About the Author

Dr. Lin Stepp is a native Tennessean, a businesswoman, and an educator. She is a past faculty member at Tusculum College where she taught research and a wide variety of psychology and counseling courses for 20 years. Her business background includes over 25 years in marketing, sales, production art, and regional publishing. She has editorial and writing experience in regional magazines and in the academic field.

Lin Stepp has twelve published novels each set in different locations around the Smoky Mountains. Her first five novels were published by an imprint of John F. Blair Publishing of Winston Salem, North Carolina. These novels included The Foster Girls (2009), Tell Me About Orchard Hollow (2010), For Six Good Reasons (2011), Delia’s Place (2012), and Second Hand Rose (2013). Five subsequent novels were published by Kensington Publishing, New York, including Down by the River (June 2014), Makin’ Miracles (January 2015), Saving Laurel Springs (October 2015) and Welcome Back (March 2016) as well as a short novella A Smoky Mountain Gift included in the 2014 Christmas anthology, featuring Fern Michaels, and titled When the Snow Falls.

Continuing books, published by Mountain Hill Press, include Daddy’s Girl (2017), Lost Inheritance (2018), The Interlude (2019), Happy Valley (2020), Downsizing (2021) and three titles in a coastal series Claire at Edisto (2019), Return To Edisto (2020) and Edisto Song (2021). Lin Stepp and her husband J.L. also write regional guidebooks, including a Smokies hiking guide titled The Afternoon Hiker (2014), a guide to all the 56 Tennessee state parks called Discovering Tennessee State Parks (2018) and state parks guide to South Carolina parks Exploring South Carolina State Parks (2021).

J.L. Stepp is a native East Tennessean who lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. Stepp owns and operates S & S Communications, established in 1990, which publishes a monthly outdoor magazine called Tennessee Fishing & Hunting Guide. The magazine covers fishing and hunting topics in Tennessee and is distributed in print form to advertisers at the first of every month. The magazine can also be downloaded from the web by going to www.tnfhg.com. J.L., a graduate of The University of Tennessee, also markets UT Vols sports related products such as football and basketball schedules, limited edition prints, and licensed sports collectibles. A graduate of The University of Tennessee, Stepp’s background includes over 45 years in sales, marketing, management, and publications. He enjoys a wide variety of outdoor sports, including golf, fishing, and hiking. The Afternoon Hiker (2014), jointly written with his wife Lin Stepp, chronicles 110 hikes in the Smokies with descriptions and photos, Discovering Tennessee State Parks (2018) describes all 56 parks in the state of Tennessee with over 700 color illustrations. and a second parks guide takes readers visiting to the South Carolina parks titled Exploring South Carolina State Parks (2021).                                                                                                                    

• Author’s International Titles                                                                                                      
• Author’s Associations       

Author Facts

(1) Lin was born and spent most of childhood and adult life in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her relatives trekked down the Appalachian Trail from Virginia to settle this east Tennessee area and she has deep family roots here.

(2) Met her husband J.L. more than 40 years ago while they were students at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Both are still Vol fans.

(3) Knoxville is Lin’s hometown. She and her husband J.L. have lived for over 30 years in the same home on a quiet cul-de-sac among warm, long-time neighbors and friends.

(4) Lin has always loved and had cats. The two family cats recently died at nearly 18 yrs old – Sophie, a female tortoise-shell, and Tucker, a male black and white tuxedo.

(5) Lin’s arents, Joy and Phil Mathews, now deceased, lived in nearby Maryville, Tennessee, and her brother David, also deceased, and his wife, Sandy, lived in Bowling Green, Kentucky – where Sandy still lives.  J.L.’s mother, Emma, deceased, lived in Tellico Plains, Tennessee. J.L.’s younger brother, Steve, and his older sister Rose live in Athens, Tennessee, where J.L. was born and raised.  Despite distances, ours is a warm, connected family – with many relatives in Tennessee and around the Southeast United States.

(6) J.L. and Lin’s two children are young adults now, living and working outside of Tennessee. Max teaches high school art in Metairie, Louisiana, outside New Orleans. Kate is media librarian for a high school in Hope Mills, North Carolina, near Fayetteville.

(7) Lin and her husband are strong Christians and are active in a local church in their west Knoxville area. Lin enjoys the women’s circle, and, as you might expect, goes to the church’s monthly book group.

(8) Lin’s favorite pastimes besides writing and teaching include: reading – especially romances and mysteries, painting and drawing, walking and hiking in the Smoky Mountains nearby, swimming and being around the water, and enjoying the beauty of the outdoors.