Murphy, Shirley Rousseau 1928–

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MURPHY, Shirley Rousseau 1928–

PERSONAL:

Born May 20, 1928, in Oakland, CA; daughter of Otto Francis (a horse trainer) and Helen N. (an artist) Rousseau; married Patrick J. Murphy (a U.S. probation officer), August 5, 1951. Education: California School of Fine Arts (now San Francisco Art Institute), A.A., 1951.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Carmel, CA. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Sam Kweller, Designer, Los Angeles, CA, packaging designer, 1952-53; Bullock's (department store), Los Angeles, interior decorator, 1953-55; San Bernardino Valley College, San Bernardino, CA, teacher of mosaics, 1957-59; Canal Zone Library-Museum, Canal Zone, Panama, documents assistant, 1964-67; writer, painter, and sculptor. Had a dual show with mother, Helen Rousseau, at Instituto Panameno de Arte, 1964, and eight one-woman shows in CA, 1957-63; paintings, drawings, and sculptures also exhibited at group and juried shows in CA, AZ, and NV, as well as traveling exhibits.

MEMBER:

Author's Guild, Mystery Writers of America, American Crime Writers League, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Sisters in Crime, Cat Writers' Association, Library Cat Society.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Received eight awards for sculpture and four for paintings at San Francisco Museum and other exhibitions, 1956-62; Dixie Council of Authors and Journalists Awards, 1977, for Silver Woven in My Hair and The Ring of Fire, 1978, for The Flight of the Fox, 1980, for Mrs. Tortino's Return to the Sun, 1986, for Nightpool, and 1988 for The Ivory Lyre ; Parents' Choice Award, 1987; Muse Medallion Awards from Cat Writers' Association, 1997, for Cat Under Fire, 1998, for Cat Raise the Dead, and 1999, for Cat in the Dark, 2001, for Cat Spitting Mad, 2002, for Cat Laughing Last, 2003, for Cat Seeing Double, and 2005, for Cat Cross Their Graves; "president's best-of-the-best" award from Cat Writers' Association, 1998, for Cat Raise the Dead, and 2003, for Cat Seeing Double.

WRITINGS:

for juveniles

White Ghost Summer, illustrated by Barbara McGee, Viking (New York, NY), 1967.

The Sand Ponies, illustrated by Erika Weihs, Viking (New York, NY), 1967.

Elmo Doolan and the Search for the Golden Mouse, illustrated by Fritz Kredel, Viking (New York, NY), 1970.

(With husband, Patrick J. Murphy) Carlos Charles, Viking (New York, NY), 1971.

Poor Jenny, Bright as a Penny, Viking (New York, NY), 1974.

The Grass Tower, illustrated by Charles Robinson, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1976.

(Contributor) Sylvia Engdahl, editor, Anywhere, Anywhen, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1976.

Silver Woven in My Hair, illustrated by Alan Tiegreen, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1977.

The Flight of the Fox, illustrated by Don Sibley, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1978.

The Pig Who Could Conjure the Wind, illustrated by Mark Lefkowitz, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1978.

Soonie and the Dragon, illustrated by Susan Vaeth, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1979.

(With Patrick J. Murphy) Mrs. Tortino's Return to the Sun, illustrated by Susan Russo, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1980.

Tattie's River Journey, illustrated by Tomie de Paola, Dial (New York, NY), 1983.

Valentine for a Dragon, illustrated by Kay Chorao, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1984.

(With Welch Suggs) Medallion of the Black Hound, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1989.

The Song of the Christmas Mouse, illustrated by Donna Diamond, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1990.

Wind Child, illustrated by Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1999.

fantasy novels

The Ring of Fire, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1977.

The Wolf Bell, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1979.

The Castle of Hape, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1980.

Caves of Fire and Ice, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1980.

The Joining of the Stone, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1981.

Nightpool (part one of "The Dragonbards Trilogy"), HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1985.

The Ivory Lyre (part two of "The Dragonbards Trilogy"), HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1987.

The Dragonbards (part three of "The Dragonbards Trilogy"), HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1988.

The Catswold Portal, New American Library (New York, NY), 1993.

"joe grey" series; mysteries

Cat on the Edge, HarperPrism (New York, NY), 1996.

Cat under Fire, HarperPrism (New York, NY), 1997.

Cat Raise the Dead, HarperPrism (New York, NY), 1998.

Cat in the Dark, HarperPrism (New York, NY), 1999.

