In the world of high finance, Lee Slonimsky could well be one of a kind — a successful hedge fund manager who is also an author and poet. His new novel, Bermuda Gold, features the Island as one of its locations and has an image of St George’s Harbour on the cover.

Although the majority of the book’s mystery and suspense plot takes place in New York, Mr Slonimsky said: “There are passages of the novel that highlight Bermuda’s natural beauty. My great love for Bermuda inspired the book.”

It was a real life vignette he witnessed while on a business trip to Bermuda that sparked his imagination and gave him the initial idea for Bermuda Gold.

The novel’s storyline delves into secret aspects of the hedge fund industry and the potential for money laundering related to terrorism.

Mr Slonimsky is quick to point out that he views Bermuda as being ahead of many other jurisdictions in terms of having strong regulations when it comes to the hedge fund industry.

“It’s not my intention to be a critic of the industry, and Bermuda is a good place because of its regulations and transparency,” he said.

Nevertheless, he believes the novel will give readers a rare glimpse into the multi-trillion dollar world of hedge funds.

Mr Slonimsky lives in New York state and is a managing member of Ocean Capital Partners LLC, a New York-based hedge fund with $115 million of assets under management.

He has visited Bermuda many times, and it was while on a trip in 2001 that he got the idea for Bermuda Gold.

“I was in Bermuda for the MAR/Hedge conference, and I was sitting out on the balcony of my hotel room when I noticed, on an adjacent balcony, four or five investors wearing Middle East garb and they were meeting with one of the Wall Street guys. They were upset about the level of returns they were getting,” said Mr Slonimsky.

The scene sparked his imagination and from it he wrote a draft version of the novel in 2003. However, it was not until four years ago that he found enough spare time to rewrite the novel. It was released last month through Moonshine Cove Publishing.

Mr Slonimsky is married to award-winning novelist Carol Goodman, with whom he co-authored the Black Swan Rising urban fantasy trilogy, which also features a hedge fund manager. The couple combined their names to write the trilogy under the pseudonym Lee Carroll.

Mr Slonimsky has published five books of poetry, and has had his literary interests featured by a number of media outlets, including Bloomberg News, The Wall Street Journal, and The Guardian.

Before becoming a hedge fund manager he studied creative writing at the City College in New York, where his teachers included Anthony Burgess, author of A Clockwork Orange.

Mr Slonimsky went on to teach English at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, in New York, and creative writing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

It was at Wharton during the early 1990s that he set up a stock market club with a few business students. He already had investing experience from managing a family fixed income trust.

“The club did really well. They were bright kids, and when we reached 14 members we changed it into a hedge fund. That was in 1999,” he said.

The fund eventually became Ocean Capital Partners and it has been guided by Mr Slonimsky for the past 16 years. He said it was a big responsibility handling other people’s money, and a risk avoidance approach has helped the fund to flourish. He explained: “I try to think of ways to not lose money.”

A hedge fund manager’s life can be hectic, which is one of the reasons why it took so long for Mr Slonimsky to complete Bermuda Gold, his first “solo” novel.

“It was a nightmare to find the time. In 2003 I was working 12-hour days. Then four years ago our trading strategy was less active and I was able to write the book, although mostly at weekends and when I found time in the evenings,” he said.

When asked why the hedge fund industry is viewed as a secretive world, Mr Slonimsky said one reason was the lack of public records showing what hedge funds do. He said the original legislation governing hedge funds had given them a secretive aura in order to attract wealthy investors in the aftermath of the Wall Street stock market crash of 1929.

“By the 1980s there was no need for that secrecy, but hedge funds got more and more money,” he said.

While writing Bermuda Gold, and due to the secretive nature of the industry, Mr Slonimsky took note of the advice from lawyers who said some of his investors might not be happy about him writing a novel revealing little known aspects of the industry. For that reason he allowed a number of investors the opportunity to read drafts and suggest changes before the book was published.

He said he was not negative of the industry, and he hopes the novel will help give people a better understanding of hedge funds.

“I feel Bermuda Gold will be of interest to the general public and those working in the financial industry, especially those who don’t know a lot about hedge funds,” he said.

A few years ago Mr Slonimsky met international author Tess Gerritsen, the lead blurb writer on the recent New York Times best-seller The Girl On the Train. She has written a blurb for Bermuda Gold, calling it “a terrific debut”.

Mr Slonimsky has given talks on aspects of the financial world at universities in Scotland, and he will be teaching a hedge fund course at the University of Glasgow in January. He hopes to continue with his writing career when time and work allow.

Bermuda Gold is available through a number of outlets, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Mr Slonimsky also hopes to have it stocked at bookstores in Bermuda in the near future.