Hot Bits...Cold Steel

Dennis Fitch, known as 'the Driller,' targets fast-food joints under crime lord Chuy Sepulveda's operation. Veteran detective Kevin Rhinehardt and rookie Will Phillips tackle the rising burglaries, navigating department red tape and personal challenges, while closing in on Fitch amid escalating tensions and a deadly showdown.

Safecracking is making a comeback in the Southland. Dennis Fitch—known to authorities as "the Driller"—is knocking over fast-food joints all over Orange County. Crime lord Chuy Sepulveda, Fitch's go-between, runs a check-forging and credit-card-skimming operation out of a hideout called "the Shop," with members of Southern California's deadliest gangs to do his legwork. When burglaries spike, the cops form a task force and put veteran detective Kevin Rhinehardt and rookie Will Phillips on the case. Rhinehardt must battle the crime ring and department red tape while keeping things under control at home. He's got a son in Afghanistan and a hot-rodding teen in hot water with the law. Over at the Shop, Fitch has his own headaches. His half brother, James, is a bad accomplice; his mother just wants the loot to keep coming; and Sepulveda is demanding his cut. When an innocent man dies, the task force cracks down. Rhinehardt gives his partner a lesson in old-fashioned police work that puts them on the trail of the Driller. When the showdown comes, many rounds will be fired. Authored by a veteran law enforcement officer, Hot Bits…Cold Steel is a hard-edged look at the California underworld.

Ken Reinstadler is a career law enforcement officer, having spent most of his 32 years in the business as a criminal investigator in the Central Coast of California. Although fictional, his writings are based on his personal experiences in solving some of his most challenging and interesting cases during his career as a detective, sergeant and lieutenant. Many of his characters and situations are based on real life crimes. He is an avid scuba diver and instructor, and enjoys time off riding his Harley Davidson. The author is retired and lives with his wife, Jill, in Northern Arizona. Ken is a member of the Arizona Author's Association and Arizona Mystery Writers.