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Author Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

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About the Author

 

Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy is a former newspaper editor and reporter who makes her home in the Ozarks. As a widow with three grown children, her focus is on writing romance novels that range from sweet to heat, from contemporary to historical. She has written more than twenty-five novels and novellas along with a variety of non-fiction and freelance works.  A native of St. Joseph, Missouri where the Pony Express began and outlaw Jesse James met his end, she is a graduate of Crowder College and Missouri Southern State University. She lives in what passes for the suburbs in far southwestern Missouri a little north of Arkansas and just east of Oklahoma.

Saving the Sin Eater

 

Author: Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

Print ISBN:    9781629892108

eBook ISBN:  9781629892115

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date 03/01/2015

Tessa Owens has dreams of making it big in country music and moving on from her first love, Lucas Rowlands, who broke her heart. She left the old ways of her native Ozarks for modern life when she hit Nashville but a death in the family brings her home. Tessa didn’t plan to stay but when she meets Lucas at the visitation, the old sparks ignite. When she learns he’s not the simple country farmer she left behind but has become the Sin Eater, an ancient role handed down from his grandfather, she struggles to understand. When sin eating makes him ill, she hangs out to help and has to admit she still loves him. There’s no doubt what he feels for her but the devil wants Lucas’ sin-heavy soul and if they don’t come up with a plan, his life – and their love – is over.

Cam's Witness

 

Author: Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

Hardback ISBN: 9781629893105

Print ISBN:         9781629893112

eBook ISBN:       9781629893129

Genre: Romance Contemporary/Suspense

Release Date 09/15/2015

Federal Marshall Timothy Campbell – ‘Cam’ to his near and dear – makes the biggest mistake of his career when he falls for the witness he vowed to protect.  When Kendra Driscoll’s cover is compromised in a hail of bullets at a discount store, she’s terrified and when a stern faced lawman drags her away to a safe house somewhere in Arkansas, she’s beyond upset.  Although she can be Deborah, her real name again, her future is anything but secure.  Things become complicated when she realizes Cam isn’t as stern as she thought and when both discover the forbidden attraction is mutual.  When danger follows her to Arkansas, Cam’s life hangs in the balance and it’s up to Deborah alone to survive, if she can.

Slattery's Sin

 

Author: Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

Paperback ISBN: 9781629894782

eBook ISBN: 9781629894799

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Release Date 06/20/2016

Living in California, working undercover is still surreal for Louisiana native Pride Slattery.  He stands out – because of his unusual name, his military service in Iraq, and even his disability.  Although he’s never quite adjusted to Los Angeles, he remains in place because he’s lost any enthusiasm for the future. One day is just like another and he’s schooled himself not to care. Things change, however, when he rescues a stolen purse for a beautiful woman, Sabetha Hill, who turns out to be from back home.  He risks his heart for the first time in years as events propel him closer to an unexpected future.  When he’s billed as a hero at a traffic accident, Pride is unmasked as a federal agent and danger looms ahead for both him and his lady.  Someone will live, someone will die, and whether or not there can be a happy ending rests in Pride’s hands.

Canaan's Land

 

Author: Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

Paperback ISBN: 9781629896052

eBook ISBN: 9781629896069

Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense

Release Date 01/16/2017

Canaan Moss is a farmer, a man struggling to make a living from the land his family has owned for generations. It’s difficult to accomplish in the 21st century Ozarks in a remote corner of Missouri but he’s scraping by, one day at a time, living lonely. He meets Kaitlin Koch, a local journalist who wants to do a feature about his farm but before it can happen, law enforcement agents descend on his farm. He’s arrested for a marijuana field he didn’t grow and for pot stored in an old barn. Cane’s innocent but no one except Kaitlin and his cousin believe that. As he tries to prove his innocence, he’s shunned in the community. After the true perpetrators break in and beat him so badly Cane ends up in the hospital, he’s in danger. He recognized the two men who hurt him and if he doesn’t get someone to listen, he can’t clear his name and he may just end up dead. Finding a happy ending with the woman he loves seems a remote possibility.

Where Dreams Come True

 

Author: Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

Hardback ISBN: 9798798975622

Paperback ISBN: 9781956788501

eBook ISBN: 9781956788518

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date 1/24/2022

When his life falls apart after losing his estranged wife and children in a car crash, St. Louis weatherman Cole Celinksi takes a forced leave of absence to return to the Ozarks where he spent his childhood summers. He finds his old friend Maggie running the Lake Dreams Resort and raising her teenagers. Their old mutual attraction ignites but it’s complicated as Cole seeks to figure out if he has the courage to rebuild his life with a new family. On the shores of Lake Taneycomo, Cole searches his heart until a near tragedy almost ends his life. In the wake of it, he comes to realize that the resort is a place where dreams do sometimes come true.

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Scrooge & Marlee

 

Author: Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

Hardback ISBN: 9798836444754

Paperback ISBN: 9781958336281

eBook ISBN: 9781958336298

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date 7/11/2022

Theo Scrooge, like the fictional Ebenezer, isn’t fond of Christmas. Any resemblance ends there for the chef and proprietor of Bah Humbug! but his love life is almost nonexistent until he meets a teacher who plans to relocate to the small German flavored town in the Missouri Rhineland. When Marlee falls into the turbulent Missouri River, Theo rescues her. As their relationship grows, so do the obstacles in Theo’s life until his worries about making money and his profit margin overshadow their romance. He’s changed but it’s not an improvement. On the eve of Christmas, Marlee offers him an ultimatum and a copy of Dickens’ book to read. Whether or not Theo will reorganize his priorities will affect if Marlee and their love can both survive.

