Dresden Files Reread - Grave Peril Chapter 3

Photo by Izzy Rivi on Unsplash

We're not going to see the Nevernever quite yet - this is a flashback chapter. It's the first one in the series, which means it's starting to lay the groundwork for the "wayback machine" chapter in Skin Game. 

Harry had most of a pretty normal day at the office. We get a description of that office, and the building it's in, with rather more detail than we got in the first book. This is where Harry's table of ridiculous pamphlets is first introduced. I love the pamphlets, and they're very effective tone setting for the rest of the chapter, which finally, three boos in, establishes what "normal" looks like for Harry - what he does in a day when he isn't coping with either a dire emergency or a total lack of business. 

He starts his day by putting coffee on, and I have such questions about this. The coffee machine (and it does say "machine") is described only as "old", and a paragraph later there's a reference to doing other things while the coffee "percolates". Now, the first patent for a coffee percolator was filed...sometime in the 19th century. Sources give dates anywhere between the 1820s and 1889, depending largely on how you define "percolator". These early models were meant to be used over a fire, which Harry doesn't have in his office, although stovetop versions, which could likely be used with a hot plate, or even a bunson burner, emerged by the 1870s, and by 1933 we had both the French press and the moka pot, both of which are in the percolator family of coffee makers.We can rule out any design in which already-heated water is added to coffee grounds, because were that the case, Harry would have started doing things like checking the mail while the water boiled, not while the coffee percolated. This firmly excludes the French press, at least. 

For reasons passing my understanding, disagreement exists about the date of the first electric coffee percolator, with many sources insisting it was 1954. This is the worst possible timeframe for Harry's purposes. An electronic device from the '50s will take Harry's magic longer to break than, say, a cell phone, but it will break, leaving him needing to repair or replace and old, obscure piece of technology every few years at least. Too expensive - he'd be better off buying a cheap contemporary model, even if it needed to re replaced every few months, and we know he's not doing that because he describes it as "old". The most practical option, if he can find one, would be one of the actual first electric percolators: a Westinghouse, or imitator thereof, from the 1920s or 1930s. This would need an adapter suitable to vintage small appliances (especially since I'm fairly sure these things are meant to use direct current), but those exist and aren't that hard to replace, especially in the '90s and aughties, when there was still Radio Shack. So the thing can be done. What I'm having a harder time working out is why. Why go to the bother of tracking down an antique percolator, assembling a suppression spell, going to Radio Shack to buy an adapter, and then repeating those last two steps every time the adapter goes out (this being considerably more recent tech, than the coffee maker itself). Why not just use a moka pot or something with a burner, or a french press, a burner, and a kettle? I see two possibilities. 1. The lease on the office allows coffee makers but not burners or hot plates. 2. The coffee maker was a gift or payment from a long-lived nonhuman client who just kinda happened to have one, and was familiar with wizards' issues with technology. (It could conceivably be Svartalf make, but Harry doesn't have an in with them at this stage, and buying one would be ridiculously expensive). 

Harry checks the mail, which includes a thank you letter for dealing with a recent ghost problem, and a check from the city for helping with CPD with a sorcerer. This is some very good laying of groundwork. The thank you note reinforces that things have been very, very ghosty lately, and the check starts the process of establishing the Kravos case. We don't get a lot of particularly here, but we find out that Michael was involved, and that it was "nasty", including a demon and human sacrifice. 

He's getting ready to call Michael and ask if he wants to split the payment, but Susan calls before he can pick up the phone. They flirt, extensively, although she's pretty annoyed because he stood her up last night. He was dealing with another ghost, and gives her the details, both to make it up to her and to verify that he was doing something important enough to justify skipping their date. I'd be bothered by how transactional this is, but they both seem to be having a good time with it. They arrange to meet at his place around 9. Susan seems like she's about to say something (presumably 'I love you'), but then she doesn't. There's also some discussion in here to establish that the increased ghost activity isn't Halloween related.

Most of the rest of the day passes in summary, with Harry doing the kind of work too routine to warrant even a short story. He finds a wedding ring, refuses to cast a love spell, refers a client to a mundane private investigator, and meets with a baby practitioner whom he's helping learn to control their power. Very normal. He's getting ready to close up for the night when a girl shows up and says he's the only one who can help her. Harry tries to brush her off, because a lot of people decide magic is the only way to solve their problems, but then she grabs his hand, revealing herself to be a practitioner. Harry freaks out, takes a big step back, shields his mind, and then asks if she wants basic lessons like the kid he met with earlier. She says no. She says that she's in danger. She needs protection, and without it, she might not survive the night. 

See? Faster! I wish I didn't know that the plotting falls apart towards the end of this novel, 'cause there is so much solid structure here. The foreshadowing, the doling out of information, the use of a flashback like this, all absolutely spot on.  Mildly frantic progress continues, so expect the next chapter in just a couple days. Until then, be gay, do crimes, and read all the things!