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Robert Lee Murphy grew up in Hobbs, New Mexico, before graduating from the University of Oklahoma in 1960. Following college, he served in the U. S. Army for seven years, departing active duty with the rank of captain. For the next thirty-six years he pursued a business career that involved working with national and international institutions on all seven continents, including Antarctica, where Murphy Peak bears his name in recognition of his contributions in supporting polar science.
He sold his first magazine article, illustrated with his own photographs, to Backpacker Magazine many years ago. Throughout his business career, he published various technical articles in trade journals, such as Military Engineer. In July 2011, The Gettysburg Magazine published his annotated Civil War cavalry article about the “boy generals.”
He has been an avid outdoorsman, railroad aficionado, and history buff his entire life. In conducting research for his trilogy, The Iron Horse Chronicles, Robert traveled the route of the railroad, from Omaha, Nebraska, to Sacramento, California, visited the museums and historical sites along the way, and walked the ground where the characters’ actions take place.
He is a member of Western Writers of America, the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, Sun City Anthem Authors, and the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society.
Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite
Bear Claws: The Iron Horse Chronicles, Book Two is a historical coming of age novel written by Robert Lee Murphy. Will Braddock is a member of his uncle’s survey inspection team which is charting the westward expansion of the transcontinental railroad. Fourteen-year-old Will’s been working as the assistant to Homer, the cook. The team has been waiting out a week-long snowstorm that’s made the impact of the strange illness affecting most of them even more devastating. After setting up camp in a sheltered area of Rawlins Springs, just east of the Continental Divide, Will’s Uncle Sean rode out to get medicine and supplies from the Wells Fargo stage station, some fifteen miles away, but he hasn’t yet returned and the sick men need nourishment. Will, as the least affected member of the team, sets out to hunt and bring back a deer or antelope, but finds his hunt is interrupted when he falls into a stream and steps on an abandoned beaver trap.
Robert Lee Murphy’s historical coming of age novel, Bear Claws: The Iron Horse Chronicles, Book Two, is a fast-paced and exciting adventure story set in the late 1800s. Will Braddock is an engaging and enterprising young adult who takes on a lot of responsibility and succeeds marvelously at what he attempts. Murphy’s tale is impeccably researched and brings the story of the westward expansion of the rails across the Rocky Mountains towards California to life. Along the way, the reader gets to experience the west as it was at that point in time, including the interactions with the native tribes before the reservation system was imposed upon them, and a sense of the unspoiled environment and the wildlife that flourished there. This is the second volume in the series and, while I found that the author included enough background information for me to enjoy it as a stand-alone novel, I’m still planning on reading Eagle Talons, the first book, to more fully experience the series. Bear Claws: The Iron Horse Chronicles, Book Two is highly recommended.
