The Rest Area Murder by L. D. Knorr

By Michael Haskins

THE REST AREA MURDER is the second book in L.D. Knorr’s ‘RV Mystery Series’ featuring recently retired robbery/homicide detective Hank Moran and his wife Helen. The book becomes available this month.

Please give the readers an elevator synopsis of THE REST AREA MURDER.

Recently retired robbery/homicide detective Hank Moran and his wife Helen are once again back on the road in their new Bounder motorhome. Hank’s decision to stop for a road map at an Indiana rest area starts a series of events that greatly endangers the lives of both Hank and Helen.

When you began the first book, THE LEVITICUS MISSION, did you plan it as the first in a  series?

Yes, THE LEVITICUS MISSION was planned as the first of a series.

There are a few thrillers out there involving retired cops, why did you decided to include Hank’s wife Helen?

This is an RV related series and Helen would naturally be traveling with Hank and share in the adventures. Helen’s character will progress from a housewife to an equal investigative partner of Hank’s.

Your background is mechanical engineering, how much research is required to write books about police detectives and their detailed work?

I am a great fan of Ed Mcbain’s 87^th precinct novels. I have read where they could be used as a textbook on how to write police procedurals. Still studying.

Like Hank and Helen, you and your wife, Emily, travel in an RV. How much of what you see and hear on the road goes into your books?  Do your travel experiences help in your writing?

We have actually stopped at many of the campgrounds and visited many of the sites written about. The rest come from on-line research.

In your RV travels, have you encountered militia groups like the one that appears in the book or does it come from research?

I have researched the militant groups in Michigan.

Being on the road so much, what is your writing schedule like?

I have a portable lap top table that fits nicely into our RV and can write anywhere, anytime, and whenever the mood strikes.

Have you begun the third book in the series?

I am presently writing the third book in the series which should be published by years end or early next year.

Is there a stand-alone book in the future for you?

I have a stand-alone book partially written which is of a sci-fi-metaphysical genre featuring a biology professor.

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L.D. Knorr was born on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania and now resides in rural Alabama. After his retirement as a mechanical engineer he took up writing mysteries.