The Feather Thief

Finished April 11

The Feather Thief: The Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson

This book was one I received as part of a book subscription. The author heard about the theft from a fly-fishing guide and was intrigued enough to follow-up, and spent years digging into it, travelling to interview and investigate and learning more about the story. 

Edwin Rist, a young American man studying in England at one of the best schools of music in the world was also obsessed with fly-fishing. He hatched a plan to break into one of the largest collection of birds in the world, take as many of the rare bird specimens that he could and get away. 

This is the kind of theft that police don't give the necessary attention to, as the items stolen are valuable only to science. Some of the birds stolen had been gathered more than a hundred years earlier and this kind of collection helped scientists study bird biology, evolution, and other areas of science related to these specimens. 

Fly-fishing has, from its beginnings, using bird feathers tied into 'flies' to use to attract fish. In more recent years, certain birds, due to their declining populations were prohibited from trade, including in their feathers. Interest in the creation of these 'flies has grown over the years, and many who don't even fish now compete in fly-fishing competitions, many timed. There is also passion for the more rare examples of feathers, some in birds endangered or extinct. Some collectors searched estate sales and auctions for old hats and other personal and home decor items for the feathers, but Edwin took things a step further.

His theft raised questions, about museum security, about whether he had help in the theft, about why the justice system doesn't treat this kind of theft with the seriousness the destruction of scientific knowledge should warrant. 

An interesting story that left this reader with more questions. 

You All Grow Up and Leave Me

Finished December 31

You All Grow Up and Leave Me: A Memoir of Teenage Obsession by Piper Weiss

This memoir is about Piper's relationship with a tennis coach, Gary Wilensky, who, when she was fourteen, attacked a former student and then later killed himself. As Piper works through her emotions around the man she liked and trusted, she looks at him as well. 

Piper was a private school student, a girl shorter than her peers, who found tennis an activity she could be special in. Gary was a sought after instructor, with a personality that was engaging. He made his teen students feel special, taking them to dinner and buying them presents. He treated them as peers. 

When one of his students felt that something was off and told her mother, she stopped taking lessons from him, and that triggered something in him. He had a plan, but he was also panicking in the moment of action, and that led to mistakes that led to him aborting his plan and finding himself with no way out. 

This is a sad story, a story of questions that don't all have answers. The author also has issues and wonders why this is a story that she still cares about years later. As a journalist, she's done her research, interviewed who she could, and been open about her own story, leaving me sad for her as well. 

The title comes from a conversation she had near the end of her time with Gary when he said this and she promised that she wouldn't, that she'd be there for him, and perhaps this is her way of keeping that promise. 

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

Finished January 22
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession by Allison Hoover Bartlett, read by Judith Brackley

This book I picked to fulfill one of my reading challenges for the year, a book on True Crime. Of course, I had to pick one with a literary slant!
Bartlett is a freelance journalist who grew interested in the world of book theft when a friend was left a book as part of an estate that came with an instruction to return it to its rightful owner. The task wasn't as easy as she might have thought, and it led her to wonder who stole books and why. This led her to the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (the ABAA) and bookseller Ken Sanders, who took his job as security officer for the organization seriously, setting up online alerting processes and other tools to help quickly disseminate information about stolen books and people suspected of such crimes. Sanders told her about the different types of thieves: those who steal for profit, those who steal for a specific purpose, and those who steal for love.
This led her to John Charles Gilkey, a man who has stolen hundreds of rare books from book sellers across the United States, seemingly for love. Gilkey rarely resells his books, although he doesn't necessarily steal them to read either. He steals them for the image of himself owning rare books of literary merit portrays to him, that of an esteemed gentleman. He is a charming, polite conman and came up with innovative ways to steal the books that he thought "it wasn't fair" that he couldn't afford. His methods and the fact he didn't resell them often are what made him harder to catch.
But Sanders was instrumental in catching him, and when Bartlett approached him in jail, he was willing to talk. However after a while, she began to realize that instead of merely telling the story, she was becoming part of it, and had to consciously take a step back and remove herself from it to complete this book.
Her book explores the reasons people steal, the world of rare books and book collectors, and the temptations within that world.
A very interesting book.

A Dreadful Murder

Finished August 14
A Dreadful Murder: the Mysterious Death of Caroline Luard by Minette Walters

I bought this book online as it was one of her I hadn't read, but was surprised to see it was part of the Quick Reads series, a series for adult literacy learners.
The story is based on the true story of the murder of Caroline Luard in Kent in 1908. Walters carefully outlines the facts of the case, discusses the rumours of the time, and adds her own supporting characters and plot twist. An interesting mix of true crime and fiction.

A Thoroughly Wicked Woman

Finished September 5
A Thoroughly Wicked Woman by Betty Keller
This book is based on a true story of a murder that took place in Vancouver in late 1905. Thomas Jackson was the victim. He had been away from home for some time, staking claims, and had only been back in Vancouver a couple of days when he was poisoned. He lived with his wife Theresa, who was much younger than him, and his mother-in-law Esther Jones, who took in boarders. The boarders in the house were Harry Fisher, a nephew of Jones, and Ernest Exall, a young man who worked for the CPR.
There was already a case of theft pending against Esther Jones by her landlord. When the poisoning took place suspicion fell on both women and the boarders. Harry Fisher took off for the states and the two women were arrested for perjury, alleged to have been given at the coroner's inquest.
Keller sets the scene in the introduction, giving us the legal environment, the political environment, and the news scene of the day. Much of the information here comes from newspaper stories, and Keller has created a couple of reporters to assist with this end. Most stories of the day didn't have bylines, so particular reporters were not associated with the stories at the time. This device helps to give a personal touch to the book, without influencing the facts of the case.
It was very interesting to see the legal maneuverings and see how different things are now. One does wonder what eventually happened to all the key players and where they ended up.