‘How to Murder Your Husband’ writer Nancy Brophy accused of killing husband

American romance novel author Nancy Crampton-Brophy is accused of killing her husband in a kitchen. According to police, the writer, who wrote an essay titled “How to Murder Your Husband” in 2011, appears to have followed her own advice in offing her husband of 27 years.

Chef Daniel Brophy, an instructor at the Oregon Culinary Institute, was found dead at his workplace, in a kitchen of the school, on June 2. The police and medical personnel responded to a report of a shooting with one person injured at 8:30 a.m. When they arrived at the scene and saw the victim, they attempted to perform life-saving efforts on him but were unsuccessful.

The next day, Crampton-Brophy wrote a message on her Facebook page, informing her friends that her husband was killed. She asked for privacy as she was still overwhelmed by what had happened and was still “struggling to make sense of everything right now.”

Based on police investigation, however, Crampton-Brophy, 68, could be the one who killed her 63-year-old husband. The police did not mention any motive.

She was arrested on Sep. 5 on charges of murdering Brophy with a gun and unlawful use of a weapon. She was arraigned Thursday and has not filed a plea.

According to Oregon Live, Crampton-Brophy had casually admitted that she was being considered a suspect on her husband’s murder just weeks after his fatal shooting. One of the couple’s neighbour told the publication that she “seemed hardly fazed” by the event.

How to Murder Your Husband

In a 700-word essay she wrote in 2011 for the website See Jane Publish, Crampton-Brophy wrote about spending a lot of time thinking about murder. The essay, “How to Murder Your Husband,” has since been removed from the website, but The Oregonian has obtained parts of it.

“As a romantic suspense writer, I spend a lot of time thinking about murder and, consequently, about police procedure,” she wrote. “After all, if the murder is supposed to set me free, I certainly don’t want to spend any time in jail.”

In the essay, she provided several reasons why killing one’s husband should be considered. These include infidelity, greed, being in an abusive relationship. She said that divorce was not only expensive, it also meant they would have to split their possessions.

“I find it easier to wish people dead than to actually kill them. I don’t want to worry about blood and brains splattered on my walls. And really, I’m not good at remembering lies,” Crampton-Brophy wrote. “But the thing I know about murder is that every one of us have it in him/her when pushed far enough.”

Some of the romance novelist’s titles include “The Wrong Husband,” “The Wrong Cop” and “Hell on the Heart.”