Andrew Beattie is a London-based author, editor and archivist. Whilst The Secret in the Tower marks his debut as a writer of children’s fiction, he has previously written a number of stage plays for children which have been performed by schools and youth theatre groups in England, the United States and Australia – including Arthur, Boy King of Britain, which tells the story of the boy Arthur, the magician Merlin, and the Sword in the Stone; Brief Lives, which won the Scottish Community Drama Association’s Award for new writing for youth theatre in 2002 and was later staged at the East 15 Acting School in Essex in a production directed by the actress Alison Steadman; and a stage adaptation of Mark Twain’s novel The Prince and the Pauper. He has also written a number of books on history, travel and the environment.