Karrin Murphy

A former member of the Chicago Police Department's Special Investigations division, Karrin Murphy is a human female. She first appears in Storm Front.

Description
Karrin Murphy is the oldest child of Marion and Collin Murphy. She has at least two brothers and one sister, Lisa. She is short-statured, blonde and blue-eyed.

Collin Murphy was a senior detective in the Chicago PD and an investigator in the Black Cat Department, covering the same territory as the modern-day S.I. department. He committed suicide when Karrin was 11.

Her home is in the neighborhood of Bucktown in Chicago; a small house left to her by her grandmother.

Karrin Murphy is a nominal Catholic, as is her family. Her father's nickname for her was Karrie, and the only other person to call her that is Henry Rawlins, who Collin Murphy saved once from a demon with a shotgun loaded with rock salt.

Since Harry Dresden died, she has become far more paranoid. Murphy is listed as executor on Dresden's bank lock box, and is entrusted with seeing to the care of his daughter.

She's one of the few people privy to Thomas Raith being his half-brother and Margaret Angelica being his daughter. She is also aware that he suspects the existence of a Black Council.

Early relationships
In Summer Knight, it comes out that when she was seventeen years old, she married Gregory Taggart, who Harry Dresden estimates to be about a decade older. Some time later Taggart left her. They tried to reconcile a few times, but it always ended in fighting.

Her ex-husband died, 43 years old, at night, after a long fight against cancer. He had not told her about his illness, and she was devastated when learning of his death by discovering his obituary in the Tribune newspaper. She regretted not having been able to say good-bye.

In Blood Rites, Murphy reveals that she had been married to Rich at some point, but were divorced. He felt she was ignoring him for her job; she thought he wanted her to stay at home so she wouldn't make him look bad at work and was using the excuse of wanting to have kids as a rationalization. Murphy flips when she finds out that Rich is engaged to marry her kid sister, Lisa Murphy. Rich is a police detective in New Orleans and is getting transferred to the Chicago FBI to be near Lisa and her family.

In Proven Guilty, Rich (now called Rick) is an FBI agent called in to assist the Homicide Department in the SplatterCon!!! case by Detective Greene and aids him in questioning Molly Carpenter. Murphy intercedes. She does not get along with her ex-husband.

Jared Kincaid
In Dead Beat, Karrin Murphy went on a sexually-loaded vacation to Hawaii with Jared Kincaid, making Harry Dresden quite jealous. Though Murphy appears only briefly in the book, Dresden's actions are prompted by his desire to protect her from blackmail.

In Small Favor, Murphy is very distraught over how badly wounded Kincaid is after engaging the Denarians at the Shedd Aquarium. Later, she says it hurt to see him that way, but she is not sure how involved she is. She thinks it's stupid to get hung up on him since he's not interested in getting serious. Dresden believes it's that Murphy's detachment from Kincaid that keeps her able to be close to him. At the end, Murphy has an odd look on her face as she watched Kincaid, wounded but looking rather paternal, crawl in next to the wounded Ivy, with his Glock.

Her relationship with Kincaid is disrupted by her burgeoning romantic feelings towards Dresden.

Harry Dresden
In Proven Guilty, she admits to being attracted to Harry Dresden, but is unwilling to act on it. First, she doesn't want to ruin their friendship and working relationship. Second, she worries about their difference in lifespans: as a wizard, Dresden will live for centuries, and she wants someone who can grow old with her and raise a family.

In Small Favor, Murphy informs Dresden that she does not think Anastasia Luccio is right for him.

In Cold Days, she accepts that Dresden hasn't died, but does not want to entrust the Swords Amoracchius and Fidelacchius, nor Bob to him. She is however unwilling to leave him alone.

In Skin Game, she admits as being in love with Harry Dresden and being prepared to do crazy things because of it, such as challenging Nicodemus Archleone in his face and losing out,  allowing her to lay the foundation of a potential future relationship with him.

