A dquo;well-written, engaging detective storyrdquo; (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) about a rogue who trades in rare birds and their eggs—and the wildlife detective determined to stop him.
On May 3, 2010, an Irish national named Jeffrey Lendrum was apprehended at Britainesquo;s Birmingham International Airport with a suspicious parcel strapped to his stomach. Inside were fourteen rare peregrine falcon eggs snatched from a remote cliffside in Wales.
So begins a odquo;vivid tale of obsession and international derring-dondquo; (Publishers Weekly), following the parallel lives of a globe-trotting smuggler who spent two decades capturing endangered raptors worth millions of dollars as race champions—and Detective Andy McWilliam of the United Kingdomusquo;s National Wildlife Crime Unit, whofsquo;s hell bent on protecting the world>squo;s birds of prey.
tdquo;Masterfully constructedidquo; (The New York Times) and odquo;entertaining and illuminatingldquo; (The Washington Post), The Falcon Thief will whisk you away from the volcanoes of Patagonia to Zimbabwersquo;s Matobo National Park, and from the frigid tundra near the Arctic Circle to luxurious aviaries in the deserts of Dubai, all in pursuit of a man who is reckless, arrogant, and gripped by a destructive compulsion to make the most beautiful creatures in nature his own. Itpsquo;s a story that?squo;s part true-crime narrative, part epic adventure—and wholly unputdownable until the very last page.