Books artist into tropical retreat (5)
I believe the answer is:
torah
'books artist into tropical retreat' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'artist into tropical retreat' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'RA' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'into' is an insertion indicator.
'tropical' becomes 'hot' (similar in meaning).
'retreat' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'hot' written backwards gives 'toh'.
'ra' put within 'toh' is 'TORAH'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for torah that I've seen before include "Pentateuch" , "Jewish law" , "The whole body of Jewish religious literature" , "Jewish scripture" , "The will of God as revealed in Mosaic law" .)