The Body Farm

Written by Patricia Cornwell

Narrated by Jill Eikenberry

Little Emily Steiner left a church meeting late one afternoon and strolled toward home along a lakeside path; a week later, her nude body was discovered, bound in blaze-orange duct tape. Called by the North Carolina authorities, forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta recognizes similarities to the gruesome work of a serial killer who has long eluded the FBI But as she tries to make sense of the evidence, she is left with questions that lead her to the Body Farm, a little known research facility in Tennessee where, with the help of some grisly experiments, she might discover the answer.

It is Scarpetta alone who can interpret the forensic hieroglyphics that eventually reveal a solution to the case as staggering as it is horrifying. But she must also endeavor to help her niece, Lucy, who is embroiled in controversy at Quantico. And Scarpetta, too, is vulnerable, as she opens herself to the first physical and emotional bond she has felt in far too long a time.

Tenacious and brilliant, tender and gentle, this is Scarpetta even more realized and poignant than we've seen her before--in a stunning achievement from a best-selling author at the peak of her powers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Oct 1, 1994
• ISBN: 9780671046873

Patricia Cornwell

Patricia Cornwell is recognized as one of the world’s top bestselling crime authors with novels translated into thirty-six languages in more than 120 countries. Her novels have won numerous prestigious awards including the Edgar, the Creasey, the Anthony, the Macavity, and the Prix du Roman d’Aventure. Beyond the Scarpetta series, Patricia has written a definitive book about Jack the Ripper, a biography, and three more fiction series among others. Cornwell, a licensed helicopter pilot and scuba diver, actively researches the forensic technologies that inform her work. She was born in Miami, grew up in Montreat, North Carolina, and now lives and works in Boston. 

Reviews for The Body Farm

[cacacacatm · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was a good read . I couldn't pot it down . Done in 3 days She is a great author AND I HAVE ENJOYED ALL THAT I HAVE READ.

[lorettar-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent as always. I love this author and thoroughly enjoy every book I have read by her.

[curlupandread · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a good read even though I figured out who the killer was halfway through. I still enjoyed it.

[readingover50 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This story was a little far fetched for me. The murder of a child is always a sad thing. The child's mother was an initially sympathetic character, whose actions quickly became more incomprehensible. The power she gains over Marino is hard to believe. When did he become so easily swayed? And the body farm was such a small part of the book. The murder wrapped up neatly in the end, a little too neatly for my taste.

Even though I had some complaints about the plot, the book was still a fun read. The personal relationship between Kay and Wesley seemed to move forward a lot. A little fast for me. I felt like I must have missed a few books because of all the relationship changes, but I know I haven't. Parts of the book were too predictable, while others were too confusing.

[jepeters333 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A little girl in NC is dead and Dr. Scarpetta thinks that it is Temple Brooks Gault.

[elkehannover · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Inhaltsangabe:Dr. Kay Scarpetta ist eine renommierte Gerichtsmedizinerin in Richmond, Virgina. Sie wird zum FBI nach Quantico gerufen, um bei dem mysteriösen Mordfall Emily Steiner behilflich zu sein. Dort trifft sie nicht nur auf ihre ehrgeizige und junge Nichte Lucy, sondern auch auf eine altbekannte Gesichter, allen voran Pete Morino und Benton Wesley. Morino ist schon seit Jahren in Kay verliebt, hat es aber nie offen ausgesprochen.Kay wird sofort mit Morino und Wesley nach Black Mountain geschickt, damit sie den Fall dort genauer untersuchen können. Im Zuge ihrer Ermittlungen werden sie zu einem weiteren Fall gerufen: Ferguson! Er war ein FBI-Ermittler in diesem Fall und war nun ebenfalls tot. Die Indizien bei dem Steiner-Fall deuten alle auf den Serienmörder Gault hin, doch Kay spürt, das es irgendwie nicht stimmen kann. Doch sie kann nichts beweisen.Sie beginnt mit Benton Wesley eine Affäre und zieht somit Pete Morions Zorn auf sich. Doch damit ist es nicht genug. Lucy wird verdächtigt, geheime Daten aus dem FBI-Labor ausspioniert zu haben und bei dem Fall Steiner kommen sie keinen Schritt weiter. Die Ereignisse überschlagen sich, doch schließlich hat Kay eine Ahnung und rettet damit bald ein Menschenleben.Mein Fazit:Ich habe dieses Buch ausgeliehen bekommen und ich muss sagen, das ich es sehr angenehm empfand, diesen Roman zu lesen. Er ist schon etwas älter, die FBI-Methoden sind daher etwas überholt, dennoch habe ich es genossen, die Geschichte umd die Gerichtspathologin zu lesen. Eine Kleinigkeit störte mich: Das war dieses enorm hohe Tempo und die vielen verschiedenen Namen. Man mußte schon etwas aufpassen. Ein klasse Roman und er wird nicht der letzte gewesen sein …Anmerkung: Die Rezension stammt aus August 2005.Veröffentlicht am 26.10.15!

