Paperback / ISBN-13: 9780751544589

Price: £9.99

ON SALE: 13th January 2011

Genre: Crime & Mystery / Suspense

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The fifth book in the Kay Scarpetta series, from No. 1 bestselling author Patricia Cornwell.


‘America’s most chilling writer of crime fiction’ The Times

The Body Farm – a research institute that tests the decomposition of corpses.

Black Mountain, North Carolina: a sleepy little town where the local police deal with one homicide a year, if they’re unlucky, and where people are still getting used to the idea of locking their doors at night.

But violent death is no respecter of venue, and the discovery of the corpse of the corpse of an 11-year-old girl sends shock waves through the community. Dr Kay Scarpetta, Chief medical Examiner on a similar case in Virginia, is called in to apply her forensic skills to this latest atrocity, but the apparent simplicity of the case proves something of a poisoned chalice – until Scarpetta finds enlightenment through the curious pathologists’ playground known as the Body Farm . . .

Praise for the groundbreaking series:


‘One of the
best crime writers writing todayGuardian

Devilishly cleverSunday Times

The top gun in this fieldDaily Telegraph

Forget the pretenders. Cornwell reignsMirror

The Agatha Christie of the DNA ageExpress