Jefferson Bass

There is a patch of ground in Tennessee dedicated to the science of death, where human remains lie exposed to be studied for their secrets. The real-life scientist who founded the "Body Farm" has broken cold cases and revolutionized forensics . . . and now he spins an astonishing tale inspired by his own experiences. Renowned anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton has spent his career surrounded by death at the Body Farm. Now he's being called upon to help solve a baffling puzzle in a remote mountain community. The mummified corpse of a young woman dead for thirty years has been discovered in a cave, the body bizarrely preserved and transformed by the environment's unique chemistry. But Brockton's investigation is threatening to open old wounds among an insular people who won't forget or forgive. And a long-buried secret prematurely exposed could inflame Brockton's own guilt—and the dangerous hostility of bitter enemies determined to see him fail . . . by any means necessary. With Fascinating Insider Information on the Body Farm!

A Body Farm Novel

Carved in Bone

Dr. Bill Brockton, the founder of the world-famous Body Farm, is hard at work on a troubling new case. A young man's battered body has been found in nearby Chattanooga, and it's up to the talented Dr. Brockton to assemble the pieces of the forensic puzzle. Brockton is brought into the case by the rising star of the state's mechanical examiners, Jess Carter. Just as they're on the verge of breaking the case open, events take a terrifying turn. Brockton has re-created the Chattanooga death scene at the Body Farm, but a killer tampers with it in a shocking way: placing another corpse at the setting, confusing authorities and putting Brockton's career and life in jeopardy. Soon Brockton himself is accused of the horrific new crime, and the once-beloved professor becomes an outcast. As the net around him tightens, Brockton must use all of his forensic skills to prove his own innocence . . . before he ends up behind bars with some of the very killers he's helped to convict. Flesh and Bone is another roller-coaster ride into the world of forensic anthropology, its twists and turns marked by drama and pathos, humor and grief, families and friends and enemies. With captivatingly real characters, plus fascinating scientific insights drawn from the case files of a living forensic legend, this astonishing novel confirms Jefferson Bass as one of our most talented authors of suspense.

Flesh and Bone

In two previous New York Times bestselling novels, Jefferson Bass enthralled readers with ripped-from-the-headlines forensic cases, memorable characters, and plots that "rival Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). Drawing on research at the Body Farm—three acres of land in the backwoods of Tennessee, where bodies are left to the elements to illuminate human decomposition—Bass has moved fiction to a fascinating new realm, with forensics expertise drawn from his five decades of work as the world's leading forensic anthropologist. But this latest novel cements Jefferson Bass as one of the finest writers of suspense working today, and in a work of drama, cunning, and heartbreak, thrills the reader with fiction that feels all too real. A woman's charred body has been found inside a burned car perched atop a hill in Knoxville. Is it accidental death, or murder followed by arson? Forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton's quest for answers prompts an experiment straight from Dante's Inferno: In the dark of night, he puts bodies to the torch, researching how fire consumes flesh and bone. In the meantime, Brockton is sent a mysterious package—a set of cremated remains that looks entirely unreal. With the help of a local crematorium, he investigates and discovers a truth too horrifying to believe: A facility in another state has not been disposing of bodies properly, instead scattering them all around the grounds. Little does Brockton know that his research is about to collide with reality—with the force of a lit match meeting spilled gasoline. En route to trial, his nemesis, medical examiner Garland Hamilton, has escaped from custody. What follows is a deadly game of cat and mouse, played for the ultimate stakes: Brockton's own life. With help from his loyal graduate assistant, Miranda, and ace criminalist Art Bohanan, Brockton eventually tracks Hamilton, but when the police arrive, they find only a smoldering ruin. Sifting through the ashes, Brockton finds the incinerated remains of Hamilton . . . or does he? The answer—along with Brockton's ultimate test—comes in a searing moment of truth.

