Armchair travel novels are all the rage, but that's not why I chose to set my thriller Find Me in Tasmania.

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It could be just me, but there is something about Tasmania that has left an imprint on me unlike any other place I have visited. Its wild and varied landscape, its misty mood, its fascinating dark history and ancient wilderness. I went there recently and nearly every day I reflect on the journey we took, reliving how each spot evoked specific emotions. Cygnet had me excitedly pointing out the locations of hit Aussie series Deadloch. Franklin reminded me of a quaint America fishing village. Richmond is reminiscent of the English countryside. I've never experienced this level of engagement before - anywhere.

Writing Find Me - my latest survival thriller set on a fictitious mountain, Mount Mercy, in the South West National Parkland - meant I could open my laptop and vicariously visit Tassie for a spell. Crafting characters who are at one with the environment, who have sunk into the misty mountains to live off-grid in a secret commune, felt equally unnerving and exciting to plot.

It wasn't just me. This faraway landscape also attracted the attention of my New York publishers, Simon & Schuster, a difficult publishing house (and market) to crack. They said the setting for Find Me felt like the most remote and wondrous, isolated and unfamiliar place they had ever read about.

Even though I'm from Perth, I don't think I'm meant for the blistering weather. My Western Australian childhood was spent on boats, on Wadjemup - Rottnest Island - on rivers and beaches, crisping in the scorching summers. Give me icy winters, heavy rain, pristine dense forests with wilderness to........

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