The Body Farm (novel)

The Body Farm  
Author(s) Patricia Cornwell
Country United States of America
Language English
Series Kay Scarpetta
Genre(s) Crime fiction
Publisher Penguin Books
Publication date 1994
Media type Print (hardcover, paperback)
Pages 368
ISBN 978-0-7515-3047-6
OCLC Number 43377603
Preceded by Cruel and Unusual
Followed by From Potter's Field

The Body Farm is a crime fiction novel by Patricia Cornwell. It is the fifth book in the Dr. Kay Scarpetta series.

Contents

Plot summary

Kay Scarpetta is called in to assist in the investigation of the brutal murder of eleven-year-old Emily Steiner in rural North Carolina, whose murder is reminiscent of the handiwork of a serial killer who has eluded the FBI for years. Scarpetta is joined by her ingenious, rebellious and very annoying niece, Lucy, an FBI intern with a promising future in Quantico's computer engineering facility. To help with the investigation, Scarpetta turns to a clandestine research facility in Tennessee known as the Body Farm. There she finds answers to Emily Steiner's murder—.

Characters in The Body Farm

Victims

Other Deaths

Major themes

Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science

Explanation of the novel's title

The novel, and its title, were inspired by the University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility, which is used in the study of forensic anthropology, in particular human decomposition.

External links