Romance author wrote about how to kill a husband - then shot hers

Nancy Brophy blasted chef Daniel in his school kitchen for $1.4m payout

- GAIL SHORTLAND

Life appeared to be idyllic for Nancy Crampton Brophy and her husband Daniel. They had chickens running around their yard in Portland, Oregon, and a vegetable patch that chef Daniel used to create delicious meals.

Brophy, meanwhile, wrote romance novels – and it looked like the couple were living out their very own perfect love story.

They had been together 25 years and met when Brophy, who’d moved from Texas, attended a cooking class at a college where Daniel was an instructor. Daniel, who had a son from a previous marriage, was well known in the culinary world and was even an expert in foraging for wild mushrooms.

The couple settled in the suburbs and by 2018 Daniel was working as a respected teacher at the now-closed Oregon Culinary Institute. He’d been there more than a decade and the students affectionately called him Chef Brophy.

While Brophy had helped Daniel with a catering business in the past, she was all about her writing and had self-published books including The Wrong Husband, The Wrong Lover and The Wrong Brother. The titles were popular with her fans, but they weren’t big sellers and money was tight for the couple. They’d both started selling Medicare insurance to generate extra income and Daniel had cashed in his retirement savings to pay off credit cards.

Brophy kept a blog where she shared her thoughts and bragged about having a “fabulous vegetable garden” and a “hot meal on the table every night”.