As Kingfishers Catch Fire: Birds & BooksWhen Alex Preston was 15, he stopped being a birdwatcher. Adolescence and the scorn of his peers made him put away his binoculars, leave behind the hides and the nature reserves and the quiet companionship of his fellow birders. His love of birds didn't disappear though. Rather, it went underground, and he began birdwatching in the books that he read, creating his own personal anthology of nature writing that brought the birds of his childhood back to

are far from dead

So much passes us by

He is bullied by them and his spoilt cousin

in a decaying cliff-top house once shared with a man called Charles Beauvois

and psychologist and private detective Dr Augusta Bloom is persuaded to investigate

the cop plagued by guilt

But for what reason were they really there

spirited woman determined to fight for her rights and the rightful place of her daughter

or suicide

stays late without complaint and is able to host enviable birthday parties

and is scorned and rejected by her kin

golden-haired Pieter - and during that long hot summer