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Taken at Face Value

 

Author: Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

Hardback ISBN: 9798392579082

Paperback ISBN: 9781960076649

eBook ISBN: 9781960076656

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date 5/15/2023

His little niece calls him “Uncle Beast” after her favorite fairytale. Marine veteran Nicholas Reilly, severely scarred from surviving a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, calls his isolated home “Beast’s Lair”. He’s reclusive, suffers from PTSD, and has a lonely existence until he meets Maribel Barbier, who goes by Belle. He rescues her after her car slides off the road during an ice storm and brings her home. Unlike any other woman, Belle sees the man behind the scars. Their attraction is there from the first night and deepens as they realize this is something more than either one expected. He battles PTSD but with Belle at his side, Nicholas learns to live a little more each day. They have more to overcome together than his PTSD but he comes to believe what Belle tells him – scarred or not, it’s just a face, it’s not the man. Together, they seek a future and a life where looks don’t matter at all.

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The Legacy of Boone Wilson

 

The Laredo Series Book 1

Author: Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

Hardback ISBN: 9798880494675

Paperback ISBN: 9798891261549

eBook ISBN: 9798891261556

Genre: Romance/Western

Release Date 3/11/2024

Boone Wilson, a Civil War veteran and cowboy, figures he’ll die before the month is out after he was shot in the chest playing cards. His comrades talk the owner of the local saloon, the aptly named Out of Luck Saloon, to provide a bed that he can die in, and while the weather is warm enough, they carry him down to the porch each day for some air, wrapped up in blankets. That’s where new schoolteacher Rachel Rose McGarrity first sees him. When she stops to see if she can offer any help, she has no idea what she’s getting herself into, but she’s taken with Boone and vows to keep him from dying if she can.

That desire leads to the loss of her job as a schoolteacher because nursing a cowboy in a saloon isn’t respectable. As the wound festers and his fever rises, Rachel remains determined to save his life with the help of his two friends and his fifteen-year-old brother.

While his life hangs in the balance, there will be a reckoning for Rachel’s actions, and if there is a chance at a future, Boone must first survive to find it. A false accusation leads to jail time and a threatened hanging, further complicating his life.

Will Boone survive? And, is love enough? That’s for Boone and Rachel to figure out.

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The Endurance of Moses Wilson

 

The Laredo Series Book 2

Author: Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

Hardback ISBN: 9798329176599

Paperback ISBN: 9798891262300

eBook ISBN: 9798891262317

Genre: Romance/Western

Release Date 7/29/2024

Moses Wilson left Kentucky with a mission to save his brother, Boone, from the hangman’s noose and succeeded just before all hope was lost. Almost five years later, he’s made his home in Texas, working on the ranch where Boone is top hand. When he meets ranch owner Liam Rafferty’s sister-in-law, he’s smitten with her blonde beauty and sassy manner. Ranch life in the 1870s isn’t easy, though. After enduring mishaps, including a fall from a horse and a sprained ankle, nearly freezing to death, and a near-fatal bout of pneumonia, he also has problems courting Mattie. Although she’s willing, her prosperous German family isn’t, and their efforts to force her into marriage with a wealthy banker cause trouble. Moses must endure much to have the life he wants on the ranch and marry the woman of his dreams.

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The Birthright of Ezekiel Wilson

 

The Laredo Series Book 3

Author: Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

Paperback ISBN:

eBook ISBN:

Genre: Romance/Western

Release Date to be determined

At twenty-one, Ezekiel Wilson is a man, grown up after hightailing it to Texas at the age of fifteen. Although he’s a valuable ranch hand, Zeke is prone to fisticuffs and brawling, although he doesn’t drink. He has a fondness for saloon girls, however, until he meets a feisty Irish girl, Katie O’Neill, who is the sister of a cowboy he hires during a cattle drive. Katie is a healer, and although she lives with her aunt, who keeps a boarding house in Laredo, she soon comes to the ranch. Before Zeke can court her, he suffers serious injuries and must be nursed back to health. Youngest of the five Wilson brothers, Ezekiel longs to become a family man, although he misses his mother and brother back in Kentucky. When the Wilsons become owners of the ranch, Zeke realizes his family and the love they share are his birthright. With Katie at his side, Ezekiel decides he can face anything.

The Cowboy's Prayer

 

Author: Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

Hardback ISBN: 9798339892236

Paperback ISBN: 9798891262782

eBook ISBN: 9798891262799

Genre: Romance/Western

Release Date 11/4/2024

Oklahoma saddle bronc champion Lamont Fortune lives a lonely life. He has family he doesn’t see very often and although once a man of faith, his has faded. He’s late getting out on the circuit this year but before he can put his spurs on for the season, his life changes when he takes in a neighbor’s stepson after a fatal overdose. When the boy’s aunt arrives from New York City, it’s complicated. Matilda Mannheim and Lamont bristle but when they learn Shayne can’t leave the state, Lamont is the only option. Lamont nicknames her ‘Tilly’ and both realize they misjudged the other. With many challenges looming, Tilly has the faith he lacks. As he takes tentative steps toward God, he resists prayer until everything changes. His chance to build a life with Shayne and Tilly depends on whether he can make the right choices and most of all, if he can manage a prayer.

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