Flesh and Bone

Erik Singer's voice is solid and steady as he gives listeners a strong picture of Dr. Bill Brockton, a medical anthropologist at the world-famous Body Farm. Bill is still grieving over his wife's death when an investigation of a horrific mutilation brings him into a relationship with Medical Examiner Jess Carter. Singer's narration becomes infused with the excitement of new love and increases its emotional levels when Jess is murdered and Bill is set up as the killer. Singer manages to keep two intertwined crimes straight and deliver forensics details lucidly while he gives voice to a steady stream of the hero's inner monologues and convincingly switches roles from hard-boiled cops to angry victims and even a caring transvestite. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

December 11, 2006
At the start of the entertaining second Body Farm novel from the
\t\t pseudonymous Bass (the writing team of forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Bass
\t\t and journalist Jon Jefferson), Dr. Bill Brockton ties a dead man dressed in
\t\t drag to a tree at the Body Farm (a facility he heads outside Knoxville, Tenn.,
\t\t devoted to researching postmortem decay), in an effort to replicate a recent
\t\t murder. Dr. Bill's just beginning a romantic relationship with another
\t\t participant in this experiment, Chattanooga medical examiner Dr. Jess Carter.
\t\t The story veers wildly from fascinating forensics with a high yuck factor to
\t\t sophomoric and corny romantic byplay, often in the same scene. Fans of the
\t\t bestselling first book in the series, Carved in
\t\t Bone, and readers with a penchant for the gross and grisly will take
\t\t to Dr. Bill, a hero with a big heart who isn't afraid to tackle complicated
\t\t issues while solving mildly engrossing mysteries. Dr. Bass and Jefferson are
\t\t the coauthors of Death's Acre, about the
\t\t actual Body Farm. 7-city author tour.
\t\t

December 15, 2006
Forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton, who made his debut in " Carved in Bone" (2005), returns to defend himself against a charge of murder. The mummified body of a woman is found in a cave in Tennessee. Brockton, who works at the University of Tennessee's Body Farm (founded in real life by Bill Bass, one-half of "Jefferson Bass"), has seen his share of gruesome sights, but this one has him stymied. And when a second body turns up, Brockton finds himself square in the spotlight. The second Body Farm mystery is as smoothly written as the first (Bass' coauthor, Jon Jefferson, is an accomplished journalist), but it goes a lot farther in exploring its protagonist, a man who spends his life looking at death. The story is razor sharp, too, with a nice mixture of mystery and horror. Fans of forensic fiction will want to add this author to their list of favorites.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)