The recent disasters among fish and fowl -- thousands of dead birds in Arkansas (shown here) and millions of dead fish in the Chesapeake -- have ignited rumors about secret government tests or other conspratorial connections. If you want to slake your literary thirst for related books, here are some suggestions:
-- "The Birds and Other Stories" by Daphne du Maurier. The title work was adapted by Alfred Hitchcock for his classic film. Super creepy.
-- "The Book of Dead Birds" by Gayle Brandeis. This novel about a mother/daughter relationship is set against the Salton Sea, where thousands of birds are dying. Brandeis' first novel won Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether Prize for a work of socially and politically engaged fiction.
-- "Plum Island" by Nelson DeMille. This murder mystery takes place on a part of Long Island that has long held a federal government lab that tests deadly pathogens -- and that has often been a convenient target for conspiracy theorists. Let's face it, that's what folks are all scared about with these animal kills, isn't it?
-- AP photo