A woman's charred body is found inside a burned car perched atop a hill in Knoxville. Is it accidental death, or murder followed by arson? Forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton discovers a truth too horrifying to believe: a facility in another state has not been disposing of bodies properly. Little does Brockton know that his research is about to collide with reality.

Reviews

Work and life collide for Dr. Bill Brockton of the Body Farm (the first lab devoted to the study of human decomposition) when the killer of his lover escapes and supposedly dies in the third of the series. Bass is the pen name of Dr. Bill Bass, founder of the University of Tennessee's Body Farm, and veteran journalist Jon Jefferson. Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

The lack of a strong central plot undercuts the third forensic thriller by bestseller Bass, the team of Dr. Bill Bass, founder of Tennessee's world-renowned Body Farm, and journalist Jon Jefferson (after 2007's Flesh and Bone). Two cases occupy Dr. Bass's fictional alter ego, Dr. Bill Brockton--the death of Mary Latham, a 47-year-old Knoxville native, whose charred remains were found in a burned-out car, and a disreputable Georgia crematorium that simply dumped bodies on its grounds. These probes soon take a backseat to a cat-and-mouse game with the doctor's arch nemesis, Garland Hamilton, who tried to frame him for murder in Flesh and Bone. When Hamilton escapes from incarceration before going to trial, Brockton must keep looking over his shoulder. While a smattering of Bass's trademark authentic forensic detail lifts this main narrative thread, a more focused look at a single case might have made the novel a better read. (Feb.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

"Carved in Bone brims with terrific forensic detail . . . the real deal."--Kathy Reichs, New York Times bestselling author, praise for CARVED IN BONE