Cat to the Dogs, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2000.

Cat Spitting Mad, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.

Cat Laughing Last, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2002.

Cat Seeing Double, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2003.

Cat Fear No Evil, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2004.

Cat Cross Their Graves, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2005.

Cat Breaking Free, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2005.

Cat Deck the Halls, Morrow (New York, NY), 2006.

Cat Pay the Devil, Morrow (New York, NY), 2007.

other

(With Mary Daheim, Carolyn Hart and Jane Isenberg) Motherhood Is Murder, Avon (New York, NY), 2003.

(Editor and author of introduction) Christmas Cats, Chamberlain Brothers (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor of poems, short stories, and novellas to anthologies. Author of novella, Cat on the Money, serialized in Cats Magazine, January-December, 2001. Contributor to Advocate and Writer.

SIDELIGHTS:

Prior to becoming a writer, Shirley Rousseau Murphy was an interior designer, sculptor, and award-winning painter who had numerous one-woman art shows in California and a degree from the San Francisco Art Institute. In the 1960s she and her husband lived in Panama, where she worked as a librarian before embarking on a career as a writer. From the start it was clear that animals were important to Murphy; horses, mice, dragons, foxes, and pigs all populated her children's books. Several of these early works were honored by the Dixie Council of Authors and Journalists. In the 1970s and 1980s, Murphy branched out into fantasy novels, and in 1996 her career took a sharp turn with the publication of Cat on the Edge, a mystery set in the seaside village of Molena Point and starring the feline Joe Grey and his sidekicks Dulcie and Kit. The books proved popular with readers and soon became a series. Ultimately, six Joe Grey books were honored as best novel of the year by the Cat Writers' Association.

As a reporter noted in the Monterey County Herald: "These are not cute, little, furry kitties but rather two shrewd investigators with somewhat caustic personalities." Murphy based her title character on a no-nonsense gray cat she once owned briefly; the crimes and capers he solves are realistically depicted and demonstrate the author's "quick, analytical approach to forensic details," wrote Ann Sharkey in the Library Cat Newsletter. Over the course of nearly a dozen titles, Joe Grey and Dulcie have tangled with murderers and conspirators—of both human and cat species—as well as the odd roaming mountain lion. In Booklist, Sally Estes declared: "What makes this series so delightful for both cat lovers and readers of offbeat fantasies is … Murphy's convincing anthropomorphism." Likewise, Library Journal correspondent Rex E. Klett commended the series as "a special treat … for cat mystery fanciers."

In Cat Laughing Last, the famous novelist Elliot Traynor comes to Molena Point to stage a play about the tragic story of a seventeenth-century Spanish bride, and things quickly go awry. A break-in is followed by a murder as Elliot tries to uncover a secret stash of letters that relate to the real story behind his Spanish bride. It takes Joe and his friends to get to the bottom of the crime spree. A bomb explosion at a wedding opens Cat Seeing Double, in which Joe is on the trail of the mean old man behind the plot to kill Molena Point's police chief. The man's grandson, Curtis, a teenager known to associate with hooligans and Weimaraners, appears to be a major culprit. Murder enters the picture when Ryan Flannery's ex-husband is found shot to death in her garage and a stray Weimaraner is discovered lurking nearby. Joe and his friends pull out all the stops in their investigation. Though a writer for Kirkus Reviews objected to cats who approximate "gendered human stereotypes" and hoped that Murphy would stretch her characterizations more in the future, Sally Estes, reviewing Cat Laughing Last in Booklist, appreciated how Murphy "walks the fine line between" making her cats believable both as cats and as sentient beings.

Cat Fear No Evil is "a superior cat cozy," wrote a reviewer for Publishers Weekly, that involves a high-stakes ring of burglars who enjoy snatching paintings, jewelry, and even the vintage Packard car that belongs to Clyde Damen, Joe's human companion. If that is not enough, an opening at an art gallery is marred by the spectacular death of a waiter, and a real estate agent bites the dust in an explosion. Joe's old nemesis, the tomcat Azrael, becomes involved in the stalking of Joe's friend Kate, an interior designer—all of which serves to create an intricate plot that requires the superior intellectual skills of Joe and his friends.

