Winged Obsession: The Pursuit of the World's Most Notorious Butterfly Smuggler

by Jessica Speart

Overview

One of the world's most beautiful endangered species, butterflies are as lucrative as gorillas, pandas, and rhinos on the black market. In this cutthroat $200 million business, no one was more successful—or posed a greater ecological danger—than Yoshi Kojima, the kingpin of butterfly smugglers.

In Winged Obsession, author Jessica Speart tells the riveting true story of rookie U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agent Ed Newcomer's determined crusade to halt the career of a brazen and ingenious criminal with an almost supernatural sixth sense for survival. But the story doesn't end there. Speart chronicles her own attempts, while researching the book, to befriend Kojima before betraying him—unaware that the cagey smuggler had his own plans to make the writer a player in his illegal butterfly trade.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062207043
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/16/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	338
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

A freelance journalist specializing in wildlife enforcement issues, Jessica Speart has been published in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, OMNI, Travel & Leisure, Audubon, and many other publications. She is the author of several mysteries and lives in Connecticut.

What People are Saying About This

Lisa Scottoline

Winged Obsession is an unputdownable thriller.... I loved this book!

Lee Child

Meet the Hannibal Lecter of the conservation world... this expose reads like a thriller and proves once again that truth is stranger than fiction.

Editorial Reviews

A true thriller about an undercover U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent hunting for the ‘human vacuum cleaner’ of the insect world.” — Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Reads like a suspense thriller.” — Oklahoma City Oklahoman

Winged Obsession offers a fascinating glimpse into the illegal market in exotic and endangered butterflies....By the end of Winged Obsession, I was rooting for creatures I didn’t know existed before I read the book. — Miami Herald

Butterfly smugglers? Who knew? Journalist Jessica Speart chases down the butterfly world’s most elusive criminal, the notorious Yoshi Kojima, in her fantastic new book. It’s a journey with the twists and turns of a taut thriller — like The Orchid Thief, only with wings. — Daily Candy

Meet the Hannibal Lecter of the conservation world... this expose reads like a thriller and proves once again that truth is stranger than fiction. — Lee Child, New York Times Bestselling author

Winged Obsession is an unputdownable thriller.... I loved this book! — Lisa Scottoline, New York Times Bestselling author

From the Publisher

Winged Obsession offers a fascinating glimpse into the illegal market in exotic and endangered butterflies....By the end of Winged Obsession, I was rooting for creatures I didn’t know existed before I read the book.

Miami Herald

Meet the Hannibal Lecter of the conservation world... this expose reads like a thriller and proves once again that truth is stranger than fiction.

Lee Child

Butterfly smugglers? Who knew? Journalist Jessica Speart chases down the butterfly world’s most elusive criminal, the notorious Yoshi Kojima, in her fantastic new book. It’s a journey with the twists and turns of a taut thriller — like The Orchid Thief, only with wings.

Daily Candy

A true thriller about an undercover U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent hunting for the ‘human vacuum cleaner’ of the insect world.

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Winged Obsession is an unputdownable thriller.... I loved this book!

Lisa Scottoline

Reads like a suspense thriller.

Oklahoma City Oklahoman

Winged Obsession offers a fascinating glimpse into the illegal market in exotic and endangered butterflies....By the end of Winged Obsession, I was rooting for creatures I didn’t know existed before I read the book.

Miami Herald