He is an author, songwriter and journalist born in Plantation, Florida as the eldest son to a father that was a lawyer and a mother who was a teacher.
He studied at Emory University from 1970 until 1972 and then carried on working for a journalism degree at the University of Florida until his graduation in 1974. Working in Cocoa, Florida, he reported for Cocoa Today and then in 1976 moved on to the Miami Herald where he has stayed ever since and been an investigative journalist for them since 1979 uncovering many seedy construction schemes that would destroy the natural surroundings.
Taking his career in writing further he took up writing novels in 1980 and his first three, Powder Burn, Trap Line and A Death in China were co-written with Bill Montalbano who is also a journalist. In 1986 he released his first solo attempt, Tourist Season, which would see many more novels which often go under the genre of “environmental thrillers” being published over the following years. These include Double Whammy, Stormy Weather, Sick Puppy, Skinny Dip, Nature Girl, Flush and Strip Tease which was made into a film starring Burt Reynolds and Demi Moore.
In 2002 he published his award winning children’s book Hoot, which was also made into a movie and his friend Jimmy Buffett took on the role of actor, co-producer and also making the soundtrack.
Not wanting to leave him out of the musical side of things he has written the songs “Seminole Bingo” and “Rottweiler Blues” which appeared on the album Mutineer by Warren Zevon and on the Jimmy Buffett album Barometer Soup he is credited as a hand-clapper on the track “The Ballad of Skip Wiley”.
Here he is talking about his film Hoot…
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