Cat Cross Their Graves finds Joe Grey and his tabby pal Dulcie embroiled in the murder of an aging film star who has recently decamped to the quiet village of Molena Point. The case turns more ominous when several long-dead children's bodies are discovered in a local backyard. Joe and friends think there is a connection between the two events. Then a twelve-year-old runaway girl, who has been hiding in the library and aided by Dulcie, is kidnapped by a strange man who could be the murderer. Estes, writing in Booklist, appreciated the book's "suspense" and the quality sleuthing by Joe and Dulcie.

In Cat Breaking Free, Joe, Dulcie, and the kit investigate a series of crimes in their cozy village that appear to be related to the arrival of a gang from Los Angeles. The high school is set on fire, the jewelry store is robbed, and a motorcyclist is murdered. Between dining on meals from the best restaurants, Joe and pals occupy themselves by getting to the bottom of things. The eleventh book in the series, Cat Breaking Free is "an intriguing whodunit," wrote Estes in Booklist.

Murphy's love of cat literature extends to the volume she edited, Christmas Cats: A Literary Companion, which includes an original story by Murphy along with poems and stories from other notable cat-loving writers, including Rita Mae Brown and Cleveland Amory.

Shirley Rousseau Murphy once told CA: "The [Joe Grey mysteries] are the exact mix of fantasy and realism which I like best to do; they evolved from The Catswold Portal, inspired by my own calico cat who seemed so often to want to speak to me, that I could not help but consider and write about her secrets."

In her remarks to CA, Murphy said: "The best stories find the author, not the other way around. Wind Child is a story which came to me unbidden, like a dream…. The theme touches on that within ourselves which searches for answers, for the numinous, for explanations of what and who we are; but it deals as well with our opposite side, with the very practical and everyday disciplines." Wind Child is perhaps the most successful of Murphy's juvenile titles. With drawings, sculpture, and prose, it tells the story of Reeshie, daughter of the east wind, who yearns for companionship with a kindred spirit. "With elements of myth and folklore, this is a satisfying romantic story enhanced by Leo and Diane Dillon's elegant, other worldly illustrations," observed Linda Perkins in Booklist. "This will delight fairy tale fans, inject fine art into climate studies, and invite students to write and/or illustrate their own myths." A Publishers Weekly reviewer called Wind Child a "haunting, mystical tale" with "carefully honed prose, striking in its spare, direct simplicity." The reviewer concluded: "The stark beauty of both text and artwork are sure to draw sophisticated readers into this stunning meditation on the price of immortality."

Murphy told CA: "Good fantasy grows from the most elemental within us, from the most basic human strengths and fears, and needs; and the best fantasy is laced with wit, with the warmth of humor and camaraderie that makes us human. All these elements together pull us into a story, whether we are writing a new work or lost in the work of another."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

books

Gallo, Donald R., editor, Speaking for Ourselves, Too, National Council of Teachers of English (Urbana, IL), 1993.

Rasmusen, H., and A. Grant, Sculpture from Junk, Reinhold, 1967.

St. James Guide to Fantasy Writers, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1996.

St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers, 2nd edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999.

Something about the Author Autobiography Series, Volume 18, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1994.

Twentieth-Century Children's Writers, 3rd edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1990.

periodicals

Booklist, December 15, 1998, Sally Estes, review of Cat in the Dark, p. 728; June 1, 1999, Linda Perkins, review of Wind Child, p. 1843; January 1, 2002, Sally Estes, review of Cat Laughing Last, p. 819; December 15, 2004, Sally Estes, review of Cat Cross Their Graves, p. 712; November 1, 2005, Sally Estes, review of Cat Breaking Free, p. 28.

Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 2002, review of Cat Seeing Double, p. 1737.

Library Cat Newsletter, spring, 2000, Ann Sharkey, review of Cat to the Dogs.

Library Journal, December, 1998, Rex E. Klett, review of Cat in the Dark, p. 160; January, 2000, Rex E. Klett, review of Cat to the Dogs, p. 167; February 1, 2004, Rex E. Klett, review of Cat Fear No Evil, p. 129; January 1, 2005, Rex E. Klett, review of Cat Cross Their Graves, p. 84; November 1, 2005, Edell M. Schaefer, review of Christmas Cats: A Literary Companion, p. 105.

Monterey County Herald, February 28, 1999, review of Cat in the Dark.

Publishers Weekly, May 17, 1999, review of Wind Child, p. 79; December 11, 2000, review of Cat Spitting Mad, p. 67; February 2, 2004, review of Cat Fear No Evil, p. 62; October 3, 2005, review of Cat Breaking Free, p. 50.