The Dresden Files/Blood Rites

Book #6 in The Dresden Files.

Harry Dresden never thought he would have to go undercover at a porn studio. However, with the director convinced he is under a curse, and his girls dying left and right, Harry poses as a production assistant and tries to find the culprit, at the request of a flirtatious and metrosexual vampire ally named Thomas. However, the biggest surprise has little to do with curses...

Tropes associated with Blood Rites:
""The building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault.""
 * Ancient Conspiracy:
 * Awesome McCoolname: The "actors" at the studio have to pick stage names, and Bobby considers names like "Rocko Stone" or "Rack McGranite". Finally, at Harry's suggestion, he goes with "Gowan Commando."
 * Batman Cold Open: The novel begins in a burning building, and what goes on there is not directly related to the rest of the story, but it is where Harry finds Mouse, who becomes a big character throughout the rest of the series.

"Harry: "I helped to do it and lived to walk away. But there was an unhappy ending." Thomas: "What?" Harry: "I didn't get paid. For either case. I make more money from flaming demon monkey crap. That's just wrong.""
 * Brainless Beauty: Trixie Vixen. Her being unable to get Harry's name right is
 * Compensating for Something: After looking between his broken blasting rod and Kincaid's large, high-tech vampire blasting spear, Harry flat out says "My dick is bigger than your dick."
 * Cruel and Unusual Death: Several women around Arturo suffer these, one included being hit by a car ... while water skiing.
 * Dead Person Conversation: Harry speaks to his mother this way, though she is not a ghost.
 * Didn't See That Coming: is one such incident. It brought the fight to a momentary standstill just because of its implausibility.
 * Disease Bleach: after barely surviving . When she's seen afterwards, she's in a wheelchair and can barely speak..
 * Dramatic Chase Opening: The book opens with Harry being chased by demonic chimps that fling incendiary poo.
 * The End of the World as We Know It: At the beginning of the book, after Harry saves the puppies from a monkey demon, then mentions about a previous case in which he prevented The End of the World as We Know It:

"Harry: For god's sake, she's got kids.
 * Evil-Detecting Dog: Harry saves a litter of them at the start and one decides to stick around with him.
 * Hitler Ate Sugar: Used by a minor villain to justify their killing of a young single mother with two kids.
 * So did Hitler.

Harry: No, he had dogs."

"The building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault."
 * I Have You Now, My Pretty: Lord Raith tries this on Murphy, but Murphy being Murphy throws a wrench into his plans.
 * In Medias Res: Harry escapes a burning building carrying a box of puppies while being chased be monkey demons flinging incendiary poo.

"A half-hysterical chuckle slipped out of my mouth. "Wait, I've seen this one before. This is where you say, 'Search your feelings; you know it to be true.'""
 * Long-Lost Relative:
 * Luke, I Am Your Father: . Lampshaded by Harry:

"Harry: Hell's holy stars and freaking stones shit bells."
 * The Missus and the Ex:
 * Murphy deals with this as she is the Ex as her second husband is engaged to . She is not pleased with this fact.
 * Murder the Hypotenuse:
 * My Name Is Not Durwood: Trixie Vixen is so self-absorbed and vapid that she cannot remember Harry's name (though she never forgets that he never got her her latte that she never ordered). This works in Harry's favor near the book's climax, as
 * Oh Crap: Harry has a moment like this when he realizes that the entity behind the entropy curse is.
 * Oh Crap: Harry has a moment like this when he realizes that the entity behind the entropy curse is.


 * The Power of Love: It is one of the strongest forces in the world. It is so strong the White Court vampires cannot eat or even touch a person who is in love and is loved in return..
 * Rage Against the Mentor: Harry goes nuts at his former mentor when McCoy reveals that
 * This Is a Sentence Bitch: "Get on the bike, bitch."
 * Tome of Eldritch Lore: Subverted. When discussing the mechanics of ritual magic, Harry explains that the White Council pushed to have dark ritual books published and distributed to as many people as possible. When Murphy asks (understandably) why the good guys would want to do that, he tells her that summoning dark powers through rituals is like water coming out of a pipe. If you have thousands drawing from the same line, it loses all effectiveness because there is not enough power to go around. Hence, the only rituals in the Dresdenverse with overwhelming power are the ones that are kept secret.
 * You Called Me "X" - It Must Be Serious: Murphy tells Dresden's mentor, Ebenezar, to get out of the driver's seat so she can take the wheel and get them to their destination before people die. She is not polite as she says this. Harry sighs, and asks Ebenezar to take her lead, slipping in the word "sir." Murphy drops her jaw, and everything she is holding at the time, and calls Harry out on this. After a second, Murphy asks Ebenezar again. This time, she is very polite when asking.