Grace Mae Brown (March 20, 1886 – July 11, 1906)[1] was an American woman who was murdered by her boyfriend, Chester Gillette, on Big Moose Lake, New York, after she told him she was pregnant.

Brown's life has inspired such fictional treatments as Theodore Dreiser's 1925 novel An American Tragedy, the George Stevens film A Place in the Sun, and Jennifer Donnelly's 2003 novel A Northern Light.

She was reportedly given the nickname "Billy" because of her love of the contemporary hit song "(Won't You Come Home) Bill Bailey".

In 1904, at the age of 18, Brown moved to nearby Cortland to live with her married sister Ada, and to work at the new Gillette Skirt Factory.

The defense at trial claimed that Grace had been confused and suddenly jumped out of the boat and into the water, despite being fully clothed.

In her final letter, written July 5, Brown looked forward to her impending Adirondack trip with Gillette.

The trial lasted three weeks, and resulted in a guilty verdict for Gillette for the premeditated murder of Brown; he was sentenced to death.

The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction, and Governor Charles Evans Hughes refused to grant clemency.

Elements of the Murder at Big Moose Lake seem to inspire Woody Allen's 2005 film, Match Point, which has been thought to have similarities with A Place in the Sun.

Tobias Picker composed the music for an opera adaptation of An American Tragedy (2005), with a libretto by Gene Scheer.