Peter Stekel has worked as an outdoor/science school teacher, biological surveyor, program manager, freelance writer, journalist and novelist.

Raised in southern California, he holds a bachelor's degree in botany from the University of California at Davis. He also did graduate work in evolutionary plant ecology at Humboldt State University. Currently he resides in Seattle.

Stekel has written many feature magazine articles on science, adventure travel, sports, history, forestry, natural history, recreation, travel, theater and entertainment. Formerly he was a newspaper reporter for Pacific Publishing and Robinson Newspapers.

He has been a contributing writer for Balloon Life, Northwest on Stage, Intermission, Sports ETC., Canoe and Kayak Racing News, and Timber/West. He also has contributed several articles to ANPR's Ranger magazine.

Stekel's four novels are Heart of Stone, The Flower Lover, Collateral Damage and The Isle of Alaska Mystery. He also has authored short stories.

The Flower Lover follows journalist Richard Garcia as he investigates the disappearance of a rare cultivated orchid. Garcia’s queries lead him to uncover a clandestine group that is illegally selling munitions and stolen Soviet nukes on the black market. The novel has a complex plot and is fast-paced and cinematic. It features a bicycle chase through the streets of Seattle and a sea kayak get-away through Rosario Strait in the San Juan Islands.

For additional details about Stekel check his website at www.peterstekel.com.