The Conjurer's Bird

Thoroughly Enjoyable!

A great historical scientific fiction mystery. Easy to read with a very satisfying ending.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A First-Rate Tale

Martin Davies has taken a scant few scraps of historical fact and from them woven an intriguing literary mystery that moves smoothly between several subplots and keeps one turning the pages to see what¿s going to happen next. Davies builds the central theme of his novel on Joseph Banks, a naturalist who accompanied Captain James Cook on his first voyage of discovery in 1768-71. For reasons that remain a mystery, Banks, who had been preparing to sail with Cook on his second voyage, suddenly declined to participate and broke off his engagement to a woman named Harriet Blosset. At the end of Cook¿s voyage, Joseph Forster, who replaced him as naturalist, presented Banks with the only known specimen of a thrush-like bird found on the island of Ulieta in the Pacific. Utilizing speculation from a gossip magazine of the period, Davies develops a mistress with whom Banks falls in love as the reason for his having deserted Cook and for breaking off his engagement. A second theme of the novel is the quest of John Fitzgerald, a modern-day naturalist, to find the bird of Ulieta before it falls into the hands of several greedy collectors who have more than science on their minds. Adding spice to this mix is the fact one of the collectors is assisted by Fitzgerald¿s wife while the naturalist is aided by a student-boarder who becomes integral to the chase and his life. Chapters alternate between the modern and historical events, though the transition is easy in Davies¿ smooth and lyrical prose. There is a third theme in the novel involving Fitzgerald¿s grandfather and his fanatical quest to find the Congo peacock, a bird actually discovered by James Chapin, an American naturalist. Davies, a BBC producer, previously penned a couple of historical mysteries involving Sherlock Holmes¿ housekeeper. I haven¿t read those but plan to now.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

fine thriller

In 1774, during Captain Cook's second expedition in the South Pacific, the crew captures the thrush-like Mysterious Bird of Ulieta. Cook presents the unique specimen, only one of its kind ever seen, to his highly renowned friend, naturalist Sir Joseph Banks, who was on the first trek. Stuffed and given a place of honor as the rarest creature in Joseph¿s collection, the bird ultimately vanishes at the same time his lover Mary Burnett, who disguised as a man sailed on the second trek, disappeared. --- Over two centuries later, wealthy collector Karl Anderson and his lover Gabriella persuades her ex, British conservationist John ¿Fitz¿ Fitzgerald, to search for the Mysterious Bird of Ulieta. Though he has not heard her voice in fourteen years and wants nothing to do with a search he catalogues with extinct species, the enthusiasm of his lodger Katya convinces him to agree. While Karl wants to add the bird¿s DNA to the Ark Gene project American Emeric Potts searches for the valuable paintings that were reportedly encased with the lost bird. --- The two subplots rotate with the historical story line containing more energy perhaps because it is straightforward with fewer twists than the modern spin. Still the duality comes together nicely so that the audience receives a deep late eighteenth century slant inside a solid twentieth century thriller. Adding to the suspense is that the key casts in both eras seem genuine with many of the Cook crowd coming from real life. Martin Davies conjurers up the best bird investigation since the Maltese Falcon flew the coop. --- Harriet Klausner

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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