Feather Detective

'A biography that reads like a novel.' --The Wall Street Journal - 'Laybourne was a badass.' --Los Angeles Times - 'Sweeney's biography must be read to be believed.' --The Millions - 'Engrossing...Riveting...This entrances.' --Publishers Weekly - NPR Books We Love 2025 The fascinating and remarkable true story of the world's first forensic ornithologist--Roxie Laybourne, who broke down barriers for women, solved murders, and investigated deadly airplane crashes with nothing more than a microscope and a few fragments of feathers. In 1960, an Eastern Airlines flight had no sooner lifted from the runway at Boston Logan Airport when it struck a flock of birds and took a nosedive into the shallow waters of the Boston Harbor, killing sixty-two people. This was the golden age of commercial airflight--luxury in the skies--and safety was essential to the precarious future of air travel. So the FAA instructed the bird remains be sent to the Smithsonian Institution for examination, where they