Bird Brain

Poacher turned gamekeeper is one of the oldest plots in fiction. In Guy Kennaway's achingly funny new novel a diehard pheasant-shooting landowner called 'Banger' turns into a a pheasant. Banger, who prides himself on running a traditional shoot (he despises new money almost as much as vegetarians), dies in the first chapter of Bird Brain, when his shotgun explodes in his face. A tragic shooting accident, thinks the local constable, but Banger's gundogs and Buck, the police dog, exhibiting a level of intelligence vastly superior to that of their owners, suspect murder. To Banger's astonishment he finds himself reincarnated as a pheasant, one of thousands being reared to be shot at by men in tweeds on wet winter afternoons. His fellow gamebirds prove to be as stupid as common belief has it, but Banger has of course been here before and he is able to advise them on the best ways to outwit the guns (always make a beeline for the host's daughter's sensitive boyfriend who's never before fired a shotgun in anger). With the help of the dogs, and an animal-loving anti-blood-sport activist, Banger makes an epic journey back to his ancestral seat, there to confront his murderer.