that could have been explained a little better as I had a hard time following the reasoning. Otherwise, though, this was an enjoyable little side story in Harry Dresden's world. "Jury Duty" was previously published in the multi-author anthology, Unbound, before being reprinted in the single-author anthology, Brief Cases.

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Jim Butcher