The Body Farm (1994)

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

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

Another fine, short, Kay Scarpetta thriller. ( )

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. ( )

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 there 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. ( )