Career
Whenever something inexplicable happens that the Chicago Police Department must handle, they send it over to Special Investigations. Conveniently, this is also where they tend to transfer out-of-favor officers. Murphy, however, took the assignment so seriously that she hired a wizard as a consultant, much to her coworkers' consternation. She uses Harry Dresden as a walking supernatural library.

In Proven Guilty, Karrin Murphy is demoted to the rank of Detective Sergeant, after leaving the scene of the crime for 24 hours while she was on duty. (She was in the nevernever, kicking ass with Dresden, and didn't realize that time runs differently there.) She is now partnered with Henry Rawlins, who knew Murphy's father.

In Changes, she loses her job with the CPD altogether, thanks in large part to Rudolph.

In Ghost Story, after Dresden's death, she leads the Chicago Alliance against various supernatural threats.

Abilities
In Blood Rites, Murphy works out with the other cops in her department at Dough Joe's Gym. She takes down brawny double-attackers in a blink.

In Turn Coat, she's a competition shooter. Harry Dresden saw her double-tap (like a pro-killer) two supernatural perps in the head in one smooth move in a "single pulsing hammer of sound".

Weapons

 * FN P-90 — 5.7x28mm bullpup pattern, personal defense weapon, with a top loading 50 round clear plastic  and a suppressor. Murphy names the weapon "George".
 * A pair of Japanese swords over the mantle.
 * SIG Sauer semiautomatic pistol.
 * .22 competitive shooting pistols.
 * AT4 rocket launcher.
 * Kriss Vector submachine gun.

Sight
Harry Dresden first Sees her in Grave Peril, when attempting to cure Micky Malone.

He Sees her as she enters the room: "The door burst open. Murphy came through it, her eyes living flames of azure blue, her hair a golden coronet around her. She held a blazing sword in her hand and she shone so bright and beautiful and terrifying in her anger that it was hard to see. The Sight, I realized, dimly. I was seeing her for who she was."

Dresden Sees her again in Blood Rites, and she appears as an angel, her eyes were "azure flame", she bore a fiery shaft in her hands. Her robes had become smudged with filth, blood, and smoke. She bled from several wounds and moved like she was in terrible pain.

Dresden gazes on Murphy for the third time in Proven Guilty at Mercy Hospital. She appears similar to the previous instance, clearer than normal with her eyes flashing. She wears a "quasi angelic tunic of white, stained in places with the blood and mud of battle". A short sword with a blade made of bright, white light hangs beneath her arm in place of her sidearm.

Fidelacchius
In Small Favor, under the Denarian Deirdre's attack, she drew the sword Fidelacchius, from its scabbard on Harry Dresden's shoulder. Brilliant white light shone from it, scaring Deirdre off. Dresden stated he believed that to be a job offer, Murphy countering she already has one. Later she asks Dresden more about it but still declined, as she has already sworn an oath to protect Chicago.

In Changes, Dresden entrusts her with Fidelacchius for the mission to save Maggie. She joins Dresden's team to Chichén Itzá. When she wields Fidelacchius, an Angel speaks through her.

In Ghost Story, Murphy acts as custodian to both Fidelacchius and Amoracchius and fiercely defends them against Felicia of the White Court.

In Cold Days, Murphy refuses to return the Swords to Dresden while he's the Winter Knight.

Restoration of Faith
In "Restoration of Faith", she finds Harry Dresden and Nicholas Christian in Faith Astor's company at the end of the bridge where they have fought the troll Gogoth. Mainly on the child's testimony, she lets Dresden and Christian go free rather than arresting them for the kid's kidnapping.

Storm Front
In Storm Front, Karrin Murphy calls Harry Dresden in on the case after Jennifer Stanton is found murdered in bed with Tommy Tomm, both of their hearts having exploded out of their chests.

