Scamming the Birdman — Larry Karp

It's August in New York and Dr. Thomas Purdue, professor of neurology and avid music box collector, looks forward to quiet days of tinkering with his treasures. But the theft of friend Hugh Curtis's world-class collection of musical snuffboxes -- followed by the mysterious death of Hugh's wife -- puts Purdue once again on the trail of missing music boxes and murder.

The culprit is making no secret of his big score. Vincent LoPriore, a.k.a. the Birdman, now has a collection of antique singing mechanical birds that is as legendary as his vicious methods of "acquisition." He's got the Curtis collection and Purdue is going to get it back. But how? With the help of some old friends -- Broadway Schwartz, Frank the Crank, "Nozey" Espinoza and an oddball group of misfits and petty criminals -- he is about to give the Birdman the musical send-off he deserves.