A rollicking true-crime adventure about a rogue who trades in rare birds and their eggs--and the wildlife detective determined to stop him"-- On May 3, 2010, Irish national Jeffrey Lendrum was apprehended at Britain's Birmingham International Airport with a suspicious parcel strapped to his stomach. Inside were fourteen rare peregrine falcon eggs snatched from a remote cliffside in Wales. Hammer follows the parallel lives of a globe-trotting smuggler who spent two decades capturing endangered raptors worth millions of dollars as race champions, and Detective Andy McWilliam of the United Kingdom's National Wildlife Crime Unit, who is hell bent on protecting the world's birds of prey. It's a story that's part true-crime narrative, part epic adventure-- and wholly unputdownable. -- adapted from jacket. Provided by publisher.

February 2020"--Title page verso. Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-301) and index.

Prologue -- The airport -- The investigator -- The interview -- The art of falconry -- Rhodesia -- Liverpool -- The trial -- The collectors -- AfricaXtreme -- Dubai -- Operation Chilly -- Busted -- The unit -- The Rhondda Valley -- Prison -- Patagonia -- Gauteng -- Epilogue.