Quite a few Shout Outs pepper this, the ninth novel of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''. With a serial killer stalking practitioners and unrest in the White Court, trouble and pop culture-savvy snarking are sure to ensue:

* The clue that confirms to Harry that the killings are related is a [[Literature/TheBible Bible reference]].
** In a later moment's SelfDeprecation, Harry snarks that he'll try turning water into wine and walking on water after he finishes his ''current'' nigh-impossible tasks.
** He reminds Lara that "pride goeth" in another scene.
* Harry describes the woods around Castle Raith as "Lovely, dark and deep," a clear reference to "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," a poem by American poet Creator/RobertFrost. He also compares it to [[Myth/RobinHood Sherwood Forest]].
* Priscilla greets Harry with a scowl of [[Creator/CharlesDickens Dickensian]] disapproval.
* After a psychic attack leaves him with a world-class headache, Molly's booted footsteps sound like Franchise/{{Godzilla}}-sized tromping to Harry.
* Elaine uses a spell that causes whirlwinds by twirling something over her head. ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'' uses the same method, and Jim Butcher has shown himself to be a big Creator/{{Marvel}} fan.
* Conversing with Lash, Harry reminds himself that every concession to her reasoning brings him closer to signing on with the [[WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}} Legion of Doom]].
* Anna's suspicions of the Wardens get Harry making sarcastic ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' cracks.
** The ward on her apartment, in Harry's opinion, is a decent warning system, but no more of a defense than the house of straw from "Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs".
** Later, he considers making a Big Bad Wolf entrance to Anna's apartment, perpetuating the "Three Little Pigs" motif.
* Having just watched Molly react erotically to a dead woman's residual memories, Butters feels a bit [[Creator/VladimirNabokov "Nabokovian"]] until Harry confirms she's no longer underage.
* The clothes worn by a captive ghoul in Harry's New Mexico flashback remind him of ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia''.
* Harry recites the opening lines of a classic [[OrphanedPunchline dirty limerick]] when Murphy chides him for how he never stops joking.
* [[spoiler: A cross-dressing villainous vamp who goes by Priscilla]] is a clear shout out to ''Film/TheAdventuresOfPriscillaQueenOfTheDesert''.
* Harry calls Mouse "[[ComicBook/KryptoTheSuperdog Krypto]]" at one point.
* Butters has Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "Bohemian Polka" playing in his morgue examination room, and Harry recognizes it as a rendition of [[Music/{{Queen}} "Bohemian Rhapsody"]].
** Practicing his guitar, Harry himself plays "[[Music/ThePolice Every Breath You Take]]" and "[[{{Disco}} I Will Survive]]". Or possibly mangles them, if Mouse's reaction is typical.
** On a related note, Elaine evidently likes Music/{{Aerosmith}}, or at least their T-shirts.
** Ramirez feels the same way about Music/TheOffspring, while Molly wears a Music/{{Metallica}} shirt.
* Murphy and Dresden quote a few lines from ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' at each other early in the book, much to Harry's [[GeekyTurnOn delight and amusement]].
* Elaine does a Creator/HumphreyBogart impression when Harry teases her for not looking "hardboiled" enough.
* Learning that one of the victims wasn't an Ordo member, Harry and Murphy paraphrase lines from ''Series/SesameStreet'':
--> '''Harry:''' Some of these things are not like the other things.\\
'''Murphy:''' Some of these things are kind of the same.
* "The [[spoiler:Black Council]] had been, [[LampshadeHanging if you will pardon the phrasing]], a [[Film/ThePhantomMenace phantom menace.]]"
* Beefy, red-headed Hendricks plays ''Literature/CliffordTheBigRedDog'' to Murphy's Emily Elizabeth.
* Given Harry's tech-ignorance, him calling Murphy "[[WesternAnimation/MinnieMouse Mini Mouse]]" is probably a punning reference to her stature and WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse's DistaffCounterpart, not her stature and a computer accessory.
* Thomas, fighting ghouls, tears through them like they're {{Mooks}} in an Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger movie.
** Harry describes this as Thomas putting on his [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Supervamp]] cape.
* Harry's own power sends super-ghouls flying like extras from ''Series/TheATeam''.
* Harry reflects upon how much fiction Murphy writes in her police reports, and thinks how she should throw in [[Film/ShakespeareInLove a bit with a dog.]]
* Opting to wear his duster despite the heat, Harry reasons that failing to do so after he's just been attacked could qualify him for ''Literature/GuinnessWorldRecords'' in stupidity, or possibly the Website/DarwinAwards.
* Harry put a trackable bangle on Mouse's collar for "just such an emergency" as he's faced with, ''a la'' [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Foghorn Leghorn]].
