Is that series good overall? I expect  the first 2 or 3 to be rough as the writer finds his voice. But, as a whole, does flow well?

Nightside is... well... depends on what you are looking for in a book series. I think it's fair to say, that the first half of the series is good, although John Taylor has some serious mommy issues [ a lot worse than Harry ]. But if you take it as a kind of parody set as a Funny fantasy noir series, it's readable. Still, the 2nd half of the series is kind of a stretch. Maybe if the order of the books was a bit different and some plot alterations, it would be better. But if you want over-the-top hardcore hardboiled characters doing crazy things mostly happening in a tiny pocket universe that is connected to London... you'll be fine I didn't check the British audiobooks, but Mark Vietor does a good job.

One

Money Comes Walking In

Private eyes come in all shapes and sizes, and none of them look like television stars. Some do insurance work, some hang around cheap hotels with camcorders hoping to get evidence for divorce cases, and damn few ever get to investigate complicated murder mysteries. Some chase things that don't exist, or shouldn't. Me, I find things. Sometimes I'd rather not find them, but that comes with the territory.

The flaking sign on the door in those days said Taylor Investigations. I'm Taylor. Tall, dark and not particularly handsome. I bear the scars of old cases proudly, and I never let down a client. Provided they've paid at least some cash up front.

Sample on audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Something-from-the-Nightside-Audiobook/B002VA9134

It mixes serious issues with some craziness. For example: A serious consideration to solve some kind of a problem with a backpack nuke. The only reason they don't do that it's missing a component, making the nuke not working

- oh and I probably should add, that I found Dresden files thanks to Nightside I was looking for something similar to Nightside.

Hmm... I think that the way Morgan died was only natural.  There was a piece of information that he had to tell Dresden, because his action was contrary to what Harry believed Morgan would do.

I saw it the other way.  He confirmed Harry's suspicion that it wasn't personal, that Morgan was simply trying to terrify Harry into staying good.  And that Morgan had come to respect Harry.

My problem with Morgan's death was that I expected Harry, after Morgan's compliment, to say something like "You just had to suck all the fun out of me getting to watch you die."  Leaving Morgan to die with a smile on his face.

Dresden didn't have a normal banter going on with Morgan. The funny exchanges were generally based on Harry being a lippy bugger and Morgan getting angry about it. It was obvious, that they had trouble communicating, because even though their relationship did improve as they learn more about each other, there is no true bonding. Mutual respect, collegiality,  but no bonding.

I miss Lash, but her death was well written and is actually a good character building plot device.

I think that Kim could have survived. She basically died because Harry was being a bit careless. Sure, she was an adult [ iirc ], but you don't let a rookie play around with some things even when they are adults, because despite being adults they are missing some understanding on the matter and may mess up.

If Kim was to be killed, we could have had her for at least 2-3 more books to have more impact. It would have been wonderful to see her interactions with Molly. Kim wasn't going to be a full blown wizard, because of power difference. But she could have been kind of an older sister character for Molly.

Particularly when you consider, the reason for this is she's the only one he couldn't hide his true self from. She basically fell in love with him in so much as that she sacrificed herself and performed the act of creation from it via Lash.

*Also part of why I consider the Reaper more likely to be Susan, her sacrifice should have been a similar act within her own soul.

The Reaper?

Edit:
I just realized: What if Kim Delaney is in Mirror Mirror... ? And Molly is not Fae ... Hmmmm.... I'm seeing some very nice stories coming from there
Storm Frond -> Fool Moon -> Grave -Peril -> Summer Night -> Death Masks -> Blood Rites -> Dead Beat -> Proven Guilty -> White Knight -> Small Favour -> Turn Coat -> Changes -> Ghost Story -> Cold Days -> Skin Game -> Peace Talks -> Mirror, Mirror -> fork and now we'll get all the books from the Mirror, Mirror universe BANZAI!

Harry begins to tell Maggie the story of how he met her mother but it goes on for 9 books and then ends poorly

But the tale is Legen- wait for it -dary!.

