A romance mystery novelist suspected of gunning down her chef husband in a Portland culinary school pleaded not guilty Monday.

Nancy Crampton Brophy, 68, was arraigned in Multnomah County Circuit Court on one count of murder with a firearm constituting domestic violence, a Measure 11 crime.

Prosecutors, in an indictment filed last week, claim the Beaverton author used a 9mm pistol to intentionally kill Daniel Brophy, her husband of 27 years.

Crampton Brophy, who published the essay "How to Murder Your Husband" in 2011, displayed little emotion during her brief appearance by video. Alissa Larson-Xu, her court-appointed attorney, was at the hearing.



Jane Claus, a private defense lawyer who appeared with Crampton Brophy in court Sept. 6, withdrew from the case last week, court records show. She did not respond to a request for comment.

Present in the courtroom were Daniel Brophy's parents, Karen and Jack Brophy, as well as his adult son, Nathaniel Stillwater.

Prosecutor Shawn Overstreet requested an order to prohibit Crampton Brophy from contacting all three, as well as those who provided witness testimony in the case to a grand jury on Sept. 13.

Judge Jerry Hodson granted the order.

Several Portland-area romance writers attended the arraignment as well. Among them: Jessie Smith, who helped run the See Jane Publish website where Crampton Brophy's treatise on killing one's spouse originally appeared.

Smith declined to comment to a reporter after the arraignment.

A beloved instructor at the Oregon Culinary Institute, Daniel Brophy, 63, was found shot in a kitchen at the school June 2. The baffling early morning incident yielded no immediate suspects.

Crampton Brophy, whose self-published novels include "The Wrong Husband" and "Hell on the Heart," was arrested at her home in the 3300 block of Southwest 108th Avenue in Beaverton on Sept. 5.

The Multnomah County District Attorney's Office took the rare step of petitioning a judge to seal the probable cause affidavit in the case, citing an ongoing criminal investigation.

Brent Weisberg, a district attorney's spokesman, told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Monday that affidavit would remain sealed. He did not provide a timeline for when that would change.

Crampton Brophy's trial is scheduled for Oct. 26.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh

skavanaugh@oregonian.com

503-294-7632 || @shanedkavanaugh