Frank Burkett lives and breathes the tropical landscape that features in his debut novel, View From the Clock Tower, which was shortlisted for the British CWA Debut Dagger Award. Although raised in Queensland, he has travelled extensively, including three years in the UK where he studied for a London University Diploma in Dramatic Art, and three years in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) where he worked on land conservation. In 1990, he set up a thriving community newspaper, the Maryborough Herald, and has since published a biography on the country music singer Graeme Connors. Frank now lives in retirement with his wife Patricia and their two dalmatians, and is currently working on his latest book in which, once again, sugar cane, rain forests, and coral reefs provide an exotic background.