The Well Bookshop
Author

Jim Butcher

Jim Butcher has 31 known credited books (31 published) across 3 series. Start with The Dresden Files.

Jim Butcher is an American author best known for The Dresden Files, a long-running urban fantasy series following Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard-for-hire, as he investigates supernatural crimes for both paying clients and the city police. Beginning with Storm Front in 2000, the series has grown to more than a dozen novels blending noir detective fiction with modern-day magic, vampires, faeries and a richly built supernatural underworld, and helped establish many of the conventions that later defined the wider urban fantasy genre. A short-lived television adaptation, The Dresden Files, aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in 2007. Butcher is also known for the Codex Alera series, an epic fantasy blending Roman-inspired culture with elemental magic, and more recently for The Cinder Spires, a steampunk fantasy series. New readers should start with Storm Front, since The Dresden Files is heavily serialized and rewards reading in order as Harry's world and enemies deepen across the series. Butcher's combination of hardboiled narration and inventive magic systems has made him one of the genre's most enduringly popular authors.

Series
3
Credited books
31
Published
31
Latest published book
Out Law 5 May 2026
Active
2000–present
Best known for
The Dresden Files

Key facts about Jim Butcher

Our list holds 31 books by Jim Butcher. 30 of them belong to a series, while 1 stands alone. Since all 31 are out now, every book here is ready to read. Their series sit on our urban fantasy, epic fantasy and steampunk fantasy shelves.

Jim Butcher has 3 series on file. The Dresden Files has 21 books, while Codex Alera has 6 books. The Cinder Spires has 3 books, starting in 2015. In particular, The Dresden Files is the longest series on file.

The Dresden Files starts with Storm Front, while Codex Alera starts with Furies of Calderon. The Cinder Spires starts with The Aeronaut's Windlass.

Since The Dresden Files is the first series on file, it is the place to start. Their first published book on file came out in 2000. Meanwhile, Out Law is the latest published book, out on 5 May 2026.

There is also 1 standalone book. You can read it in any order, since each one stands alone. The newest one that is out is Spider-Man: The Darkest Hours, from 2006.

Series by Jim Butcher

Standalone books

Read these in any order — each is a complete story, listed newest first.

Frequently asked questions

What should I read first by Jim Butcher?

Start with the The Dresden Files series, since it is the first on file. Its first book came out in 2000. Then read it in publication order.

Last updated

All authors