Steel Coffin is the second book in a series of Mike Steel murder mysteries. The main character, Mike Steel, has the starring role in a television series and is considered to be the most eligible bachelor in America. Living aboard his yacht in Marina del Rey, Mike spends his nights with Micki Marsh, one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood. Mike's carefree lifestyle is disrupted when he receives a threatening letter in his fan mail. The letter has a picture of Mike superimposed in a steel coffin, with the caption "isn't this a pretty picture" printed at the bottom of the page. At first Mike dismisses the letter as the work of a disenchanted fan, just trying to frighten a movie star. As a precaution, he hires Casey Arnold, a former Navy Seal as a bodyguard. When a close friend is murdered on Mike's yacht, Casey insists on moving Mike to a more secure location and the two men move into a Beverly Hills mansion owned by Mike's agent Billy Blake. No matter how hard he tries, however, Mike never seems to be able to evade the relentless serial killer intent on making Mike one of his Hollywood victims. Together with his old friend, Lieutenant John Reynolds of the Los Angeles Police Department, Mike tries to unravel the clues leading to the killer's identity. By the time Mike begins to grasp the missing pieces of the puzzle, it may be too late. With a backdrop of Beverly Hills and the Cannes Film Festival on the Cote d' azure, the novel takes the reader through the glamorous locations of the rich and famous while maintaining the page-turning suspense of a classic mystery tale.