The Butterfly Thief

A scientific true-crime caper stretching across the globe, The Butterfly Thief pieces together the bizarre story of one of the largest, most systematic, and baffling museum heists in the records of natural history. In January 1947, a chance discovery rocks the world of natural science--over 3,000 rare and precious butterfly specimens have vanished from the most prestigious natural history museums in Australia. Alarmingly, the missing insects include many priceless "holotypes" the first specimen of a given species to be identified, against which all others are compared. New Scotland Yard and a team of entomologists are tasked to catch the culprit, and the person they suspect turns out to be a fascinating, larger-than-life figure--British ex-soldier, former champion skier, painter, semi-professional yodeller, and amateur lepidopterologist Colin Wyatt. But who was this man, and how did he pull off such an ambitious string of burglaries? What did he serve to gain from amassing a vast illicit collection of specimens? What was the root of his obsession, and was he really a criminal, marked for life by his thefts, or a gifted and imaginative collector? A delightful puzzlebox of a mystery drawing from unpublished dossiers, case files, and on-the-ground reporting, The Butterfly Thief unfolds this captivating tale of stolen specimens in rich, spellbinding detail.