
Beyond the Body Farm
A Legendary Bone Detective Explores Murder, Mysteries, and the Revolution in Forensic Science
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Narrated by:
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Tom McKeon
About this listen
Some of Bill Bass' cases rely on the simplest of tools and techniques, while other cases hinge on sophisticated techniques Dr. Bass could not have imagined when he began his career: using computer data and video image processing to help identify murder victims; harnessing scanning electron microscopy to detect trace elements in knife wounds; and extracting DNA from a long-buried corpse, only to find that the female murder victim may have been mistakenly identified a quarter-century before.
Witty and engaging, Bass dissects the methods used by homicide investigators every day, leading liseners on an extraordinary journey into the high-tech science that it takes to crack a case.
©2007 Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson (P)2007 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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Nowhere is there another lab like Dr. Bill Bass's: on a hillside in Tennessee, human bodies decompose in the open air, aided by insects, bacteria and birds, unhindered by coffins or mausoleums. At the "Body Farm," nature takes its course, with corpses buried in shallow graves, submerged in water, concealed beneath slabs of concrete, locked in trunks of cars. As stand-ins for murder victims, they serve the needs of science, and the cause of justice.
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Fascinating and Emotional
- By J. Lucia on 01-26-04
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well presented
- By Sherise on 06-19-24
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Teasing Secrets from the Dead
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Emily Craig has been a witness to history, helping to seek justice for thousands of murder victims, both famous and unknown. It’s a personal story that you won’t soon forget. Emily first became intrigued by forensics work when, as a respected medical illustrator, she was called in by the local police to create a model of a murder victim’s face. Her fascination with that case led to a dramatic midlife career change: She would go back to school to become a forensic anthropologist - and one of the most respected and best-known “bone hunters” in the nation.
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A vanity project.
- By Book fiend Kel on 07-17-22
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Cut to the Bone
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In this long-awaited prequel to his New York Times bestselling series, Jefferson Bass turns the clock back to reveal the Body Farm's creation - and Dr. Bill Brockton's deadly duel with a serial killer. In the summer of 1992, Arkansas governor Bill Clinton and Tennessee senator Al Gore begin their long-shot campaign to win the White House. On a sweltering hillside in Knoxville, Dr. Bill Brockton, the bright, ambitious young head of the University of Tennessee's Anthropology Department, launches an unusual - some would call it macabre - research facility, unlike any other in existence.
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Just Amazingly Thrilling!
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Dr. Bill Brockton, the founder of the world-famous Body Farm, is hard at work on a troubling new case. A young man's battered body has been found in nearby Chattanooga, and it's up to the talented Dr. Brockton to assemble the pieces of the forensic puzzle.
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Wonderful - suspenceful
- By Kccsx4 on 02-24-09
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Identity Crisis
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In 1978, 56-year-old Leoma Patterson left a bar in Clinton, Tennessee, and was never seen again. Six months later, a female skeleton was found on a wooded lakeshore in a neighboring county. The bones were consistent with those of the missing woman, and one of Patterson's daughters recognized a ring found at the death scene as her mother's. The bones were buried, and six years later, a relative of Patterson's - one of the men she was last seen alive with - confessed to killing her. Case closed.
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Great true story.
- By A. Witf on 04-13-20
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Death's Acre
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Nowhere is there another lab like Dr. Bill Bass's: on a hillside in Tennessee, human bodies decompose in the open air, aided by insects, bacteria and birds, unhindered by coffins or mausoleums. At the "Body Farm," nature takes its course, with corpses buried in shallow graves, submerged in water, concealed beneath slabs of concrete, locked in trunks of cars. As stand-ins for murder victims, they serve the needs of science, and the cause of justice.
-
-
Fascinating and Emotional
- By J. Lucia on 01-26-04
By: Dr. Bill Bass, and others
-
Decoding Madness
- A Forensic Psychologist Explores the Criminal Mind
- By: Richard Lettieri
- Narrated by: David Mack
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dealing with some of the most heinous crimes imaginable, forensic neuropsychologist and psychoanalyst Dr. Richard Lettieri gives a behind-the-scenes look at criminal psychology through case studies from his over 30 years of experience as a court-appointed and privately retained psychologist.
-
-
well presented
- By Sherise on 06-19-24
By: Richard Lettieri
-
Teasing Secrets from the Dead
- My Investigations at America’s Most Infamous Crime Scenes
- By: Emily Craig PhD
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Emily Craig has been a witness to history, helping to seek justice for thousands of murder victims, both famous and unknown. It’s a personal story that you won’t soon forget. Emily first became intrigued by forensics work when, as a respected medical illustrator, she was called in by the local police to create a model of a murder victim’s face. Her fascination with that case led to a dramatic midlife career change: She would go back to school to become a forensic anthropologist - and one of the most respected and best-known “bone hunters” in the nation.
-
-
A vanity project.
