In a whodunit set in Bermuda, a hotel guest has been brutally murdered, by someone you might know.

Several real Bermudians such as retired photographer Tony Cordeiro, tennis pro Bruce Simms and retailer Graham Boyle, are suspects in a new book, Isle of Devils.

The novel is based on a mystery involving Sherlock Holmes’ sidekick, John Watson.

The e-book was written by Chris Dvorak under the pen name Craig Janacek. It’s a spin-off of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famed detective novels first published in 1886.

The writer from California is a frequent visitor to Bermuda.

“My sister-in-law, Molly Cordeiro, is married to Bermudian Mark Cordeiro,” he said. “We come every other Christmas. Unfortunately, we won’t be there this Christmas. I thought it would be fun to name some of my characters after people we had befriended in Bermuda.”

In the plot, Dr Watson comes to Bermuda in 1880 to recuperate from wounds gained in the Afghanistan war. He stays at the Globe Hotel in St George’s. Unfortunately for him, Bermuda is struck by a hurricane during his stay. When the winds die down, a guest at the Globe Hotel is dead, and only someone in the hotel during the storm could have killed him. It’s Dr Watson’s job to find out whodunnit. Was it Antonio Cordeiro? Was it Graham Boyle?

“The plot is a homage to Doyle’s stories and Agatha Christie’s great mysteries,” said Dr Dvorak. He was drawn to the character of Dr Watson, because Dr Watson was a surgeon and he is a paediatrician.

Dr Dvorak, a great fan of Doyle’s work, decided to write about Dr Watson because he was annoyed by television shows and movies that portrayed him as a weak buffoon.

“In the stories he is quite brave and loyal,” said Dr Dvorak. “Sherlock needed him to stand in for the reader. He is the person who is constantly surprised by Sherlock. I thought there was more to the story of Dr Watson than comes out in the movies. The 2009 movie Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law is more true to the characters in the novels. Dr Watson is an equal partner in solving crimes.”

He did a lot of research and outlining for Isle of Devils while in Bermuda last year.

“I jotted down a lot of descriptions of Bermuda,” he said. “Bermuda has this very different atmosphere and architecture compared to what we are used to in the United States.”

Dr Dvorak has written articles for medical journals under his own name, and several other mystery novels under the name of Craig Janacek including The Adventure of the Spanish Sovereign and The Adventure of the Manufactured Miracle, both about Sherlock Holmes. They are available for download through Kindle.

See his blog: craigjanacek.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/the-story-of-the-story.