No Ordinary Bird

Drug Smuggling, a Plane Crash, and a Daughter's Quest for the Truth

By: Artis Henderson

Narrated by: Artis Henderson

Silver Medal Winner of a Florida Book Award In the vein of Small Fry or Priestdaddy, No Ordinary Bird is a compelling father-daughter story that reads like true crime, haunted by a question the dashing and mysterious Lamar Chester had always taught his daughter to ask: “How do you tell the good guys from the bad?”

Artis was five when a plane crash killed her beloved father. For years, it was simply called “the accident.”

But many things weren’t getting discussed. Like Lamar himself—a swashbuckling, larger-than-life pilot, a doting father and husband, and the most popular farmer in Georgia. Or that the IRS had immediately taken everything: the chickens, the airplanes, the islands in the Bahamas. . . . Afterwards, Artis and her mother broke contact with everyone and fled, rebuilding from the bottom up as if Lamar’s big, wild life had never happened.

Years later, a friend tells Artis Lamar’s plane was sabotaged: her father had been one of the biggest drug smugglers in Miami in the 1970s. At the time of his death, he was about to testify in a trial that had swept up everyone from the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, to a US district attorney, to the Colombian drug cartels. But the deeper Artis digs, the more unexpected the story becomes.

Beyond the dramatic betrayals, dangerous drug lords, and geopolitical intrigue is the beating heart of this riveting memoir: a daughter’s grappling with a dark legacy and her memories of the father who had been the light of her life. Who are the good guys, who are the bad guys, and is there a difference at all?

Absolutely Riveting Story - can’t wait for the movie!

The author, Artis Henderson drew me in immediately and throughout this enthralling story of her family. The influences and events of the time are interesting, entertaining, and informative, too. It is well written and the audio is wonderfully performed by the author, which brings authenticity to the emotions of their incredible journey.

The raw emotion

Great book! Loved getting to know more about the author and how it made her who she is.

Riveting story! Couldn’t turn it off

Do yourself a favor and listen! What a wild story and so well told. Will definitely recommend.

A vulnerable tale

A wonderfully vulnerable tale of a daughter looking for answers about her father death and longing of family.

Incredible fact finding and personal journey

This story follows a path much like an airplane on short final. It starts straight, turns left, tracks straight and turns left to the final approach; landing where it started but with a very different conclusion. It also includes historical references that are long enough in to remember (or learn about). LOVED this.