Fool Moon
In Fool Moon, Murphy struggles to deal with the fact that Harry Dresden lied to her the previous spring. She is under investigation by Internal Affairs but needs his help for an investigation into a possible serial killer.

She catches Dresden snooping around the Alphas hideout when he was supposed to getting her some information on werewolves and is being grilled by Internal Affairs when he finally gets around to delivering that information. She later arrests him because she thinks he lied to her after she found the circle drawing on Kim Delaney, torn apart by the loup-garou.

Although Dresden escapes, Murphy catches up with him again during the loup-garou fight at SI headquarters. After shooting the wolf with some silver bullets she had made, she re-arrests Dresden. During her next encounter with the loup-garou, she is saved by Ron Carmichael. Murphy reappears to help Dresden in the battle at John Marcone's estate, although she still doesn't trust him. During the final battle with the loup-garou, Dresden and Murphy find themselves in a stand-off, ending up saving each other from Agent Denton and the loup-garou respectively.

Grave Peril
In Grave Peril, Murphy summons Dresden to the house of the sick Micky Malone; Malone is a victim of The Nightmare, and Dresden Sees Murphy for the first time. Following this encounter, she un-impounds the Blue Beetle and puts the word out about the missing Lydia.

The Nightmare convinces Murphy that it is Dresden and attacks her in her office; Dresden intervenes and puts her into a dreamless sleep in order to prevent any further attacks.

When she eventually wakes up, Murphy and Dresden visit Leonid Kravos' funeral with Harry and explains how weak she felt as a victim of the Nightmare. Dresden explains that she shouldn't blame herself and later she turns up at his apartment with Michael Carpenter to comfort him about the loss of Susan Rodriguez.

Summer Knight
In Summer Knight, we are introduced to Karrin Murphy's home for the first time when Harry Dresden goes to visit her to ask for help with the case: find out who killed Ronald Reuel. Murphy is in bad shape, emotionally, from the events of Grave Peril. She provides him some basic information, but later he needs her help again and they meet at a Wrigleyville Wal-Mart. Murphy is the only one he can trust and he tells Murphy everything, about his past with Justin DuMorne and Elaine Mallory, about supernatural forces and politics, about The War he started with the Red Court and what they did to Susan Rodriguez, and about the Faeries and the Faerie Courts and Reuel's murder. And, about the White Council threatening to sell him out to the Reds.

After their discussion, they are attacked by a Mind Fog] and some supernatural hitters including Grum, the Tigress and a Chlorofiend. Murphy initially freezes, but ends up saving Harry from the chlorofiend with a chainsaw. They retreat to the Alphas' house and Murphy is taken to the hospital after re-iterates to Harry that she is the one that "put on the boots and kicked some monster ass".

Death Masks
In Death Masks, Murphy hires Harry Dresden to investigate a corpse who apparently died of every disease known to man. As she introduces Dresden to Waldo Butters, she also informs them that some high level brass (including several mob hitters and some bigwig from Europe) are in town and that Homicide have handed some work off to SI.

Murphy confronts Dresden at his apartment about the death of Francisca Garcia. She has been thrown off the case because Homicide (and Rudolph) got wind that the murder weapon matches the same cuts made on the diseased corpse.

When Dresden calls to inform her of the Denarians' plot, she tells him that there are detectives almost at his house on the way to arrest him. Later, Dresden has her call in a bomb threat at O'Hare International Airport.

Murphy catches up with Dresden again after he is shot on top of the train and takes him to Butters' examination table to get patched up. When he thinks that he is being autopsied, she re-assures him that they are just removing the bullet. Apparently, John Marcone called her to arrange Dresden's rescue.

Blood Rites
In Blood Rites, Murphy is instructing some members of Chicago PD in martial arts at Dough Joe's Gym, when Harry Dresden turns up. The two of them begin their own training routine, using staves, and Dresden asks her for help with his Black Court 'problem'. Murphy says that she would prefer it to clash with her family re-union as she dreads the event. Dresden gives her Mouse to look after for the day before he leaves to get some more help.

