We’re stepping away from our usual routine to dive into something a bit different—The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson. This is a story of a museum heist, someone who stole rare bird skins from a museum in order to sell them on the dark web to fly-fisherman.

Two of our hosts, John Bates and Shannon Hackett, are curators at the Field Museum in Chicago, making them perfect guides to unravel this strange and captivating story.

We’d love for you to join us by picking up a copy of the book and reading along. We’ll be offering behind-the-scenes insights into the world of museum work and its bird collections—you won’t want to miss a word.

For those who haven’t had the chance to read it yet, we thought we’d share the prologue, which sets the stage for the book’s, dark, and twisted tale.

The reading of the prologue is the only part of the book that we’ll be reading aloud in this mini-series. Our regular lineup—John, Shannon, Amanda, and RJ —will be back for the rest of the episodes. And we’ll be joined by ornithologist and fly-tier Jason Weckstein for a few chats along the way. Then we’ll cap it all off with an interview with the author himself, Kirk Wallace Johnson.

So, sit back, relax, grab your binoculars, and enjoy the prologue!