Catholic Fiction

The author of The Mystery of Things and the founder of Idylls Press, Debra Murphy grew up in Champaign, Illinois and received her B.A. in History from the University of Illinois. She has published articles (with her husband, Daniel) on family culture and spirituality 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.

Debra’s debut novel, The Mystery of Things, is a contemporary mystery-thriller with Catholic and Shakespearean themes, set in Milwaukee. It was published in December 2004 by Idylls Press, the small press founded by Debra and Dan in 2004 with the primary mission of publishing and promoting Catholic fiction.  The Mystery of Things is the first novel in Debra’s planned Ashland Grail Cycle. The second book is scheduled to be published in 2009.

In writing The Mystery of Things, Debra drew on her life-long 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 Associatio fiction contest.

Debra is a contributing editor for Godspy, where she publishes reviews and op-ed pieces on contemporary faith and culture. An avid moviegoer and Shakespeare fan, Debra is also also a film reviewer for bardolatry.com, a website devoted to Shakespeare-on-film and Catholic movies online. Debra edits an e-mail newsletter called Quotes for Catholic Writers, and blogs with the rest of Clan Murphy at The Idyllist..

Debra is a member of Willamette Writers, Oregon Writers Colony, Sisters-in-Crime, and the Catholic Writers Guiild. Her hobbies include gardening, theatre- and movie-going, and reading reading reading. Her favorite fiction includes Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Hansen’s Mariette in Ecstacy, Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, Greene’s The Power and the Glory, Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, and the short stories of Flannery O’Connor. 

Debra lives in Oregon with her husband and six children. You can find her on the web at:

The Mystery of Things website
Debra’s homepage
Debra’s MySpace page (mostly for fun)
Debra’s blog, The Idyllist
Bardolatry
Catholic Movies Online
Godspy