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Author: C.E. Murphy | Website


Published Works & Book Reviews

Heart of Stone

Okay, so jogging through Central Park after midnight wasn't a bright idea. But Margrit Knight never thought she'd encounter a dark new world filled with magical beings--not to mention a dying woman and a mysterious stranger with blood on his hands. Her logical, lawyer instincts told her it couldn't all be real--but she could hardly deny what she'd seen...and touched.

The mystery man, Alban, was a gargoyle. One of the fabled Old Races who had hidden their existence for centuries. Now he was a murder suspect, and he needed Margrit's help to take the heat off him and find the real killer. And as the dead pile up, it's a race against the sunrise to clear Alban's name and keep them both alive....


Truthseeker

ACROSS TWO EXTRAORDINARY WORLDS, TRUTH IS THE DEADLIEST MAGIC

Gifted with an uncanny intuition, Lara Jansen nonetheless thinks there is nothing particularly special about her. All that changes when a handsome but mysterious man enters her quiet Boston tailor shop and reveals himself to be a prince of Faerie. What’s more, Dafydd ap Caerwyn claims that Lara is a truthseeker, a person with the rare talent of being able to tell truth from falsehood. Dafydd begs Lara to help solve his brother’s murder, of which Dafydd himself is the only suspect.

Acting against her practical nature, Lara agrees to step through a window into another world. Caught between bitterly opposed Seelie forces and Dafydd’s secrets, which are as perilous as he is irresistible, Lara finds that her abilities are increasing in unexpected and uncontrollable ways. With the fate of two worlds at stake and a malevolent entity wielding the darkest of magic, Lara and Dafydd will risk everything on a love that may be their salvation—or the most treacherous illusion of all.


Thunderbird Falls

It's the end of the world...

Again.

For all the bodies she's encountering, you'd think beat cop Joanne Walker works in Homicide. But no, Joanne's a reluctant shaman who last saved mankind three months ago--surely she deserves more of a break! Yet, incredibly, "Armageddon, Take Two" is mere days away.

There's not a minute to waste.

Yet when her spirit guide inexplicably disappears, Joanne needs help from other sources. Especially after she accidentally unleashes Lower World demons on Seattle. Damn. With the mother of all showdowns gathering force, it's the worst possible moment for Joanne to realize she should have learned more about controlling her powers. Or to discover she's being lied to...


Demon Hunts

Seattle police detective Joanne Walker started the year mostly dead, and she's ending it trying not to be consumed by evil. Literally.

She's proven she can handle the gods and the walking dead. But a cannibalistic serial killer? That's more than even she bargained for. What's worse, the brutal demon can only be tracked one way. If Joanne is to stop its campaign of terror, she'll have to hunt it where it lives: the Lower World, a shamanistic plane of magic and spirits.

Trouble is, Joanne's skills are no match for the dangers she's about to face--and her on-the-job training could prove fatal to the people she's sworn to protect....


Easy Pickings

Two heroines. Two magics.

One world.

There’s nowhere in America like the Big Easy. Just ask Jane Yellowrock, shapeshifting vampire killer, whose hunting grounds run the length and breadth of the Bayou.

Just ask Joanne Walker, whose shamanic magic has drawn her to the heart of American Weird.

But it’s not Joanne’s world, and it isn’t Jane’s either. In a New Orleans where Katrina never hit and supposedly-dead vampires stalk the streets, Jane and Jo have to find and defeat the magic that brought them there–or they just might find themselves…

EASY PICKINGS!


Raven Calls

Something wicked this way comes…

Suddenly, being bitten by a werewolf is the least of Joanne Walker's problems.

Her personal life in turmoil, her job as a cop over, she's been called to Ireland by the magic within her. And though Joanne's skills have grown by leaps and bounds, Ireland's magic is old and very powerful….

In fact, this is a case of unfinished business. Because the woman Joanne has come to Ireland to rescue is the woman who sacrificed everything for Joanne—the woman who died a year ago. Now, through a slip in time, she's in thrall to a dark power and Joanne must battle darkness, time and the gods themselves to save her.