- By Book fiend Kel on 07-17-22
By: Emily Craig PhD
-
Cut to the Bone
- A Body Farm Novel, Book 0.5
- By: Jefferson Bass
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this long-awaited prequel to his New York Times bestselling series, Jefferson Bass turns the clock back to reveal the Body Farm's creation - and Dr. Bill Brockton's deadly duel with a serial killer. In the summer of 1992, Arkansas governor Bill Clinton and Tennessee senator Al Gore begin their long-shot campaign to win the White House. On a sweltering hillside in Knoxville, Dr. Bill Brockton, the bright, ambitious young head of the University of Tennessee's Anthropology Department, launches an unusual - some would call it macabre - research facility, unlike any other in existence.
-
-
Just Amazingly Thrilling!
- By Paula on 07-26-15
By: Jefferson Bass
-
Flesh and Bone
- By: Jefferson Bass
- Narrated by: Erik Singer
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Bill Brockton, the founder of the world-famous Body Farm, is hard at work on a troubling new case. A young man's battered body has been found in nearby Chattanooga, and it's up to the talented Dr. Brockton to assemble the pieces of the forensic puzzle.
-
-
Wonderful - suspenceful
- By Kccsx4 on 02-24-09
By: Jefferson Bass
-
Identity Crisis
- The Murder, the Mystery, and the Missing DNA
- By: Jefferson Bass
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 1 hr and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1978, 56-year-old Leoma Patterson left a bar in Clinton, Tennessee, and was never seen again. Six months later, a female skeleton was found on a wooded lakeshore in a neighboring county. The bones were consistent with those of the missing woman, and one of Patterson's daughters recognized a ring found at the death scene as her mother's. The bones were buried, and six years later, a relative of Patterson's - one of the men she was last seen alive with - confessed to killing her. Case closed.
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Great true story.
- By A. Witf on 04-13-20
By: Jefferson Bass
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The dead talk - to the right listener. They can tell us all about themselves: where they came from, how they lived, how they died, and, of course, who killed them. Forensic scientists can unlock the mysteries of the past and help serve justice using the messages left by a corpse, a crime scene, or the faintest of human traces.
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Crime Seen
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Ken Holmes worked in the Marin County Coroner's Office for 36 years, starting as a death investigator and ending as the three-term, elected coroner. As he grew into the job - which is different from what is depicted on television - Holmes learned a variety of skills, from finding hidden clues at death scenes, interviewing witnesses effectively, managing bystanders and reporters, preparing testimony for court, to notifying families of a death with sensitivity and compassion.
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Excellent read. What an Education.
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By: John Bateson
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Unnatural Causes
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Performance
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As the country's top forensic pathologist, Dr Richard Shepherd has spent a lifetime uncovering the secrets of the dead. When death is sudden or unexplained, it falls to Shepherd to establish the cause. Each post-mortem is a detective story in its own right - and Shepherd has performed over 23,000 of them. Through his skill, dedication and insight, Dr Shepherd solves the puzzle to answer our most pressing question: how did this person die?
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Boring!
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The Devil's Bones
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- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Drawing on research at the Body Farm—three acres of land in the backwoods of Tennessee, where bodies are left to the elements to illuminate human decomposition—Bass has moved fiction to a fascinating new realm, with forensics expertise drawn from his five decades of work as the world's leading forensic anthropologist. But this latest novel cements Jefferson Bass as one of the finest writers of suspense working today, and in a work of drama, cunning, and heartbreak, thrills the reader with fiction that feels all too real.
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The Devil's Bones
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By: Jefferson Bass
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No Stone Unturned
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
No Stone Unturned recreates the genesis of NecroSearch International: a small ,eclectic group of scientists and law enforcement personal, active and retired, who volunteer their services to help locate the clandestine graves of murder victims and recover the remains and evidence to assist with the apprehension and conviction of the killers.
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Forensic Superheroes
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Written in Bone
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Overall
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Performance
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In her memoir All That Remains, internationally renowned forensic anthropologist and human anatomist Dame Sue Black recounted her life lived eye to eye with the Grim Reaper. During the course of it, she offered a primer on the basics of identifying human remains, plenty of insights into the fascinating processes of death, and a sober, compassionate understanding of its inescapable presence in our existence. Now in this book, Black builds on that memoir, taking us on a guided tour of the human skeleton and explaining how each person's life history is revealed in their bones.
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A very human story by a very believable human
- By Gary on 09-21-21
By: Sue Black
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All That Remains
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- By: Sue Black
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Dame Sue Black is an internationally renowned forensic anthropologist and human anatomist. She has lived her life eye to eye with the Grim Reaper, and she writes vividly about it in this book, which is part primer on the basics of identifying human remains, part frank memoir of a woman whose first paying job as a schoolgirl was to apprentice in a butcher shop, and part no-nonsense but deeply humane introduction to the reality of death in our lives. It is a treat for CSI junkies, murder mystery and thriller fans, and anyone seeking a clear-eyed guide to a subject that touches us all.
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I wanted a science book about forensics. I got a mostly-memoir instead.
