altlovesbooks
I grew up in Michigan around hunters and fishermen, and was aware that different fish are attracted to different lures. Tackle boxes are full of pretty colors. What I was not aware of was that, a) apparently fly lures used to be tied using incredibly exotic feathers because of some woo-woo science that said fish care about that sort of thing, and b) that there's an entire hobby community built around tying these flies, and who don't actually use them at all. The world truly is a diverse place.
Enter Edwin Rist, flutist and fly tyer (a word I promise is spelled correctly because I looked it up) from a young age. He earned a name within the fly tying community, became incredibly obsessed with this little segment of his world, and....robbed a museum of most of its rare bird collection, almost 300 in total. Rather than actually using them in his hobby, he ended up selling them both piecemeal and as whole birds, making a ton of money, and eventually getting caught. The author here tells Edwin Rist's story after hearing about this crazy crime, and then takes things a step further by trying to track down the missing birds.
You can't get much more niche than a true crime book involving exotic feathers and an unknown hobbyist community. No people were harmed in this book (but a heck of a lot of bird carcasses are denuded), so if you're looking for a great true crime book not about murder, this may be your jam. I was really into this book about Edwin Rist and the fallout from his crime. I won't spoil anything here, but there's quite an interesting twist as the book progresses beyond the trial, something I wasn't expecting in a true crime book where I'm more used to the story being played straight by the author.
Really interesting book, fits snugly into my 5 star favorite books on incredibly niche topics.
I grew up in Michigan around hunters and fishermen, and was aware that different fish are attracted to different lures. Tackle boxes are full of pretty colors. What I was not aware of was that, a) apparently fly lures used to be tied using incredibly exotic feathers because of some woo-woo science that said fish care about that sort of thing, and b) that there's an entire hobby community built around tying these flies, and who don't actually use them at all. The world truly is a diverse place.
Enter Edwin Rist, flutist and fly tyer (a word I promise is spelled correctly because I looked it up) from a young age. He earned a name within the fly tying community, became incredibly obsessed with this little segment of his world, and....robbed a museum of most of its rare bird collection, almost 300 in total. Rather than actually using them in his hobby, he ended up selling them both piecemeal and as whole birds, making a ton of money, and eventually getting caught. The author here tells Edwin Rist's story after hearing about this crazy crime, and then takes things a step further by trying to track down the missing birds.
You can't get much more niche than a true crime book involving exotic feathers and an unknown hobbyist community. No people were harmed in this book (but a heck of a lot of bird carcasses are denuded), so if you're looking for a great true crime book not about murder, this may be your jam. I was really into this book about Edwin Rist and the fallout from his crime. I won't spoil anything here, but there's quite an interesting twist as the book progresses beyond the trial, something I wasn't expecting in a true crime book where I'm more used to the story being played straight by the author.
Really interesting book, fits snugly into my 5 star favorite books on incredibly niche topics.