A Message from Richard Tyler Jordan

When people ask me about the titles of the books I’ve written, they’re confused when I explain that there’s often another author’s name on the cover. So, here’s a brief explanation.

I’ve used my full name, Richard Tyler Jordan, on only a couple of books. I was extremely proud of my first nonfiction effort, But Darling, I’m Your Auntie Mame, and of course wanted the world to know that I’d fulfilled my labor-of-love project: chronicling the history of my favorite fictional character, Patrick Dennis’ Auntie Mame (it’s quite an interesting read, I think). In between that book, which was published in the late 1990’s and my most recent romantic mystery, Breakfast at Timothy’s, I wrote a bunch of stuff under the names Ben Tyler, R.T. Jordan, Samantha Stevens, and Mike Melbourne. 

Why? Well, I used the name Ben Tyler (which was derived from my father’s first name, and my middle name) because I had a career as a Sr. Publicist with the Walt Disney Studios and I wanted to put a bit of distance between the sexy novels I was churning out for Kensington Publishing Corp., and squeaky clean Disney. I didn’t want Mickey Mouse or Snow White (or Bambi, for that matter!) to be in any way offended. Hey, I was just trying to be a respectful employee. 

When I got tired of writing the Ben Tyler projects, my wonderful editor at Kensington suggested I try writing mysteries. I was fortunate enough to publish four titles in The Polly Pepper Mysteries Series, under the name R.T. Jordan. But then life took a crazy turn (as it sometimes does) and I simply stopped publishing all together. It was an exceptionally dreadful time and another deadline most likely would have been the death of me. That’s not an exaggeration.

But, over the past few years, I’ve missed writing and publishing. So, I set out to reinvent myself as Mike Melbourne and Samantha Stevens (yes, I liked Bewitched). Full disclosure: Samantha Stevens’ Beauty and the Boss is pretty much the sanitized version of Ben Tyler’s Tricks of the Trade. But it was too good of a story not to be rewritten for a mainstream audience! 

So, on we go! I hope you like my books. And, if you’re interested in connecting with me, I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Richard Tyler Jordan