R.S.J. Manning knows his way around secrets, storms, and shipwrecks. Before his retirement, he spent his career in engineering and construction. Now he devotes his free time to crafting thrillers that plunge beneath the surface of history and unearth the dangers that lurk in its depths. The Laura Complex, Part One: The Riddle of Uncle Abe is his debut novel, but storytelling has been a lifelong passion.

Manning has traveled the world and logged more than forty years as a SCUBA diver, exploring wrecks wherever he goes. He's made multiple dives on the very same sunken U- boat that inspired this story, as well as the infamous U-352 off the Carolina coast. When he pens stories about Nazi treasure, stormy seas, or the claustrophobic chill of a wreck dive, he's drawing on firsthand experience.

Growing up in the 1960s, Manning spent his summers on his grandparents’ North Carolina tobacco farm, filling his days with hard work, heat, and a deep appreciation for the secrets of the South. Those roots, along with a hefty dose of humor and a keen eye for irony, continue to shape his fiction today.