I'm expecting a short story about Harry filing fax forms  .
Murphy I still don't get, how Thomas .

Harry will learn about assassination plots and while trying to host the peace talks will also end up trying to prevent the plots to take place. Also: Molly will start to make open approaches at Harry and Harry is going to be confused about it.

Cold Case Spoiler

(click to show/hide)

Well, this explains Cold Case.

Now you've done it.

Also: Textbooks on languages.
Also, also: Kamasutra.
Also, also, also: Ivy has to be able to understand all languages, since she's the repository of _human_ knowledge. All of humanity. Not just the English speaking population.

Case and point:

"I know everything about you, Lartessa," Ivy said, her tone flat, passionless. "It was all recorded, of course. Everything was, in Thessaloniki in those days. Your father's failing business. Your sale to the temple of Isis. If you like, I could draw you a cost-benefit analysis of your training versus your earnings in your first year at the temple, before Nicodemus came. I could use charts to make it easier for you to understand. And color them in with crayons. I enjoy crayons."

Thessaloniki is in Greece. While they do speak some English there nowadays, they most definitely didn't do so 2000 years ago. And I'm quite certain that they didn't write their documents in English.

Bonus points for temple of Isis/Inana/Ishtar. There was a yearly tradition: Prostitution for charity. Every female member of the church if Ishtar had to undergo this _once_ in her life and be a prostitute for whatever money got offered. This money would go to charity then. If they didn't get picked, they had to participate again and again, until they got picked.

"If it's been written down, I know it. I understand it.

50 Shades of Gray and similar books. Also Computer Science.

*chuckles*
[OT]
It's always funny to see the names Maeve and Mab.
"Maeve" is the pronounced form of the name. "Medb"/"Medhbh" is the written form. It's an old Irish name meaning "She, who intoxicates."/"Intoxicating" I was thinking of using it as my daughter's middle name, if I ever have one.

"Mab" is the written form of the name. "Maav" is the pronounced - very close to how James Marsters pronounces Maeve's name as Lloyd Slate in Summer Knight. The name means "Lovable", which I personally think Mab is.
[/OT]

I do think that Mab knows for a fact that Maeve is infected at this point; she's speaking entirely through Cait Sith, for the first time (as far as I recall;

Mab is speaking through Grimalkin. Harry meets Cait Sith in Cold Days for the first time.

It's always been a bit of a mystery why Mab tried to save Marcone in Small Favor, even before he was actually attacked to boot, and I think I might have an explanation that's both logical and doesn't give Mr. Occam too much headache.

Breaking Unseelie Accords' rules of engagement is basically throwing the bird to Mab. It's an insult to her personally and an insult to her office. As we have learned in Cold Days, she can swallow her pride as long as there are no witnesses, but if there are witnesses, she won't let such an insult stand.

I suppose that conversation Ivy had with Mab was somewhat awkward.

Mab: "There was a high risk of the Archive being taken over by outsiders."
Ivy: "Your counteractions were perfectly adequate, given the risk."
Mab: "I was certain that you would understand. I'm delighted that Dresden made it in time."
- The End -

Although, yes, we might consider Hobbs' attack as a play by Maeve. This part never get's properly explained. Ivy suspects that Harry was using the Hobbs. So since they don't have the emblem of the person who sent them branded on their foreheads, we can speculate. This actually might be a similar play as we've seen later in Turn Coat where the Outsiders/Black Council were using two agencies who sort-of got into each others' way. But in that case the Hobbs weren't sent to kill the Archive but to abduct her. This would make the plot a bit thicker.

There are no indications of actions prior to snowball fight at the Carpenter House, so it is very difficult to speculate. At least I'm not aware of any. "Heorot" features Gard + Dresden action [ interpret that however you will >.> ] making it more likely, that Gard will  trust and ask Dresden for help in Small Favor. "It’s My Birthday Too" can't be connected to Small Favor from what I remember.

It's possible, that the prequel to this will play out in the short story Mr. Butcher has planned with Hendricks PoV.

