Grimm Books in Order

The world of Grimm works because it treats fairy-tale monsters as a hidden layer beneath ordinary city life. Portland still has cops, paperwork, bad coffee, crime scenes, and local politics. It also has Wesen, old blood feuds, and a detective who can see what most people cannot.

That detective is Nick Burkhardt.

John Shirley's The Icy Touch fits squarely into the television series version of that setup. Nick and Hank are drawn into a case after a burned body is found, and the investigation leads toward a criminal network pressuring Wesen into a smuggling operation. Captain Renard is part of the picture too, which helps the story feel grounded in the show's usual power structure.

What readers should expect is a police investigation that keeps slipping sideways into folklore, family lines, and hidden-community rules. Nick cannot solve the case by being a normal homicide detective, but he also cannot solve it by abandoning detective work. That balance is the fun of Grimm in prose as much as on screen.

The setting matters more than people sometimes remember. Portland in this franchise is not just a backdrop. It is the kind of city where old-world secrets, immigrant networks, and modern crime can overlap without either side fully understanding the other.

If you liked the show for that mix of procedural rhythm and creature-world tension, this page is here to help place Shirley's novel right in that sweet spot.