Fool Moon recap

A rash of savage killings in Chicago falls on the nights of the full moon, and Harry Dresden - estranged from Murphy, who has learned he keeps secrets - is pulled in to identify a werewolf. He finds not one but several kinds: the benign shapeshifting college pack called the Alphas, led by Billy; the born wolf-woman Tera West; her fiance Harley MacFinn, cursed to become an uncontrollable loup-garou; and worse, corrupt FBI agents under Denton and a street gang using Hexenwulf belts, dark talismans that grant a wolf shape while devouring the wearer's mind. A young practitioner Harry had refused to teach, Kim Delaney, dies attempting a circle meant to contain MacFinn. Amid battles that consume the belt-wearers by their own power, the loup-garou is finally destroyed, Denton's team and the Streetwolves are wiped out, and Harry, badly hurt, wins back enough of Murphy's trust to rebuild their partnership and gains the Alphas as lasting allies.

Previously: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard and a paid consultant to the police's Special Investigations unit under Karrin Murphy, solved a string of heart-ripping magical murders and destroyed the rogue sorcerer behind them, clearing himself of a suspended White Council death sentence. In doing so he made an enemy of the Red Court vampire Bianca and drew the wary attention of crime lord Gentleman Johnny Marcone. Murphy learned that Harry had held things back from her during the case, and the discovery left her trust in him badly shaken. Harry works out of a cramped office and a basement laboratory shared with Bob, a spirit of knowledge bound in a skull.

Broke and freezing, Harry is on the outs with Murphy, who has learned he kept secrets from her and no longer fully trusts him. She calls him to a killing that carries the marks of an enormous animal, timed to the full moon, and a string of similar deaths follows. Before the case truly begins, a young would-be sorceress named Kim Delaney asks Harry to teach her a powerful containment circle; sensing something dangerous, he refuses, a refusal he will bitterly regret. Harry recognizes the killings as the work of a werewolf, and to his frustration realizes that 'werewolf' covers several very different kinds of creature, any of which might be loose in the city.

Harry sorts the possibilities: a friendly pack of shapeshifting college students, the Alphas led by Billy, who use magic to take wolf form; a born wolf-woman, Tera West; her fiance Harley MacFinn, host to a loup-garou, a hereditary curse that turns him into an unstoppable killing beast under the full moon; and darker practitioners using Hexenwulf belts, talismans that grant a wolf shape at the price of the wearer's self-control. Kim Delaney is found dead, killed while attempting the very circle Harry would not teach her - she had been trying to help contain MacFinn - and the guilt cuts deep. Meanwhile FBI agents under Agent Denton take an aggressive interest in the case, and Marcone proves to be a target of the loup-garou himself.

Harry is caught between forces on every side. The Hexenwulf belts, it emerges, are being used by Denton's own FBI team, who are behind killings they have been pinning on MacFinn, and by a gang of thugs, the Streetwolves; the belts draw their power from a wolf-demon spirit that slowly devours and maddens whoever wears one. MacFinn is captured and caged, but the containment fails and the loup-garou breaks loose. Harry is beaten, jailed, and stripped of his tools; short of options, he relies on Bob, who leaves the skull to act on his own, and on Tera West and the Alphas. Susan is pulled into the danger, and Murphy, attacked and furious, briefly turns on Harry before the scale of the real threat becomes clear.

The corrupted belts drive their FBI wearers into a murderous frenzy, and the loup-garou rampages nearly out of control. In a running series of battles the Streetwolves and Denton's team are destroyed by the very power they wielded, and MacFinn's loup-garou is finally brought down, at great cost to Tera West, who had fought to save him. Harry survives, badly hurt, and Bob returns to the skull. Tera, revealed to be a true-born wolf who took human shape, departs for the wild. Murphy, injured and having seen firsthand the truth of what Harry deals with, forgives him enough to mend their partnership, and Harry begins to trust her with more of his world. Billy and the Alphas, having proven themselves in the fight, become lasting allies, and the Hexenwulf belts are destroyed.

The Hexenwulf belts destroy their own wearers: Denton's rogue FBI team and the Streetwolves gang are consumed or killed by the wolf-demon spirit that powered their talismans, and the belts are ruined for good. Harley MacFinn's loup-garou, the truly unstoppable curse at the center of the killings, is finally brought down. Tera West, revealed to be a real wolf who had taken human form to be with MacFinn, survives and returns to the wild, having lost the man she loved. Kim Delaney's death, in an attempt to raise a containment circle Harry had refused to teach her, stays a lasting weight on his conscience. Murphy, attacked during the case and now forced to see plainly the kind of danger Harry stands between the city and, forgives him enough to repair their working relationship, and Harry resolves to trust her with more of the truth. Billy and the Alphas, having fought well, become steady long-term allies. Marcone, targeted by the loup-garou, comes through unharmed and unbowed. Harry ends the case wounded, poorer, and guilt-ridden, but a little more firmly rooted among the people who will stand with him.