Mab has been trying to woo Harry into taking the place of Lloyd Slate as Winter Knight
...
She is a Grand Chessmaster at playing people against each other.
...
John Marcone is a heavy hitter in the mortal world, with enough influence to affect some of Mab's plans. She would have kept tabs on him, his friends, and his enemies.
...
Mab understands the love hate / hate relationship between Harry Dresden and John Marcone. She has been using these dynamics to get what she wants out of both of them.
...

Well... here I'd be more thinking in terms:
Mab jumping in for the Leanansidhe while Lea is a Sidhe-cicle.
Leanansidhe training Margaret Katherine Amanda Carpenter [ so why is she Molly and not another Maggie? ] in Harry's stead.

Just as Mab is shaping Dresden; she had to prepare a stand-in protector of Chicago once she manages to talk Dresden into accepting the Winter Knight mantle, since his duties as Winter Knight would somewhat limit the time he is in Chicago. We know that while Marcone is a mobster he also has rules.

Here it is very difficult to find out what the actual conflict between Summer and Winter was. We just know, that it played out in Marcone's kidnapping to which Ivy's kidnapping got added later as Nicodemus' version of a DLC.

Here we should consider Titania working together with the Denarians. Motives as of yet unknown.

Jim has addressed the first point: A wizard only has so much power to invest in their magical gizmos. At this point, Harry is rocking things like his staff, jacket, shield bracelet, and blasting rod (essential tools for amping up his wizardry) and so does not have the magical umph to spare.

Additionally, as OP as those potions were, they nearly got him killed, and are one-use only.

On the healing magic front: It is -incredibly- difficult. Listens To Wind has built his life around it, and even he cannot cure everything. Harry, who has less experience and less innate talent for slow, low watt magic, is unlikely to do anything meaningful with it.

Water Magic: Maybe you missed it, but Harry has been throwing around an awful lot of ice lately. Ice isn't, inherently, water magic, but Harry is still working within that realm.

I'm going to be a bit snarky here:
Healing magic: So Billy and the Werewolves^TM can learn to bend their shape-shifting abilities to heal wounds [ Side Jobs: Aftermath ], but Injun Joe has built his whole life around it... nah, shoe don't fit.

Potions: Removal of the potions is simply a literary device. No sane person would abandon a possible tactical advantage like that even if it was only the escape potion used in Storm Front by Harry and Susan and in Skin Game by Butters. But this way Harry actually gets his face kicked smashed and his ribs kicked in more often. Plain and simple.

Cold showers: Well... it's not like Harry _doesn't_have_ a water heater. It's just he "unhooked it". So Whenever Thomas or some lady-friend feel like a warm shower, the heater gets turned on. Pun intended. It's just not mentioned, because it's a long-running gag.

As far as Water magic goes, I'd say it has a lot to do with temperament. Ice and Fire [ The song of ] are fierce and cause harm. Water is... well, subtle, flows into small crevices, adapts it's shape, erodes things slowly. Somehow, that doesn't sound like Dresden to me. Even his Wind magic are insane gales and only after teaching Molly he stumbled upon a gentle application of wind magic... which he then uses to _clean_off_snow_. Sounds very gentle to me. Like a right hook is gentler because the other guy is wearing gloves.

Gizmos: The whole point in making those gizmos is so that they have magic stored up. The magic doesn't get permanently locked away, it get's regenerated when Harry eats, sleeps, rests properly. Remember Little Chicago? But if Harry actually would stick to the first rule about being a wizard; "To be prepared." we'd see him get kicked around a lot less. And while we pity him every time he gets beaten, stabbed, shot, burned, ... we still love the books because he gets beaten up and then gets up and keeps on fighting. Then, once fight isn't necessary he can fall over and get treated. For example: Take his silver bear charm from Blood rites paired with his Shield bracelet. Instead of channeling the magic through Harry simply create a connection between these two and the fights get a lot less exciting, because now Harry can create a barrier without straining himself too much while he casts some super-nuking spell. Yes, this is how a mage normally would operate [ well this or bringing a tank ], but it would soften the action scenes and make them less tense.