Death's Acre

william m. bass jon jefferson

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.

For thirty years, Dr. Bass's research has revolutionized the field of forensic science, particularly by pinpointing "time since death" in murder cases. In this riveting book, he investigates real cases and leads readers on an unprecedented journey behind the locked gates of the Body Farm. A master scientist and an engaging storyteller, Bass shares his most intriguing work: his revisit of the Lindbergh kidnapping and murder, fifty years after the fact; the mystery of a headless corpse whose identity astonished the police; the telltale bugs that finally sent a murderous grandfather to death row; and many more.

Genres nonfictionsciencetrue crimecrimedeathanthropologymedicalmedicinememoirmystery

368 pages, Paperback

First published October 27,2003

This edition

Format: 368 pages, Paperback
Published: January 1, 2004 by Time Warner Paperbacks
ISBN: 9780751534467
ASIN: 0751534463
Language: English

About the author

william m. bass

Co Authors with
Jon Jefferson
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

William M. Bass, often credited as Bill Bass, is a U.S. forensic anthropologist, renowned for his research on human osteology and human decomposition. He has also assisted federal, local, and non-US authorities in the identification of human remains. He taught at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and though currently retired from teaching, still plays an active research role at the Forensic Anthropology Research Facility, which he founded. The Facility is more popularly known as the "Body Farm", a name used by crime author Patricia Cornwell in a novel of the same name, which drew inspiration from Dr. Bass and his work. Bass has also described the Body Farm in "Death's Acre" and "Beyond The Body Farm" – the titles of the bestselling books on his life and career, co-written with journalist Jon Jefferson. Bass and Jefferson have also written four fictional works, "Carved in Bone", "Flesh and Bone", "The Devil's Bones" and "Bones of Betrayal" under the pen name "Jefferson Bass."