[candacevan_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Plotting transparent; continuity choppy. Relying heavily on established characters.

[shesinplainview · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Although I read this a long time ago, I remember finding it one of her more exciting page-turners.

[emscape · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When a young girl is murdered in a similar way to Eddie Heath from the last book, Kay is worried that her failure to catch Temple Gault has cost another life. However, the investigation becomes more and more bizarre, leading detectives to believe this might be the work of a copy-cat, a local weirdo or someone else entirely. Complicating matters, Kay's niece, Lucy, is now working for the bureau in the computer department and it looks like she's been caught stealing classified information. Kay has to catch a killer and clear her niece's name, all while dealing with her burgeoning new romance (with someone completely unexpected) and the estrangement of another friend. This is not your typical murder-of-the-week type book. The characterizations and relationships between the characters continue to grow deeper throughout the series. I'm not really a fan of Kay's new relationship, but it's realistic, and obviously character-directed, not a sop for the audience who expects a romantic subplot. I always really enjoy the technical details of forensic experiements, but the "Body Farm" of the title, an area where bodies are decomposing in contrived circumstances in order to better understand time of death, was a little nauseating to read about. Particularly because I was eating lunch at the time I happened to come upon that part of the book. My biggest nitpick continues to be how this ME is always in a position to come into violent conflict with the villain at the end of the novel. It's unlikely to happen even once in the life of any other non-fictional ME and for it to keep happening to Kay is ridiculous. I know there needs to be a suspenseful, cathartic ending, but it's completely unrealistic. In such a series, where the author is very well informed about forensic devices and details, and the time lines are more realistic than other murder/detective novels (i.e. the crime is not solved in the space of a week, but rather months), it bothers me that this very critical point is so improbable. Overall, though, a decent book, which kept me interested and desirous of more about Kay Scarpetta.

[jarratt_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's not a good sign when the first thing you say upon finishing a book is, "I'm so glad that's over.""The Body Farm" is the first Patricia Cornwell book I've read and may be the last. The location for which the book was named--the place at the University of Tennessee where dead humans are studied for forensic reasons--consists of one chapter about 3/4 of the way through. And what they did had little to no impact on the case Kay Scarpetta is working on.I will concede that I might have enjoyed the book a little more had I read previous Scarpetta books as there were obviously recurring characters. But as I'm basically introduced to them here, I found most of them, like Marino and Lucy, to be flat and quite unlikable. The story centers around a little girl who's brutally killed near her home. The local police are overwhelmed and bring in state's bureau, who, because the crime is similar to a serial killer's mode of operation, bring in the FBI. There's a bunch of little clues along the way, but it seems basic police work wasn't done as some of the players aren't even suspects. And throwing in the Temple Gault character (the serial killer who obviously played a role in previous novels) seemed forced and just an excuse for a red herring.The subplot with Scarpetta's niece Lucy seemed rather unbelievable. I was simply disappointed with the book, especially given how popular Cornwell's books are.

[delphimo_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Kay Scarpetta always seems to run into Gault. She sees him and then he quickly disappears. In The Body Farm, Kay and Pete Marino investigate the brutal murder of an 11-year-old girl. The crime appears to resemble Gault's sadistic mode of murder. In the meantime, Kay's niece, Lucy, is interning in the FBI high security-programming lab when security is breached. Cornwell presents so many interesting facts, like the rubber cast of a fingerprint is the mirror image or a reversed image. Cornwell also enters many medical and psychological terms, such as the Munchausen syndrome. The book is long and not as easy reading as James Patterson, but the writing is so much better.

[skinglist · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I didn't like this as much as I liked some of the other ones. Kay, Lucy and Marino are starting to mesh better but I feel it's very rushed. Seeing through to Marino's fate was a little predictable. There seems to be a crime script that's followed - protagonist or loved one in danger. will be interesting to see how Kay and Benton resolve this.

