Connie Murphy (TV character)

Connie Murphy is a fictional character on the television series The Dresden Files. She is based on the character of Karrin Murphy in Jim Butcher's novels. This page pertains only to the television character, as significant details differ from that in the books.

Constanza Murphy is a lieutenant with the Chicago Police Department Homicide Division. When her cases involve seemingly impossible deaths (such as a man drowning in Pacific Ocean seawater in the middle of the city), she calls in the assistance of wizard Harry Dresden. Though she does not understand what he does, or how he does it, she does appreciate his ability to close cases. That does not prevent her from growing annoyed or exasperated with his tendency to leave out important details (episode 104, "Rules of Engagement". She is partnered in the police department with Detective Sid Kirmani, who often acts as a hindering force in her investigations due to his distrust of Dresden and his methods (episode 112, "Second City", et al.).

Murphy is divorced with a young daughter, Anna, who spends most of her time with Murphy's ex-husband because of the time-consuming nature of Murphy's police work (episode 101, "Birds of a Feather"). However, she loves her daughter a great deal. Murphy's relationship with her father is much more strained. The elder Murphy, also a cop, was a very distant father, and did not even know his wife had left him for three days because he refused to leave a stake-out. Eventually, he retires from the force and moves to Florida. Murphy and her father evidently reconcile after Harry Dresden saves his life from a corrupt cop who is using magic to steal "second chances" at life (episode 112, "Second City").

During the course of an investigation, Murphy's body is taken over by a disembodied criminal looking to escape capture. Though Harry succeeds in exorcising him and Murphy's memories of the incident are vague, she is left with intense nightmares, for which she starts taking antidepressants (episodes 102, The Boone Identity; 110, "What About Bob?").

At the end of season 1 it was hinted at a possible future romantic relationship between Connie and Harry. During the episode "Second City" Harry lost the trail and asked Connie to slap him in order to provide an emotional bump so that he could regain focus and the trail. When she refused he stated that he would have to "do it the hard way" and proceeded to give Connie a long kiss, which she reciprocated. When Harry broke the kiss after a few moments Connie stared at him briefly, somewhat shaken, before slapping him. At the end of the episode Connie apologized for slapping him and stated that she wouldn't do that again, indicating that she'd taken some time to ponder her response to Harry's kiss.