Debra Murphy
Debra (Lindeman) Murphy was raised in Champaign, IL and received her B.A. in History at the University of Illinois. She met her husband, Daniel, while on a study year abroad in Austria. Though her ambition from her teenage years was to write novels, Debra’s primary job for many years was mothering a growing family of six children. She didn’t start writing in earnest until the 1990s.
After publishing a few short pieces on family spirituality in the U.S. & U.K. Catholic press, Debra’s first short story won the 1998 Kay Snow award sponsored by Willamette Writers. The story was published in issue no. 37 (Winter, 2002-03) of Image.
Debra’s debut novel, The Mystery of Things, is a mystery with Catholic and literary themes. In writing The Mystery of Things, Debra drew on her life-long love of Shakespeare, mythopoeic literature, and mystery/suspense tnovels, particularly the classic British mysteries of Dorothy Sayers and P.D. James.
in the realm of non-fiction, Debra was a contributing editor for Godspy from 2004 to 2008, where she published reviews and op-ed pieces on contemporary faith and culture. An avid moviegoer, reader, Shakespeare fan, and WordPress geek, Debra also edits & writes reviews for bardolatry, a website devoted to Shakespeare-on-film, Catholic Fiction, and an e-mail newsletter called Quotes for Catholic Writers. Debra has also published articles on CatholicExchange, the British journal of faith and culture, Second Spring, and This Rock magazine.
A member of Willamette Writers, Oregon Writers Colony, and Sisters-in-Crime, Debra lives in beautiful Ashland, Oregon with her husband and six children.
