Eden begins with the words "Inspired by the accounts of those who survived." Obviously, some of them didn't. Howard tells the BBC that, beyond the mystery plot, he saw the real-life people as an intriguing microcosm of human nature. "These people gave us this kind of fun, fascinating study," he says. "Within it there is suspense and betrayal and violence. There's tragedy, but there is also humour and there's nobility. And it all happened in Darwin's Galapagos." Indeed, the setting is thematically apt – although Charles Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest, based on his 19th-Century studies in the Galapagos, might seem mild next to the wilful human mischief of this group.