A Novel

The Devil's Bones

The inquisitor's key

In this long-awaited prequel to his New York Times bestselling series, Jefferson Bass turns the clock back to reveal the Body Farm's creation—and Dr. Bill Brockton's deadly duel with a serial killer In the summer of 1992, Arkansas governor Bill Clinton and Tennessee senator Al Gore begin their long-shot campaign to win the White House. On a sweltering hillside in Knoxville, Dr. Bill Brockton, the bright, ambitious young head of the University of Tennessee's Anthropology Department, launches an unusual—some would call it macabre—research facility, unlike any other in existence. Brockton is determined to revolutionize the study of forensics to help law enforcement solve homicides. But the scientist's plans are derailed by a chilling murder that leaves him reeling from a sense of déjà vu. Followed by another. And then another: bodies that bear an eerie resemblance to cases from Brockton's past. The police chalk up the first corpse to coincidence. But as the body count rises, the victims' fatal injuries grow more and more distinctive—a spiral of death that holds dark implications for Brockton himself. If the killer isn't found quickly, the death toll could be staggering. And the list of victims could include Brockton . . . and everyone he holds dear.

Cut to the Bone

The most riveting and ambitious novel to date in Jefferson Bass’ New York Times bestselling Body Farm mystery series, The Inquisitor’s Key takes forensic investigator Dr. Bill Brockton to Avignon, France, and embroils him in a deadly religious mystery that could shake the Vatican itself to its very foundations. Another sterling crime novel in the vein of Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs, and Karin Slaughter, as well as TV’s C.S.I., The Inquisitor’s Key adds a touch of James Rollins and The Da Vinci Code to the typically acclaimed Jefferson Bass mix of suspense, surprise, and finely detailed forensic investigation.

The Inquisitor's Key

Vol met fantastische forensische details dit is the real deal. Kathy Reichs Op een heuvelrug in Tennessee bevindt zich het forensisch onderzoeks- instituut de Bodyfarm. Onder auspici van de universiteit van Tennessee verricht dr. Bill Brockton hier wetenschappelijk onderzoek naar het ontbindingsproces van het menselijk lichaam. Het terrein ligt vol menselijke lichamen - in de openlucht, begraven, onder water en in de kofferbakken van autos - en Brockton registreert nauwlettend het ontbindingsproces. Op een dag wordt Brockton door de politie gevraagd om te assisteren bij een mysterieuze zaak. In een grot is het gebalsemde lichaam van een jonge vrouw gevonden. Nader onderzoek wijst uit dat de vrouw is gewurgd. Maar als Brockton zich op de zaak stort en meer te weten komt over de identiteit van de vrouw, blijkt dat bepaalde mensen liever niet hebben dat de waarheid wordt onthuld Het lijkenhuis is het eerste boek in een nieuwe serie, genaamd De Bodyfarm Mysteries, voor liefhebbers van de boeken van Karin Slaughter en Patricia Cornwell, en van de televisieserie CSI. De Bodyfarm Mysteries zijn gebaseerd op waargebeurde zaken uit de archieven van de Bodyfarm, waarvan auteur Bill Bass de oprichter is. Jefferson Bass is het pseudoniem voor dr. Bill Bass en Jon Jefferson. Bill Bass is al dertig jaar lang een van de bekendste forensisch onderzoekers ter wereld en hij heeft aan zeer veel moordzaken gewerkt. Jon Jefferson is journalist en documentairemaker. Hij schreef onder meer voor The New York Times, USA Today en Newsweek. Samen schreven Bass en Jefferson eerder De Bodyfarm (2004).

