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Dresden multiple times says, that Murphy has to "explain the unexplainable" to her superior, who don't believe in the world of supernatural... but I don't recall that at any place its explained HOW she actually does it.

Lets take the case from "Fool Moon":

where Loup-garou escapes from the jail cell, slaughters few fellow prisoners, then mauls and kills armed police officers and the only thing that stop hims is Dresden tossing him through multiple walls and binding with thaumaturgy.

How the hell can you write this down? Saying something like

"Suspect bent steel bars between his and neighbor's cell and mauled the prisoner. Then he killed the police officer, broke through two pair of steel doors, attacked and killed multiple officers who weren't able to hit him from distance of less than 3 until lucky gas explosion sent him through the walls to nearby building. Most witnesses says that suspect was looking like 2 meter wolf, but thats just stress..."

It sounds like "Marsh gas reflecting the light from Venus " from "Man in Black"...

Yasskier
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    I'll have to go reread them all to be 100% sure but I'm pretty sure not in any detail. Dresden's not allowed near Murphy's computer where she writes her reports because he shorts it out. – KutuluMike Jan 31 '16 at 20:03
  • I am pretty sure he never explained it in books, I'm more wondering has Jim ever explained it in interview – Yasskier Jan 31 '16 at 20:11
  • ah, ok. lemme do some digging :) I think there might be clues in the books, though, especially when Murphy's dad enters the conversation (directly or otherwise). – KutuluMike Jan 31 '16 at 20:16
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    I've just done a full re-read of the series (and not for the first time), and there's no mention on exactly what Murphy writes in her reports. Remember, according to Jim, the Files are from Dresden's POV - Harry doesn't know everything, and sometimes he gets things wrong, have to take them with a pinch of salt :) – AerusDar Feb 01 '16 at 07:07
  • I vaguely remember a joke that Karrin writes more fiction than Jim, but I can't for the life of me remember where. – Radhil Feb 01 '16 at 13:39
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    There's nothing in the books specifically, but I'm willing to bet a bunch of Gas leaks, Early demolitions, people on drugs (or off their drugs), weather balloons, damnkidsthesedays, and that Dinosaur was most certainly a parade float – Vogie Feb 01 '16 at 14:04

1 Answers1

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Exerpt from Summer Knight:

Lieutenant Karrin Murphy was the head of Chicago PD’s Special Investigations team. SI was the city’s answer to weirdness in general. They got all of the unusual crimes, the ones that didn’t fall neatly into the department’s other categories. SI has handled everything from sightings of sewer alligators to grave robbing in one of the city’s many cemeteries. What fun. They also got to take care of the genuine supernatural stuff, the things that no one talks about in official reports but that manage to happen anyway. Trolls, vampires, demon-summoning sorcerers—you name it. The city had appointed SI to make sure the paperwork stayed nice and neat, with no mention of preposterous fantasies that could not possibly exist. It was a thankless job, and the directors of SI typically blew it after about a month by refusing to believe that they were dealing with genuine weirdness. Then they got shuffled out of Chicago PD.

Death Masks:

“Sorry to wake you, Harry,” said Karrin Murphy, the head of Chicago PD’s Special Investigations division. SI routinely handled any crime that fell between the cracks of the other departments, as well as being handed the really smelly cases no one else wanted. As a result, they wound up looking into all kinds of things that weren’t easily explained. Their job was to make sure that things were taken care of, and that everything typed up neatly into the final report.

EDIT - Changes:

“SI handles all the same stuff the Black Cats did. It’s just been made real clear to us that our reports had better not sound like a drug trip. So the reports provide an explanation. They don’t provide much accuracy.”

Definitely there was at least one more mention about "explanations" like trolls collecting tolls as thugs mugging passers-by... Or something... Something like this (White Night):

Murphy might not have been officially in charge of Special Investigations, but I don’t think that made much difference to many of the other detectives there. She needed help, and when she called, they came. End of story. For them, at least. For Murphy, it was the beginning of the story. She had to tell a lot of stories around police headquarters. It was a part of her job. Oh, no, those reports of vampire attacks were the results of hysterical drug-induced hallucinations. Troll? It was a large and ugly man, probably drunk or on drugs. He got away, investigation ongoing. Everyone buys it, because that’s what SI gets paid to do—explain away the bogeyman. Murphy should be a novelist, she writes so much fiction.

But can't pinpoint it at the moment

AcePL
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  • This doesn't really say much more than the question does, that Murphy writes the reports. – Radhil Feb 01 '16 at 14:57
  • Yes and no - it says that the reports describe "perfectly normal" explanation - so obviously... what would be in them is far from the truth... – AcePL Feb 01 '16 at 17:23