BRAZILIAN ODYSSEY by Stephen Murphy (PC Staff)

Professor Luke Shannon’s study mission to Brazil takes an ominous turn. Tatiana, a fiery student with indigenous roots, has a secret agenda. She seeks the killers of her cousin, “the guardian of the forest,” assassinated on All Saints Day 2019. Teaming up with a veteran reporter in the Amazon, they press hard to discover the truth.

Those in power feel threatened and push back. A Colombian drug lord enters the fray, taking Tatiana, Luke, and the journalist down a dangerous path. São Paulo’s crime syndicate and Big Ag interests play for keeps. They’ll eliminate anyone who gets in their way. Who will prevail?

Stephen Murphy interviewed over one hundred Brazilians for this book, told through the eyes of sixteen unsung heroes and heroines. They battle to save their rainforests, native people and fragile democracy in Brazil today.

NOTE: Reporter Dom Phillips and indigenist Bruno Pereira disappeared deep in the Amazon jungle on June 5, 2022. My book is dedicated to them. Thanks to local villagers, the Federal Police arrested several suspects. But who ordered their murder? — S. M.

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Stephen E. Murphy (HQ Staff 2002-03) has lived and traveled “south of the border” for decades. He enjoys long-lasting friendships in Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Panama and El Salvador. He has held executive positions in the BankBoston, Paramount Pictures, and the Inter-American Development Bank. For the first Bush administration, he was appointed Worldnet Television director, U.S. Information Agency. Under President George W. Bush, he served as Regional Director, Inter-Americas, for the Peace Corps.

As a volunteer, he taught economics at Miami Jackson High School. The Miami Herald and the Wall Street Journal recognized his efforts to teach inner city students about the stock market and how their picks beat the S&P 500 in 1995. He left Miami for hometown Seattle, where he has taught “Latin America Business” at Seattle University and consulted for firms expanding to the Americas. He has published articles on Cuba and Brazil for the Puget Sound Business Journal and for Seattle’s Trade Development Alliance Quarterly.

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Historical fiction

Brazilian Odyssey
by Stephen E. Murphy (HQ Staff 2002-03)
Book House Publishing
236 pages
July 2022
$8.99 (Kindle); $18.95 (Paperback)