Paul O’Connor takes a look at a true-crime book published six years ago, one that should satisfy those who love reading truly orReviewed by Paul T. O’Connor
THE FEATHER THIEF: BEAUTY, OBSESSION, AND THE NATURAL HISTORY HEIST OF THE CENTURY By Kirk Wallace Johnson. Viking. 243 pages, hardcover. $27. Also available in softcover, $18, by Penguin.
Several weeks ago, a friend who reads mysteries almost exclusively lamented the lack of originality in his recent reading. “There’s nothing new under the sun,” he complained.
The next night, a different friend responded, “Obviously, he hasn’t read The Feather Thief.” It’s 2019 true-crime nonfiction book that reads like the best crime novels.
In 2009, 20-year-old Edwin Rist, an aspiring world class flutist then studying at London’s Royal Academy of Music, broke into the nearby Tring Museum of Natural History and stole some of the world’s most precious feathers. Some were from the 19th century expeditions of Alfred Russell Wallace, a contemporary and collaborator of Charles Darwin.
Actually, Rist stole the whole birds, or what is left of them after naturalists capture and preserve them for prosperity. It was a loss of immense proportions for nature scientists because many of the bird skins stolen were of extinct or near extinct species. And their preservation at the moment of their deaths meant that they were a wayback machine for researchers today to test for environmental conditions in the years of their lives.
While Rist did sell some of the birds, and sometimes just individual feathers from those birds, making enough to buy an expensive flute, his original obsession was not financial. Rist in his pre-teen years had become obsessed with these rare birds and their rare feathers because, in addition to being one of the world’s most promising flutists, he was also one of the world’s most accomplished tiers of salmon and trout flies, as in tying feathers to a hook for the purpose of catching fish.
Except that he didn’t fish. Nor did many of his customers. Instead, they are all part of a worldwide community of fly tiers who consider themselves artists and who make these flies only for their aesthetics. Agatha Christie never wrote of a murder at a fly-tying convention, did she?
Kirk Wallace Johnson did fish, and one day while doing his best to catch a trout, he heard the feather theft story from his fishing companion. Now we had one more person obsessed with flies.
While Rist and his fly-tying colleagues were obsessed about finding the right feathers, Johnson became obsessed about finding the truth to the story of the missing birds and feathers.
As is obvious from the jacket cover and this review, Rist eventually got caught. But the number of bird skins and feathers either in his possession, tracked down or returned voluntarily to the museum was far short of the number stolen. Thus, Johnson becomes obsessed with finding the missing feathers.
He dives into the fly-tying world, a close-knit assemblage wary of outsiders who ask too many questions about where their feathers came from. He tracks down some of the men who taught Rist how to tie intricate flies, and he tracks down some of Rist’s associates. He comes to believe that Rist did not act on his own and he travels across Europe seeking the suspected collaborator.
And all this takes years during which his girlfriend, then wife, begins to wonder what she’s gotten herself into. At one point, so does he.
So, for those looking for that something-different book, here it is. A mystery about feathers, fly tying, flutists and the natural sciences. It’s original and quite entertaining.