RIP-RAP by Max C. Richards

About the book

A dead railroad switchman and newly minted quarters spilling from a damaged box car romantically couples the lives of attorney Ginger Simmons and assistant trainmaster Zack Tyler, as a plot to steal railroad coin shipments entwines with a drug smuggling operation.

Requested by the FBI to work undercover in a Dallas law firm, Ginger must contend with senior partner, Robert "Bobbi" Leatherwood, whose cross-dressing is protected in return for his criminal services.

Zack's railroad duties under assistant superintendent, Bubba Boudreaux, place him in conflict with Ginger's uncle, R.B. "Ratbutt" Simmons, a railroad terminal superintendent, who unbeknownst to Ginger is part of Leatherwood's criminal organization.

As he deals with a drunken engineer and derailed tank car of toxic acid, Zack impresses Sky Judah, the visiting president from another railroad. Zack's sexual escapades with the beautiful Lori Larnet, is interrupted by a surprise visit from Ginger.

Ginger's discovery of jammed paper in law firm's copy machine referencing criminal plans leads to installation of special equipment which secretly photographs documents being copied. Zack's discovery of illegal switching in Houston plants coincides with extortion of Ratbutt by engineer.

The death of a picket and the murder of the extorting engineer leads to refusal of railroad personnel to switch plants critical to smuggling and coin theft plans. While Ginger attempts to legally enjoin strike, Zack reacts to violence toward picketing by rendering plant tracks inoperable.

Ginger's legal work for mentor Judith Alexander leads, with Zack's help, to a fateful meeting with Sky Judah. As coin theft plan unfolds, heavy rains create complications. Inspecting a branch line over which coin cars will move, Zack must leap for his life.

Dressed as a woman, Leatherwood confronts and shoots Ginger. Wounded, she is pursued by him in a car chase. When their vehicles stall in flooding stream, Leatherwood must wade forward to kill her. Exiting, his dress is caught and he is washed away with the car.

As Ginger recovers, Zack is confronted over his use of rail cars as rip-rap. Learning that he has actually dumped a fortune in stolen coins into the river, he is promoted for saving the railroad bridge.

About the author

Raised in a railroad company house, with his boyhood bedroom six feet from the main line, Richards has woven ten years of personal railroading experience into the fabric of his thirty year legal career to create the dynamic and exciting mystery/suspense series that begins with his first novel, RIP - RAP.

Recognized as one of the best labor law attorneys in America and host of a ten year radio talk show, "Point of Law", Richards uses his personal experiences as a locomotive fireman, railroad yard clerk and trainmaster to underscore exciting legal dramas drawn from his many years in private legal practice.

Retiring in 1997 from the twelve lawyer, Tucson, Arizona, law firm which he founded as a solo practice in 1982, Richards is devoting full time to his new vocation as a novelist and adventurer.