Richard E Tipton

Tempered Steel Richard E Tipton

Richard Tipton's second novel is a crime mystery that challenges the reader to not only guess who committed the crime but also how the crime was committed. Twists in the plot will keep the reader guessing until the real killer is revealed in the final few chapters. When Mike Steel had the leading role on a television police drama, he was considered to be the most eligible bachelor in America. But his last movie bombed at the box office and it had been two years since Mike had been in front of a camera. Living aboard his yacht in Marina del Rey, Mike impatiently waits for his next television pilot or film role, while spending his time with martinis, cigars and female fans. When a controversial radio talk show host is murdered, a producer tells Mike he was being blackmailed by the murdered man and seeks Mike's help in keeping his transgression from becoming public. In order to help his friend, Mike must renew a relationship with the murdered man's widow, a woman with whom he had once had a steamy, two year affair. Monica Anderson was the only woman Mike ever came close to marrying. She had a voluptuous size four body on a 5'7" frame, dark blue eyes under raven black hair and was even more obsessed with sex than Mike. When she agreed to let Mike look at her husband's files they discover the murdered man may have been blackmailing some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Reluctantly, Mike finds himself thrust into a real life mystery involving blackmail and murder among the "Who's Who" in show business. Sergeant John Reynolds had spent half of his forty six years in the Los Angeles Police Department. Working his way up from patrol, he landed a spot on the gang detail and was eventually promoted to sergeant and assigned to Homicide. He had gone through two wives who couldn't tolerate his rotating duty shifts, but now that he had the police equivalent of a nine-to-five job, he was content to remain a bachelor. At first, Sergeant Reynolds was bothered by Mike's involvement in the Rex Anderson homicide investigation. But, he soon realized that Mike's status as a Hollywood insider could open doors that otherwise would only be opened with a warrant.