Het lijkenhuis

Rigor mortis

Anatomia di una delitto

Il cannibale

Past, present, and future collide to throw respected forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton's successful, secure life into devastating turmoil in this, the most poignant novel yet in the New York Times bestselling Body Farm mystery series "Bad guys lie. Bugs always tell you the truth." Dr. Bill Brockton—founder of the University of Tennessee's macabre Body Farm—is riding high, enjoying professional acclaim and personal contentment. While celebrating his thirtieth wedding anniversary with his loving wife, Kathleen, Brockton recalls how close he once came to losing Kathleen and their son at the hands of a sadistic serial killer named Satterfield. But that was long ago, and in the years since Satterfield's conviction, Brockton's family has grown to include a lovely daughter-in-law and two lively grandsons. His career has flourished, too, as the Body Farm's pioneering research—along with Brockton's forensic expertise—have brought him respect, renown, and high-profile cases. Now the FBI needs Brockton's help with his highest-profile case ever: identifying the remains of a pilot killed in a fiery plane crash outside San Diego. Are the charred bones indeed those of Richard Janus, a maverick humanitarian whose daring airlifts to international disaster sites made him a celebrity? And was the nighttime crash on a mountainside an accident, or was it suicide—or murder? But a storm is about to hit Brockton with cataclysmic force. First, he discovers he's landed in the middle of a nasty political battle involving warring feds, secret agendas, a ruthless drug kingpin, and a celebrity whose life was a labyrinth of secrets. Then Brockton's identification of the crash victim is called into question, as is the future of his research facility. Reeling from these shocking blows, he receives a gruesome threat from the killer who nearly murdered the Brocktons more than a decade before. But worse is to come: from his beloved Kathleen—his lodestone and his source of security—Brockton gets the most shocking news of all. Will the legendary Dr. Bill Brockton be able to weather the onslaught . . . or will it push him beyond his breaking point?

The Breaking Point

“The Body Farm novels have become bestsellers because of their attention to the fine details of forensics combined with great plot lines.” —Deseret News (Salt Lake City) The latest Body Farm novel from New York Times bestseller Jefferson Bass, The Bone Thief is a must for fans of Patricia Cornwell and TV’s C.S.I. The hero of four previous thrillers—Carved in Bone, The Devil’s Bones, Flesh and Bone, and Bones of Betrayal—Dr. Bill Brockton must stop a grisly black market dealing in body parts and cadavers in this white-knuckle adventure written by the man widely considered to be the world’s foremost expert in forensic anthropology. Read The Bone Thief and discover why Kathy Reichs calls Bass, “The real deal.”

The Bone Thief

When a Manhattan Project scientist is found dead from radiation poisoning, Body Farm founder Bill Brockton is frustrated in the investigation when the only person with knowledge of what happened is an elderly woman with a floundering grasp on lucidity.

Bones of Betrayal

'If you like Kathy Reichs, you'll like Jefferson Bass' The Times. Miranda Lovelady, Dr Bill Brockton's protégé, is spending the summer helping excavate a newly discovered chamber beneath the spectacular Palace of the Popes in Avignon, France. There she discovers a stone chest inscribed with a stunning claim: inside lie the bones of none other than Jesus of Nazareth. Faced with the case of the millennium, Miranda summons Brockton for help proving or refuting the claim. Both scientists are sceptical - after all, fake relics abounded during the Middle Ages - but the evidence for authenticity soon grows. Brockton and Miranda link the bones to the haunting image on the Shroud of Turin, revered by millions as the burial cloth of Christ and a laboratory test finds that the bones are 2,000 years old. The finding triggers a deadly tug of war between the anthropologists, the Vatican and a deadly zealot who hopes to use the bones to bring about the Second Coming . . . and trigger the end of time.

A Body Farm Thriller

The Bones of Avignon

Renowned forensic anthropologist Bill Bass—founder of the Body Farm—tackles one of his most baffling cases ever in this real-life spellbinder In 1978, 56-year-old Leoma Patterson left a bar in Clinton, Tennessee, and was never seen again. Six months later, a female skeleton was found on a wooded lakeshore in a neighboring county. The bones were consistent with those of the missing woman, and one of Patterson's daughters recognized a ring found at the death scene as her mother's. The bones were buried, and six years later, a relative of Patterson's—one of the men she was last seen alive with—confessed to killing her. Case closed. But the tentative identification—made years before DNA testing was available to confirm it—failed to convince some of Patterson's relatives. And so it was that in 2005 Dr. Bass found himself winding around hairpin curves to the mountainside grave, where he would unearth the disputed remains and collect DNA samples. The forensic twists and turns that followed would test the limits of DNA technology … and of Dr. Bass's half-century of forensic knowledge.

