Debra Murphy

Debra Murphy grew up in Champaign, Illinois, and received her B.A. in History from the University of Illinois in 1976. She has published articles (some of them with her husband, Daniel) on faith, culture and family life in the U.S. and U.K. Catholic press. Debra’s short story, "Yardsticks," won the 1998 Kay Snow award sponsored by Willamette Writers, and was published in the Winter issue (no. 37) of Image:  A Journal of the Arts and Religion.

Debra’s debut novel, The Mystery of Things, a mystery-thriller with Catholic and literary themes, was published in December 2004 by Idylls Press, the small press started by Debra and Dan with the mission to "publish the Catholic imagination," particularly novels with Catholic themes or from a Catholic worldview. The Mystery of Things is the first novel in Debra’s planned Ashland Grail Cycle.

In writing The Mystery of Things, Debra has drawn on her lifelong love of Shakespeare, mythopoeic literature and mystery/suspense thrillers. An earlier draft of the novel was selected as one of the top ten finalists in the 2000 Pacific Northwest Writers Association fiction contest. 

Debra is a contributing editor for Godspy, where she publishes reviews and op-ed pieces on contemporary faith and culture. An avid reader, moviegoer and Shakespeare fan, Debra is also a frequent reviewer on bardolatry a website devoted to Shakespeare-on-film, Catholic Fiction, devoted to reviews of Catholic novels and short stories, and Catholic Movies Online, which focuses on movie reviews by and for Catholics.

Debra is also an occasional poet and a blogger, and edits an e-mail newsletter called Quotes for Catholic Writers.

Debra is a member of Willamette Writers, Oregon Writers Colony and Sisters-in-Crime. Her current writing projects include Muse of Fire, Book II of The Ashland Grail Cycle, and an as yet untitled genre mystery set in an Ashland, Oregon bed-and-breakfast.

Debra lives in Oregon with her husband and six children.

 

.