Is it possible to create a driver in VB for communicating with a Programmable Logic Controller with RS232 communications for industrial applications? Are there any books on the subject?

What PLC are you working with? I'm just curious cause I used to work for a systems integrator doing PLC programming using AB hardware and the RSLogix IDE.

I'm working with Allen Bradley and Mitsubishi PLCs currently. HMI / SCADA applications for Process/Motion Control. There are a few VB books on the market geared toward Industrial Computing that I've come across. Apparently it is an obscure sub-category with regard to VB programming. Unfortunately, it is a subject that I am intensely curious about and I haven't had much luck finding publications ... Help!

You might try this book (not a wrox title)
http://www.mabry.com/bookpub.htm

I've used it to build a couple of apps for getting data from rs232 enabled analyzers and dataloggers.