The Murder, the Mystery, and the Missing DNA

Identity Crisis

In the most suspenseful installment of the New York Times nestselling Body Farm series to date, forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton investigates a bizarre murder—and confronts a deadly enemy he thought he’d put behind bars for good. Forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton has spent twenty-five years solving brutal murders—but none so bizarre and merciless as his latest case: A ravaged set of skeletal remains is found chained to a tree on a remote mountainside. As Brockton and his assistant Miranda dig deeper, they uncover warning signs of a deadly eruption of hatred and violence. But the shocking case is only the beginning of Brockton’s trials. Mid-case, the unthinkable happens: The deadliest criminal Brockton has ever foiled—the sadistic serial killer Nick Satterfield—escapes from prison, bent on vengeance. But simply killing Brockton isn’t enough. Satterfield wants to make him suffer first, by destroying everything he holds dear: Brockton’s son, daughter-in-law, grandsons; even Miranda, his longtime graduate assistant, now on the verge of completing her Ph.D. and launching a forensic career of her own. The dangers from all directions force Brockton to question two things on which he’s based his entire career—the justice system, and the quality of mercy—and to wonder: can the two co-exist? If not, which will Brockton choose in his ultimate moment of truth?

Without Mercy

'If you like Kathy Reichs, you'll like Jefferson Bass' The Times. Early summer brings warm weather to the Body Farm in East Tennessee, but Dr Bill Brockton's about to get more heat than he's bargained for. A former student who's now an agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement seeks his help in identifying a partial skull found in the woods in rural Florida. The victim appears to have been a young male who died from lethal blows to the head. While leading a search for the remaining bones, Brockton and his graduate assistant Miranda Lovelady find a series of shallow graves on the overgrown grounds of a shuttered reform school for boys. According to local lore, the school's poor, troubled students understood that one wrong move could land them in their own plot in the de facto cemetery. As Brockton and his team close in on the truth, they find skeletons in some surprisingly prominent closets... and learn that the ghosts of the past are ever present.

The Bone Yard

For a limited time, discover how The Body Farm series started with Carved in Bone, for free, including an excerpt from the new novel by Jefferson Bass, The Bone Yard, available this February.

Carved in Bone with Bonus Material

Jon Jefferson

Dr Bill Bass

Dr Bill Bass' work, and in particular his Body Farm, has furthered forensic anthropology and made it possible to prove from the discovery of a skeleton, no matter how much time has elapsed since death, how and when death occurred and to whom the body belonged. His work has been vital for the sake of science and the cause of justice In Beyond the Body Farm Jefferson Bass details the most memorable cases from his career, including alibis he has broken, cold cases he has solved - including one from the Ancient world that took him to Iran - and several cases he has been able to revisit throughout his career as new techniques have become possible and scientific discoveries made. This is what happens when Dr Bass goes beyond the Body Farm.

A legendary bone detective explores murders, mysteries and the revolution in forensic science

Beyond the Body Farm

While helping to excavate a newly unearthed chamber beneath the spectacular Palace of the Popes in Avignon, France, Miranda Loveladye"protge of Dr. Bill Brocktone"makes a startling discovery: a stone chest bearing an inscription declaring it holds the bones of Jesus of Nazareth. The find could rock the Church to its very foundations, and it draws Brockton from the Body Farm to determine the truth, using modern forensic science. But when Brockton and Miranda link the bones to the haunting image on the famous Shroud of Turin, their investigation sparks a deadly tug of war between scientists, the Vatican, and Apocalypse-obsessed fanaticse"and a newly slain corpse soon appears on hallowed ground. Suddenly the search for answers to a mystery born in an ancient era has taken on a frightening urgency . . . as a crazed zealot waits in the shadows, determined to trigger the end of time.

Jefferson Bass

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