‘How to Murder Your Husband’ author faces court charge for allegedly killing his spouse

An Oregon romance novelist who once wrote an essay titled “How to Murder Your Husband” is on trial Monday for allegedly shooting her spouse to lose a $1.5 million life insurance policy to obtain.

Nancy Crampton-Brophy, now 71, has pleaded not guilty to the shooting death of her 25-year-old husband, Daniel Brophy, in Portland in June 2018.

Daniel was found with gunshot wounds to his back and chest at the Oregon Culinary Institute, where he taught shortly after arriving for work, local outlet KGW8 reported.

Crampton-Brophy, who told police she was at the couple’s home at the time of the shooting, was arrested months later after detectives said she was near the scene.

At the time of Daniel’s assassination, Crampton-Brophy broke the news to loved ones on Facebook, writing: “For my Facebook friends and family, I have sad news to share. My husband and best friend, Chef Dan Brophy, was killed yesterday morning.”

She added, “For those of you close to me who think this deserves a call, you’re right, but I’m struggling to make sense of it all right now.”

Days after the shooting, Crampton-Brophy also allegedly asked police to give her a letter saying she was not a suspect in her husband’s murder so she could collect his $40,000 life insurance policy.

According to court documents, authorities later learned that Crampton-Brophy would gain $1.5 million from her husband’s death.

Detectives found that the couple had been living paycheck to paycheck by this point.

Crampton-Brophy was once a prolific novelist, with books including Hell on the Heart and The Wrong Husband.

She also wrote an essay entitled How to Murder Your Husband in 2011, in which she wrote: “As a writer of romantic suspense, I spend a lot of time thinking about murder and, consequently, police procedures. If murder is going to set me free, I don’t want to spend time in prison.”

“It’s easier to wish people dead than to actually kill them. But what I do know about murder is that we’re all tough if we take it far enough,” she added.

Crampton-Brophy is charged with murder and unlawful use of a firearm.