Reviewer: Vicci
Review: Mar 28, 2012
Genre(s): Urban Fantasy
Raven's Call book 7 in the Walker Papers series by C. E. Murphy stretches a reader's imagination and turns everything we thought we knew about Joanne Walker on its head. First let me say wow to Ms. Murphy’s imagination; talk about bulldozing your way into uncharted territories. When we last visited Joanne in book 6 "Spirit Dances", Joanne had come to terms with her long felt feelings for Captain Michael Morr

Wayfinder

THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE—IF IT DOESN’T KILL YOU FIRST

Lara Jansen is a truthseeker, gifted—or cursed—with the magical ability to tell honesty from lies. Once she was a tailor in Boston, but now she has crossed from Earth to the Barrow-lands, a Faerie world embroiled in a bloody civil war between Seelie and Unseelie. Armed with an enchanted and malevolent staff which seeks to bend her to its dark will, and thrust into a deadly realm where it’s hard to distinguish friend from foe, Lara is sure of one thing: her love for Dafydd ap Caerwyn, the Faerie prince who sought her help in solving a royal murder and dousing the flames of war before they consumed the Barrow-lands.

But now Dafydd is missing, perhaps dead, and the Barrow-lands are closer than ever to a final conflagration. Lara has no other choice: she must harness the potent but perilous magic of the staff and her own truthseeking talents, blazing a path to a long-forgotten truth—a truth with the power to save the Barrow-lands or destroy them.

Reviewer: Sarah Dizon
Review: Oct 21, 2011
Genre(s): Romance, Paranormal / Supernatural, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Wayfinder by C.E. Murphy continues right where Truthseeker ended, so those that were hanging on dearly after the cliffhanger don't have to worry. Wayfinder challenges Lara in a different way that Truthseeker and shows Lara to be a stronger character. Allied by unlikely characters, Lara must find Dafydd and stop Emyr from destroying the Unseelie in the Barrow-lands. C.E. Murphy does a great job of developing

Spirit Dances

For Seattle detective Joanne Walker, spring is about new beginnings. She's mastered her shamanic abilities (mostly), survived a cannibalistic serial killer (barely) and now she's facing the biggest challenge of her career—attending a dance concert with her sexy boss, Captain Michael Morrison. But when the performance—billed as transformative—actually changes her into a coyote, she and Morrison have bigger things to deal with.

And there's more. Homeless people are disappearing, a mystical murder puts Joanne way out of her jurisdiction and with the full moon coming on, it's looking like the killer is a creature that can't possibly exist.

But Jo could probably handle all of that, if one ordinary homicide hadn't pushed her to the very edge….

Reviewer: Vicci
Review: Apr 19, 2011
Genre(s): Urban Fantasy, Paranormal / Supernatural, Fantasy, Mystery
"Spirit Dances" book 6 in the Walker Papers series by C.E. Murphy is a mystical adventure that delves into the caverns of Joanna "Siobhan Walkingstick" walker's shamanistic heritage. I just love the entire premise of this series and "Spirit Dances" is the awesome addition to the series. The book does an outstanding job of displaying just how far Joanne Walker has journeyed in her quest to embracing her true

The Pretender's Crown

Fiercely intelligent, beautiful, and ready to claim her birthright, she navigates a dangerous world torn between war and witchpower.

Seduction and stealth are Belinda Primrose’s skills–weapons befitting the queen’s bastard daughter, a pawn of espionage conceived by Lorraine, ruler of Aulun, and her lover and spymaster, Belinda’s father. Now an accomplished assassin, Belinda uncovers the true game her father never intended her to play. For Belinda has found her witchpower, a legacy born from something not of this earth. In a treacherous world where religion and rebellion rule, Lorraine is now in a position to sweep over the countries of Echon and to back her chosen successor to the throne: Belinda.

But Belinda is no longer anyone’s pawn. Lured by the sensual dark magic of Dmitri, envoy to a neighboring throne, yet still drawn to the witchlord embrace of her former lover, Javier, Belinda knows that she has entered a realm where power and control go to those who can master and manipulate their fiercest desires. For the witchpower depends on the skill its wielder holds.

Reviewer: Roza
Review: Jul 26, 2009
Genre(s): Sci-Fi / Fantasy
Read The Queen's Bastard first.  Everything makes more sense. What if Elizabeth I of England had keep her throne by the magic of aliens sent to corrupt our world to prepare us for the invasion?  What if fantasy and sci-fi blended with historical fiction to make something like The Queen's Bastard and The Pretender's Crown?  Because that's what Murphy did.  The Titan Queen (Elizabeth I) rei

Reviewer: Leslee
Review: Mar 23, 2008
Genre(s): Sci-Fi / Fantasy
This was a solid fantasy built from a lot of research and brimming with detail. We meet Belinda Primrose as a child. She is raised in the country, far from the court of the Queen where her uncle, who is actually her father, serves. He comes to visit periodically and makes certain that she is well educated in all manner of things, even things that a proper noblewoman shouldn't know. It is apparent that she is

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