Lane, who calls himself “a lifelong tourist,” came from Ohio
to St. Pete Beach seven years ago when the last of his three children left high
school. “I’m very comfortable here,” he
says. “When I’m in Florida, I lose the wanderlust to go any other place. I feel
I’ve arrived.” An investment manager
with a degree in English, Lane has always loved to write. After graduating from
Maryville College in Tennessee, where he was the editor of the college
newspaper, he worked briefly as a proofreader. He also owned a local weekly
newspaper in Knoxville, an enterprise he calls “a labor of love.” He eventually went into investment management
because “I needed a way to pay the bills,” but he never lost his desire to
write.
The Second Letter
was inspired by a visit to the Gulf Beaches Historical Museum in Pass-a-Grille.
Lane became fascinated with Joan Haley, the museum’s original matriarch. “After
seeing the displays, I became taken with the story of this lady who had come to
Long Key,” Lane explains. “I went outside and sat on the bench and thought,
‘What if?’” Eighteen months later, Lane
had completed The Second Letter, a
suspense novel that earned a five-star review from Foreword Clarion for its
“solid structure and pace, along with a standout sleuth.”
The “standout sleuth” is Jake Travis, a wise-cracking
special agent Lane describes as “larger than life, but with the same struggles
and self-doubts we all experience.” Jake
is assigned to retrieve a missing letter written in 1961 by a CIA operative and
buried on the grounds of the Gulf Beaches Historical Museum. The letter has found its way into the hands of
Raydel Escobar, a shady businessman who is using it to blackmail the IRS. Jake
risks everything to reclaim the letter, including his life and his relationship
with Kathleen, the woman he loves. Lane describes The Second Letter as “literary crime noir, a literary novel
disguised as a PI romp.” The story starts with two lovers and a song – “Will
You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” Fifty
years later, it comes full circle with another pair of lovers and the same
theme.
Jake Travis returns in Lane’s next novel, Cooler Than Blood, scheduled for release
this fall. The story centers around Jake’s
search for an 18-year-old girl whose past is mysteriously entwined with
Kathleen’s. Lane is currently at work on
a third Jake Travis novel, tentatively titled The Cardinal’s Sin.
Lane hopes his readers will connect with his characters. “I
try to put a mirror in front of readers so they can see a little of themselves
in my characters,” he explains. “That’s what I like in a book and what I hope
readers will take from mine. I also hope
my books will entertain, inform and enlighten. If they do, then I’ve done what
I set out to do. I’m a happy camper.”
For more information, visit the author’s website at
www.robertlanebooks.com.