* The shockwave from an explosion feels like ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk struck Harry on the chest with a giant pillow.
* If money were words, Mac would make [[Literature/AChristmasCarol Scrooge]] look like Creator/MontyHall.
* We also have Harry facing off against Vittorio Malvora, [[VideoGame/MetalGear a super fast vampire]], specializing in throwing knives.
* Using Little Chicago, Harry can see his own body looming above the table, like Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'s hyperthyroid cousin.
* Thomas's boat, the ''Water Beetle'', looks like Quint's boat from ''Film/{{Jaws}}''.
* Several snarky references to [[BowledOver bowling]] arise during the duel. Even the ''vampires'' laugh at them!
* Harry makes UsefulNotes/WorldWarII analogies while weighing his priorities about tracking Grey Cloak.
* Seeing Grey Cloak's contact, he muses that [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings the Ringwraith look]] is pretty common among dark wizards. Ramirez has made the same connection.
** Harry calls the contact "[[Franchise/StarWars Darth Bathrobe]]" once they start dissing each other.
* Mouse gives Harry a pleading look when he sees that Toto has a carry-case, and Harry points out that he'd have to hire [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]] to haul a Mouse-sized pet carrier around.
* Yet another ''[[Literature/{{Jabberwocky}} snicker-snack]]'' reference, this time to Ramirez's Warden sword in action.
* Butters asks Molly if Harry transforms her into animals, like in ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone''.
** On a far more serious note, when Molly complains that Yoda never tested Luke the way Harry's testing her, Harry ferociously chews her out with how he is '''not''' Yoda, and RealLife is '''not''' as forgiving of error as ''Franchise/StarWars''.
* Commenting on his past battles with evil forces, Harry admits he's not always sure where everyone around him falls on the [[Franchise/StarWars Jedi-Sith]] Index.
* Both Thomas and Harry start reciting "This is bad, this is bad, this is bad" during the battle at the docks, which could be a ShoutOut to Mr. Pink from ''Film/ReservoirDogs''.
* In accordance with his facade as [[spoiler: a CampGay hairdresser]], Thomas's apartment is decorated with posters for ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' and ''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance''.
** Conversely, the room full of notes, maps and photos looks like it belongs to [[Film/FirstBlood Rambo's]] accountant.
* Harry narrates Lara's welcome to the Raith property with a reference to Mary Howitt's poem "Literature/TheSpiderAndTheFly".
* Dresden refers to Mouse's method of warning people of danger as a "Franchise/{{Lassie}} act".
* Sneaking onto the ''Water Beetle'', Elaine rattles off a string of [[BuddyCopShow Buddy Cop Movie]] tropes.
* When word that Harry passed for gay to avoid being arrested gets around the precinct, SI's cops start up with the ''Theatre/LesMiserables'', ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', track-lighting and Julie Newmar jokes.
* After Lara reveals that Ramirez is a virgin, Harry calls him [[Myth/ArthurianLegend Galahad]].
* Harry's unexpectedly-effusive welcome to Executive Priority Health catches him so flat-footed, he quips that if the [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Lollipop Guild]] is waiting for them inside, he's leaving.
* A hospital security-guard's manner is compared to Creator/PatrickSwayze's in ''Film/Roadhouse1989'': nice, until it's time not to be.
* Harry refers to how Lash has been stoking his subconscious anger as "feeding my inner [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]]".
* Justine tips Harry to the fact she's no longer a basket case by squeezing his hand in the "ShaveAndAHairCut" sequence.
* Ramirez calls Vitto and Madrigal ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'' before their duel, but Lara doesn't get the reference. A doubly-funny example for fans of that cartoon, as Vitto is obviously the Butt-Head and Madrigal, the Beavis.
** Harry does, but he would have gone with [[WesternAnimation/HeckleAndJeckle Hekyll And Jekyll]] himself. Could be a double ShoutOut, if the spelling is a JekyllAndHyde reference to White Court vamps' dual nature rather than just a misspelling.
* Creator/MaeWest is paraphrased again, this time by Elaine.
* The description of a super-ghoul reassembling itself from spilled ichor is an obvious {{Homage}} to the T-1000 from ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay''. Harry even describes the ichor moving "like liquid mercury", which is what the filmmakers used to shoot the scene in question.
* Meeting with Marcone at the end, Harry tells the gang boss he'll be visited by [[Literature/AChristmasCarol the Ghosts of Indictment Past, Present and Future]].
* At one point, Lasciel helps Harry play extremely well on his guitar, a Shout Out to Music/RobertJohnson (who allegedly got similar help from the Devil to become a great guitar player).
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