- By A Customer on 11-29-19
By: Sue Black
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Working Stiff
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Overall
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Just two months before the September 11 terrorist attacks, Dr. Judy Melinek began her training as a New York City forensic pathologist. With her husband and their toddler holding down the home front, Judy threw herself into the fascinating world of death investigation-performing autopsies, investigating death scenes, and counseling grieving relatives. Working Stiff chronicles Judy's two years of training, taking listeners behind the police tape of some of the most harrowing deaths in the Big Apple.
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Great story - but not for the faint of heart!
- By R. Freeman on 08-20-14
By: Judy Melinek MD, and others
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Stiff
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
For two thousand years, cadavers have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They've tested France's first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to gender reassignment surgery, cadavers have been there alongside surgeons, making history in their quiet way.
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I worked with cadavers for years, but....
- By POQA on 11-11-12
By: Mary Roach
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What the Dead Know
- Learning About Life as a New York City Death Investigator
- By: Barbara Butcher
- Narrated by: Barbara Butcher
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- Unabridged
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Story
Barbara Butcher was early in her recovery from alcoholism when she found an unexpected lifeline: a job at the Medical Examiner’s Office in New York City. The second woman ever hired for the role of Death Investigator in Manhattan, she was the first to last more than three months. The work was gritty, demanding, morbid, and sometimes dangerous—and she loved it. In What the Dead Know, she writes with the kind of New York attitude and bravado you might expect from decades in the field, investigating more than 5,500 death scenes, 680 of which were homicides.
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Didn’t Want The Book To End
- By Becky Sullivan on 06-29-23
By: Barbara Butcher
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The Enneagram of Belonging
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- Narrated by: Christopher L. Heuertz
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
While most contemporary Enneagram books stop at the descriptions of the nine types, Enneagram teacher and The Sacred Enneagram best-selling author Chris Heuertz uncovers the missing link in our journey of living into our true self: radical self-compassion that can bring us back to belonging. Rather than get stuck on stereotypes or curated personality, Heuertz proposes we develop an honest relationship with our type, confronting our "inner dragons," practicing self-compassion, and thereby coming to fully belong to ourselves - and, ultimately, to love itself.
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Interesting but please let someone else read it !
- By Elaine Polkhovsky on 05-22-20
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The Cause of Death
- By: Cynric Temple-Camp
- Narrated by: Mark Davis
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Spontaneous combustion and exhumation, drug mules and devil worshippers, a gruesome killing beneath the Palmerston North Airport control tower, a mysterious death in a historic homestead, a firsthand dissection of the infamous Mark Lundy case... In The Cause of Death, provincial pathologist Dr. Cynric Temple-Camp lifts the lid on the most unusual stories of death and murder he's encountered during his 30-year career.
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Love it!
- By NurseNano on 07-27-18
What listeners say about Beyond the Body Farm
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- Cat Lady
- 06-28-24
Good Narrator
This is a good book but it seemed too short. I could listen to this author and narrator for hours.
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- Janet
- 04-17-16
Excellent
Another excellent and enjoyable look at forensic anthropology from Dr Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson! For CSI fans, this is an eye opener.
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- Bailey Rose
- 06-06-23
One of the best
This is by far one of the better forensic books I have come across. A wealth of information, Dr. Bass breaks things down to an understanding level. He also very respectful towards his, let’s call them clients.
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Overall
- Joanne
- 02-04-08
Liked it
I am a huge fan of Bill Bass and after reading his first book (The body farm) years ago; I was pleased to find a second.
It is actual/factual yet not text bookish. A good read for forensic fans.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Jamie D
- 04-10-18
Thoroughly enjoyable
I find the topic fascinating, but the narrator did such a good job I could listen to him all day. Definitely would recommend.
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Overall
- Maude Lebowski
- 04-28-08
I'll Be a Donor for Sure
If you've read Dr. Bass' previous non-fiction book, Death's Acre, you know exactly what you will be getting yourself into, but with substantially more grit. This is not as much a personal story of Dr. Bass as it is hard facts about tough cases. Dr. Bass never disappoints, and I am forever grateful for the work he has done in the forensic field, as we all should be. Good book, excellent man.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Pat
- 05-23-13
Always a winner!
I have read other books about the body farm and have always been intrigued by the details and stories of the Dr. Blass. This book was exceptionally interesting because of the stories associated with his cases.....especially one...but you'll have to read the book to find out which one! Great book!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Tim Shideler
- 08-12-21
Excellent
I loved the book. I especially liked the reader, who sounded a lot like Joe Kenda. The only thing I strongly disliked was the annoying music. It was distracting because it was there at all, and because it was horrible.
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- L. Nicholson
- 05-22-18
Good book.
music at end of sections is annoying and plays over the reading voice at the start of the next section.
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Overall
- Kristin
- 04-28-08
I'll Be a Donor for Sure
If you've read Dr. Bass' previous non-fiction book, Death's Acre, you know exactly what you will be getting yourself into, but with substantially more grit. This is not as much a personal story of Dr. Bass as it is hard facts about tough cases. Dr. Bass never disappoints, and I am forever grateful for the work he has done in the forensic field, as we all should be. Good book, excellent man.
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4 people found this helpful