In the Kitchen with LeeAnn Sontheimer Murphy

JULY release - Kinfolk (Champagne Books) by Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

Some of my ideas spring full-blown from the muse and others start with a single line.  KINFOLK began as a line - the exact sentence did not survive into the final cut but the original idea was "She stepped off the bus in Springdale, Arkansas. " I had the image of a woman, fleeing some kind of danger who went home to her native Arkansas to hide even though Arkansas had become an unfamiliar place to her.    This story holds a special place in my writer's heart because, although not the first to find publication, it was the first of my longer fiction works to net a contract.   When it debuts this July, it represents the fruition of years of hard work and the realization of dreams.   The dedication is to my grandmother, Granny, who could have been a writer of amazing power if she had the opportunity.   It's a long tale but in essence, she told me as a teen, noting my  budding way with words, that although she couldn't become a writer so I did.   

Blurb:

   

The last thing that writer Katherine Vaughn expects when she flees California for her native Arkansas is to fall in love, especially not with a former Navy SEAL and her cousin’s widower. Nor did she expect that the thugs seeking retribution for her late husband’s drug debts would follow her back to Arkansas. As she and Ben Hatfield fall in love, their happiness faces trials that include an unexpected illness and his grandfather’s death. After Ben’s apparent death, Katherine has little time to mourn after the California drug lord’s minions kidnap her in a final effort to collect on the debt. Her life is in jeopardy as she wonders if there is any hope left in her heart. Kinfolk is a novel about the power of love. And recipe....since Katherine loves to cook old-fashioned, down home country food, here is her biscuit recipe: Baking Powder Buttermilk Biscuits Ingredients: 2 cups sifted flour 2 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/3 soft shortening 1 cup buttermilk Sift flour into large mixing bowl.  Add baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut shortening into the dry mixture using either a pastry knife or two forks.  Make a hole in the center and pour the buttermilk into it.  Blend gently until a soft dough forms. Turn dough onto a large floured surface (cutting board, platter, etc.).  Kead about a dozen times until dough becomes pliable and then roll out to about a 1 inch thickness.  Cut with a bsicuit cutter and place on a prepared cookie sheet or biscuit pan.  Bake 10-12 minutes in a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven or until brown.