The O'Connor Protocol: Vendettas, Drugs and Sacred Sites in the Whitsunday Islands

by Frank Burkett

Overview

The year is 1990, and for twenty-something Tom O'Connor, life is good. Descended from a family of Queensland pioneers, he runs a newspaper at Airlie Beach. Success and women come his way easily. But that is soon to change. An 1860s incident, in which an Aboriginal woman was killed, has surfaced to haunt the O'Connor family. Tom's ancestor should have been investigated over her death but was saved by his magistrate brother. This dubious act invoked the O'Connor Protocol - a family tradition that obliges an O'Connor to protect his sibling. 

Generations later, land-developer Todd Steele, whose descendant took the blame for the crime, intends squaring the account. Tom O'Connor is alerted to Todd's mission only when drugs appear in the beautiful Whitsundays.

Adding to the chaos, an Aboriginal tribe inexplicably registers a sacred site on the O'Connor farm. Billy - Tom's Aboriginal colleague at the newspaper - has his own story to tell about drugs and tribal injustice.

Drawing on their limited resources, the pair grapple with the threat to their paradise. They uncover more than they bargain for. Will the O'Connor family have to invoke the protocol again?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780645885576
Publisher:	Sid Harta Publishers
Publication date:	08/13/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	372
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Frank Burkett lives in tropical Queensland, which is the setting of his second novel, The O'Connor Protocol. His previous novel, View from the Clock Tower, was shortlisted in 2006 for the British Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger award. Although raised in Queensland, Frank has travelled extensively, including three years in the United Kingdom where he studied at The University of London for a Diploma in Dramatic Art. He spent three years in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) where he worked in the field of land conservation. In 1980, back home, he completed a journalism major at The University of Queensland. Following a successful career in news media, Frank wrote and published The Tropical Son, a biography of country music singer Graeme Connors. Frank is now retired and currently working on his third book in which, once again, sugar cane, rainforests and coral reefs provide an exotic setting.