DAVID B. BECKWITH was born in Cumbria, U.K. His family emigrated to Perth, Western Australia in 1969. He studied Mathematics and Philosophy at the University of W.A. He is now a retired I.T. Professional, also a polyglot, a polymath, cook, painter, and an avid traveller (having circumnavigated the globe, visited Antarctica, and spent more than six months in Central & South America). He lives in a rural region bordering to the metropolitan area of Perth where he and his wife grow vegetables and raise chickens for eggs. David makes cheeses and fruit wines, when he is not writing Sherlock Holmes