Murphy is in a foul mood when Dresden turns up to collect the dog. Her mother called to inform her about her sister's engagement. Before he leaves to continue searching for the Black Court hideout, Dresden informs her of the other member of their soon-to-be team, Jared Kincaid.

She investigates Arturo Genosa for Dresden and provides him some information and later they go to IHOP to meet Kincaid and discuss the plan of attack against Mavra. After Kincaid antagonizes her, the two come to a respectful difference of opinion.

After Dresden finds her at the Murphy family reunion, they learn that Murphy's sister's fiance is none other than Richard Boughton, her ex-husband. After some arguing, Kincaid calls and lets them know he is in position for the raid.

Dresden introduces Murphy to Ebenezar McCoy and she then drives his truck to the Vampire lair. She struggles with the notion of killing Thralls, but eventually suits up with Dresden and Kincaid.

During the raid, Dresden Sees Murphy again, noting that she carries more wounds than previously. She disarms a booby-trap, resulting in an interesting exchange with Kincaid, and assists in the rescue of the hostages. She assists Kincaid in getting Harry out of the burning building and patches him up in Ebenezer's car.

As they recover in Dresden's apartment, they discuss the ongoing situation with the movie studio as well as the family issues relating to each other. Murphy gives Dresden a ride on her bike to the Raith estate, where she meets Lara Raith. After the race to the Deeps, Lord Raith captures Murphy and takes them both into the caves.

Although Raith traumatizes Murphy emotionally, she eventually breaks free of his enchantment and fights back against the henchmen. Raith knocks her unconscious, but Dresden gets her out of the Deeps following Raith's semi- deposal.

Dead Beat
In Dead Beat, Murphy goes to Hawaii with Jared Kincaid and is away through most of the events. She asked Harry Dresden to water her plants and gave him the key to her house. She calls leaving a message making Dresden jealous. Murphy visits Dresden when she returns and, seeing what terrible shape he's in, she doesn't tear into him about the wreck her house is in.

"Something Borrowed"


In "Something Borrowed", Karrin Murphy is involved in the search of Georgia Borden the day of the latter's marriage to Billy Borden, and the ensuing attempt to awake her before the marriage can take place.

Proven Guilty
In Proven Guilty, Murphy assists Harry Dresden after his car accident. She later rescues him from a lengthy questioning at the scene of a murder. Murphy steps in when her FBI agent ex-husband, Rick, threatens to arrest Dresden for his gun if he doesn't leave the case. Murphy joins Dresden, Charity Carpenter, and Thomas Raith to rescue Molly Carpenter from Arctis Tor. She loses her position as head of Special Investigations for not showing up having lost a day in the Nevernever. She is demoted to Detective Sergeant and partnered with Henry Rawlins. Harry and Murphy agree that it is likely Rudolph meddled in her demotion.

White Night
In White Night, Murphy calls Harry Dresden in on a murder case, she's a sergeant now and says she'll pay him herself. The victim was a practitioner whose death appears to be a suicide. Dresden found evidence that only a Wizard could find and believes it's murder. They colaborated on the case and connected cases that led to uncovering a power struggle within the three Houses of the White Court. When Dresden and Ramirez go to challenge a duel to Madrigal Raith and Vittorio Malvora at the White Court conclave in the Deeps. Murphy was part of Dresden's team that was waiting in the Nevernever to be let for the anticipated big battle.

In the end of White Night, Dresden reached into Murphy's bag to get his .44 gun and he saw a "boxy little machine gun". Murphy said its a P90 and that the magazine has clear plastic so you can always see how many rounds you have left. She got it in a box of Belgium chocolates from Jared Kincaid the year before. The P90 made it's first appearance in the battle of the Deeps.