[demonite93 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the first Patricia Cornwell book I have read. I have to say I enjoyed how the author jumps right into the story. There was no beginning lag where you get to know the character and blah blah blah. I really enjoy the medical and scientific aspects of this book and it's nice to see an alternative side to the police work. The story is revolved around the murder of a young girl in a small Christian town. The author does a great job of moving the evidence to point in several different directions all at once, in the hope that you would be constantly guessing who did it. I actually already kind of figured out who it was before it got to that point but ... Anyways, it was an interesting read. It was real quick for me and it's defiantly a good filler.

[carpe_librum · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is another in the Kay Scarpetta series and again I enjoyed the forensic style 'whodunnit' by Patricia Cornwell. I thought the title a little too much given how small a role the farm actually played in the plot. In fact I would have liked to pursue this further in the novel, however the reader was given just a glimpse into the scientific nature of the body farm.This book can be read as a stand-alone, however there are references made to previous cases Scarpetta and Marino have worked in the past.After reading the first 5 books in this series in the last 8 months, I'm growing a little weary of the predictability of the main characters and the similarity in the plot outline in each novel. I think I'll give the series a rest for now, besides there are plenty of other books out there waiting to be read.

[larkken · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

 I did not enjoy the fifth of the Kay Scarpetta novels as much as the 2nd or 3rd, but this wasn't because of the plot. I enjoyed the twist at the end as much as I enjoy any of these procedural crime novels, in that the reader is often able to figure out who the murderer is, but the proof is never revealed until the main character finds the evidence and explains its dire significance. As this takes some of the thinking out of the read, this can get old for me. However, this plot did not seem quite so formulaic, with a perhaps more interesting motivation than the pervasive anger, megalomania, etc. Unfortunately, I found the interpersonal relationships of Kay (the medical examiner with surprising investigative allowances), Marino (the detective she works with), and Wesley (the FBI profiler they are paired with) to be tiresome. Kay and Marino snipe at each other constantly, for example. Perhaps the build up to this book, in the form of the fourth novel in the series, was necessary in order to understand and therefore put up with the way they all act towards each other in this one - though I have to admit, I hate reading Kay's interaction with her family, too, and this book contained a lot of her-vs-her-sister sorts of interactions that was aggravating (as I believe the sister is set up to be) and which I simply wished would end. I might also be getting tired of the continual "woman in a man's world" theme to these books and annoyed by the slight angst this entails.

[kanata_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The book that brought Cornwell fame and started the mass interest in forensic science mysteries. Here Cornwell is at her best. Her characters are interesting, intelligent and there is just the right mix of science and plot. Kay Scarpetta is a strong believable female lead and it sparked my interest in the following Cornwell's books devotedly. Unfortunately she lost me as a reader in the last few editions that seem to betray what she created so masterfully here.

[booksfordeb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I like Cornwell's Scarpetta novels. They are exciting and fun. There is a lot of angst among these characters that at times distracts from the actual crime that is being investigated. The crime scene investigations are not fully explored but the story is interesting. I liked it for entertainment purposes.

[miyurose_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Frankly, this one was very blah for me. The book was not so much about the case as it was about the relationships between Kay and Marino, Marino and Benton Wesley, Kay and Wesley, and Kay and Lucy. Oh, and Kay and her sister. Blah. Too much angst for a crime novel. And I figured out who the bad guy was waaaaaaaaaay early.

[darrol_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Pretty good story with some exciting episodes. I cannot help but think that her affair with Wesley is unfortunate, and Marino's being taking in by the perp rather sad.

[elbakerone · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In a small Virginia town a young girl is found murdered and the circumstances cast suspicions on a hunted serial killer. Dr. Kay Scarpetta, forensic pathologist, is on the scene to track down the killer while also guiding her headstrong neice into a career with the FBI. As the death toll and mystery escalate, simple answers are hard to come by and Scarpetta searches to decipher a small clue with the help of scientists at the anthropology research facility in Tennesee, better known as the Body Farm.This was the first Patricia Cornwell novel I have read and it was an odd place to start, but I did enjoy it. The Body Farm is a fast paced read with relatively accurate depictions of forensic science. Cornwell doesn't beat the reader over the head with back story so it was nice to pick up on character relationships from context rather than drudging through history that would've interrupted the pacing of the book. Although I was expecting more of the story to take place at the fictionalized version of Knoxville's Research Facility, I was still drawn in by the suspense of the story and appreciated that it was a well written book.

[msbeautiful · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good mystery, especially for someone who likes science/anatomy