Another Mystery Featuring Connnie Murphy

            Connie Murphy is a senior FDA investigator dedicated to protecting public health and safety. While conducting routine inspections, intrigue and danger intervene, and she gets involved in drug smuggling, food poisoning, economic fraud, industrial espionage, human trafficking, and identity theft. She uses her interviewing and interrogation skills to uncover problems when people are less forthcoming, hide documents or fail to tell the truth.

The twelve Connie Murphy e-books have been incorporated into four volumes containing three individual stories. Each is based on real FDA cases with the names changed to protect the guilty.

They are available at Amazon.com

About the Connie Murphy Mysteries, books 4-6

Dark As Chocolate: The food poisoning of a former high school classmate leads Connie to inspect Morerich Chocolates. On the surface, Morerich appears to be following the regulations, but she soon discovers the company is hiding illness complaints about their Delightfully Delicious candy bars. As Connie digs deeper, she becomes entangled in economic fraud, drug smuggling, kidnapping and attempted murder.

Hide And Seek: The FDA receives an anonymous tip that TanDur Pharmaceuticals is keeping duplicate books. Connie is sent in undercover to gather information. At first, everything appears normal, except for a mysterious locked room. Then Connie asks one too many questions…

Catch A Thief: While dealing with a [new] supervisor from Hell, Connie inspects a suspicious warehouse explosion and investigates a cough syrup poisoning. After her car is vandalized and her briefcase is stolen, she must track down her lost credentials and a laptop containing proprietary information before they fall into the wrong hands. Her ongoing pursuit takes her into the dregs of identity theft and revenge.

Today we’re speaking with FDA drug investigator, Connie Murphy. Can you tell us about the second Connie Murphy Mysteries paperback? Each involves a different situation: a consumer complaint; an anonymous tip about a manufacturer keeping double books, and my car is vandalized and my identity stolen.

Can you give us some examples? In “Dark as Chocolate”, the FDA receives a complaint about the company’s Delightfully Delicious candy bars. During a stakeout, I follow a truck that leaves the warehouse in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, I was caught and the suspect threatens to cut me into little pieces to feed the fish.

     In “Hide and Seek”, while working undercover, I discover a suspicious locked room inside the manufacturing area. After work, I wait until everyone has left, then enter the room. When I’m caught, management needs to make me disappear and I’m kidnapped.

     “Catch a Thief” hits closer to home. My car is vandalized and the briefcase with my credentials and laptop containing proprietary information are stolen. I travel to New Jersey to catch the thief and recover the stolen items before they fall into the wrong hands.

A bit about the creator of the Connie Murphy Mysteries: BarbaraHelene Smith is a woman of mysteries. Like most writers, she has a story to tell. Inspired by intrigue, she uses her experience from academia, government and private industry to plot suspense stories. The Connie Murphy Mysteries are based on her seventeen years as an FDA investigator.

She belongs to several writing groups: Lilac City Rochester Writers, Wild About Writing and Novel Ideas. Her stories and poetry have been published in the Barnes and Noble’s Halloween Anthologies (Horrendous Halloween, Howling Halloween, Hair Raising Halloween), IdeaGems, The Storyteller, Adventures of the Average Woman, Tough Lit, and Cruisin’ Style Magazine. “Merry Christmas to You” won the May 2006 International Library of Poetry Editor’s Choice Award.

BarbaraHelene also published Assume Nothing, four short mysteries about ordinary women who, while looking for the truth, find themselves in extraordinary situations. She is currently writing a contemporary mystery, Uprooting the Family Tree.

When not writing, she likes to travel, hike with friends, work on genealogy, and volunteer at the local animal shelter.

Contact BarbaraHelene Smith at bhs.author@gmail.com.