Yay! The first two books are okay, but third and after get really, really good once the main arc kicks in.

Brainstorm

"So, I'm thinking, wizard private detective but an actual wizard, what do you think?" Castle asked.

Dresden did not seem as thrilled as Castle thought he should be. It was a brilliant idea. Maybe he just wasn't getting it.

"I mean, with actual magic. It'll be like urban fantasy. Sort of noirish. Hardboiled detective, but also an actual wizard, dealing with actual wizard cases."

Dresden still wasn't responding, though he was very intent on whatever weird drawing he was doing in the sand.

"About...what's a good magic name? No offense, but Harry would just seem like a rip-off of Potter. You'd need something dark and detective-y. Dirk? Clint? Maybe a bit too cowboy, there. Drake? Drake would work, you could have the double meaning with dragon. There should so be a dragon! Okay, I'm writing this down now and--"

The drawing in the sand suddenly burst into flame, and a spark landed on Castle's note pad, setting it ablaze.

"Ow! Ow! Hot!" Castle said. The note pad dropped into the flames of the drawing, burning to a crisp in seconds.

"Oops," Dresden said, with an apologetic, goofy smile. "Sorry, about that. Hope you didn't lose anything important."