Grave Peril was January's selection for the sci-fi/fantasy book club I belong to.  This is the third book in Jim Butcher's Dresden series -- we read the first two books last summer.

After months of more serious stuff -- some high fantasy, a little steampunk -- it was refreshing to read another Dresden novel.  One of the things I like best about these books is how tongue-in-cheek they are.  They read like Butcher spends most of the time just having fun with his characters and his stories, and I think that's pretty refreshing, especially in urban fantasy.  Although a lot of the books in the genre include some comic relief, they usually don't spend the entire book poking fun at themselves.

I also like the fact that the books mimic the noir genre of old crime and mystery novels (albeit in a rather lighthearted fashion).  Butcher does a great job of setting an appropriately gritty tone, a noir style backdrop for his novels, and then proceeding to make fun of everything left and right.  Nothing is sacred in a Dresden novel!  Harry Dresden, wizard and private investigator, advertises his business in the phone book and keeps a talking skull (named Bob!) as a familiar.  How much more tongue-in-cheek can you get?

Like the first two books in the series, Grave Peril was more lighthearted fun than serious vampire- and ghost-hunting action.  But as we all agreed in our book club meeting, the ending (which I won't give away) is what makes the book great.  It's a perfect ending to the story, not to mention it introduces a couple of new characters that I'm looking forward to seeing more of in later books.

If you haven't read the Dresden books before, I recommend them, especially when read in between more serious books, as they make for perfect down-time in between weightier novels or nonfiction books.