Small Favor
In Small Favor, she pushed her way into being a part of the Warden's meeting with the Denarians at the Shedd Aquarium. Then later, she insisted on assisting the rescue of the current Archive, Ivy. She was with Thomas on his boat when they pulled Harry Dresden out of the water off the island of Demonreach (as yet unnamed). When Deirdre attacked Dresden as he tried to get into the boat, she pulled her P-90 on the Denarian, but it was knocked out of her hands. Harry Dresden offered her Fidelacchius and when she draws it, it lights up blinding Deirdre, who disappeared under the water, allowing them to escape. Harry Dresden said he thought that the Sword lighting up was a job offer—she says she already has a job. At the end, Murphy talked with Harry Dresden more about the Sword.

"Last Call"
In "Last Call", she assists Harry Dresden in his investigation on the spell cast on McAnally's beer.

Turn Coat
In Turn Coat, Murphy helped Harry Dresden look over Morgan's file from the Council. She questioned why Morgan wasn't zapped by Aleron LaFortier's death curse and why there was not any evidence of magic. She suggested that Dresden follow the money. She captured Binder easily.

"Love Hurts"
In Love Hurts, Karrin Murphy and Harry Dresden are investigating a series of double suicides and link it to the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, discovering that the Baroness Leblanc of the Red Court was behind it all since the beginning.

Changes
In Changes, when Murphy learned that Maggie Dresden has been taken by the Red Court, she's determined to help Harry Dresden find and rescue her and does what she can from her end. She warns Dresden when Rudolph and the Feds are about to arrest him and search his apartment. Murphy vouched for Dresden with FBI Agent Barry Tilly, whom she knows from martial arts. She and Dresden exchanged information at McAnally's Pub and agreed that someone other than his superiors is using Rudolph as an agent and decided to track who that is. Dresden asked her to take care of Maggie, find her a good home with Forthill's help. She fought the Reds who attacked the FBI headquarters and got Tilly and Rudolph out safely. Dresden entrusts her with Fidelacchius for the mission to save Maggie. She goes with Dresden and his team to Chichén Itzá. When she wields Fidelacchius, an Angel speaks through her and she cuts the Red King's spell. Murphy charged through hundreds of Jaguar Warriors and kills one of the Lords of Outer Night. Dresden handed Maggie to her on the steps of the Temple of Kukulkan. Later she met Dresden on the Water Beetle. Murphy lost her job and she's no longer a cop. They make a date for later that evening.

Aftermath
In Aftermath, William Borden approaches her for help with his wife's kidnapping. Calling in a few favors and with a good amount of detective work, they trace her to a warehouse on Lake Michigan's shoreline, and rescue her.

Ghost Story
In Ghost Story, she has a buzz cut and has become far more accustomed to dealing with the supernatural, and is leading the Chicago Alliance, a gathering of the Alphas, the Paranet, and Molly, backed by Marcone and the White Court. Murphy told Harry Dresden's ghost the facts of his murder case and discuss possible suspects. Dresden told her about Fitz and when he won't give him up to her, she ends the conversation and walks away. She never mentioned Kincaid which leads Dresden to thinks Murphy can't face that he might be his possible murderer. She brings a team—Butters, Will, Andi and Marci—to the Big Hoods hideout to rescue Mortimer Lindquist and questions a Big Hood, Joshua. Uriel shows Dresden that she's on her feet and that she got all the other out and medical care as needed.

Cold Days
In Cold Days, Murphy joins Harry Dresden, Thomas Raith, and Molly Carpenter in the planning and execution of the attack on the Outsiders and their minions managing the destructive spell on Demonreach. While the battle is dying out, she shoots Maeve, killing her and causing her Mantle to transfer on Molly.

Skin Game
In Skin Game, Murphy joins Harry Dresden in the expedition to Hades' Vault. In a quiet moment at her house, she forces him to have a hard look at himself. Though he does not tell her much about what he knows about it, she agrees to watch his back.