Fascinating ... This glimpse into the world of taxidermy will delight museum geeks, while the history of ornithological forensic investigation will appeal to birders and fans of Forensic Files, Bones, and the various CSI series.
Sweeney’s simple, elegant writing makes the technicalities of Laybourne’s work easy to understand and the sexism she dealt with infuriating ... It also captures what a vivid, contradictory character she was ... Sweeney gives us just enough information about the Smithsonian and the long, troubled history of the study of birds...to put Laybourne in context, but he never overwhelms her compelling story.
The riveting accounts of Laybourne’s biggest cases read like an avian riff on
CSI, and Sweeney’s finely observed portrait of Laybourne presents her as a no-nonsense ornithologist who navigated the politics of the lab and the courtroom with equal aplomb. This entrances.
Solid ... Sweeney is a talented prose stylist who devotes overabundant space to the granular details of moderately interesting subplots ... Yet this otherwise interesting portrait of an unsung pioneer successfully supports its claims about the importance of her contributions.
