3.5 stars | 4/5 audiobook

This was a solid read in this forensic science crime series. I enjoyed the characters how how this book focused on issues surrounding the main characters.

These are a bit dated but they are great police procedurals I like to listen to while getting chores done around the house.

I will say I did wish it had more details about the body farm itself. I love hearing about the body farm in Tennessee and when I saw this was the title for the next one in the series I was pumped... then let down a little.

I would still recommend this series because they are easy reads and entertaining.

La trama es increíble y el final lo mejor de todo con un asesino que no se espera.

A mi gusto el titulo es llamativo pero no muy acertado con la historia.Quizás tendría que tener un asesinato más.

Hay momentos que se hacen repetitivos y complicados, hablan demasiado de proyectos del FBI y de coches y se te hace en momentos abrumadores.

Deja temas abiertos como el encuentro de Kat con Gault o el asesinato final donde un chico muere en Londres no es nada relacionado con el libro y no habla de el mas que una pagina y deja temas abiertos sin dar la sensación de que la historia continua.

Se habla poco de Kat y de su anterior amante, el romance de Kat y Wesley no se habla de él en el final.De Lucy no se hace porque te caiga bien y en momentos parece antipática y consentida y en otros muy agradable.

En general una historia muy recomendada pero tiene bastantes fallos o descuidos de la autora que parece que no se acuerda de esos detalles aunque sean importantes

Compré este libro y otro más de la misma autora por sus buenas críticas. Decepcionante. No lo puedo recomendar. Este primer libro lleva muy mal el paso de los años. En mi opinión la autora lleva el sistema de Agatha Chritie en el sentido de ser la protagonista investigadora quien lleva al siguiente episodio de la novela pero aquí produce un mal resultado. Quito una estrella porque el argumento, muy sencillo, no guarda relación ni con el título ni con nada consistente, al punto de que el crimen y su motivación (móvil) es absurdo. Quito otra estrella porque el relato se enmarca en un cuerpo llamado FBI que parece funcionar como el club de aficionados de un colegio, mucho equipo técnico material, mucha oficina, departamentos, etc. pero manejado estilo compadreo, no es serio ni creíble ese dislate. Y quito otra estrella porque desde casi el comienzo de la novela se sabe el final con lo cual sobra casi todo. Solo para pasar el rato ya que no quiero desanimar a nadie, pero prescindible de lo más.

In a rural area of North Carolina, a young girl is brutally murdered. The FBI is called in when clues lead police to the possibility that a serial killer is the culprit. Dr. Kay Scarpetta is asked to be a consultant due to the fact that she has first-hand knowledge of the serial killer, Temple Gault. He’s the one that got away…

The fifth book in Patricia Cornwell’s series featuring her intrepid investigative medical officer, “The Body Farm”, is another exciting, suspenseful thriller.

There’s a lot on Scarpetta’s plate at the moment. Gault is still on the loose; Scarpetta’s niece Lucy is training at Quantico, but she is being accused of a cybercrime that could get her kicked out of the FBI at the very least; Scarpetta is having an affair with her (married) boss; Marino is, himself, having an inappropriate relationship with the mother of the victim.

One of the investigating officers is found dead under mysterious (and weird) circumstances, another officer has a fatal heart attack, and Lucy nearly dies in a car accident.

Things couldn’t get more complicated. Except when they do…

Cornwell cranks up the intensity to “11” in this one.

One of the best “new” crime series that I’ve discovered. I don’t even care that the book is 30 years old.

I have now listen to several of the Kay Scarpetta series. She is the chief medical examiner for the state of Virginia and she works on crimes often murders, figuring out with the skills of a person who does autopsies and knows medicine but is also a bit of a hands-on detective. She is a bit of a superwoman in the fight against crime. In this book at the conclusion, she figures out who the killer is, goes into her house where she fears for the well-being of her partner, and ends up, saving his life and killing the murderer. No need for a trial!

This is probably the fourth book or so in this series and I have not been reading them in order. There are a lot of them and they cover a pretty long period of time so medical and criminal knowledge changes. This has been the least enjoyable of the books. I have read so far. I think I have another one or two away on my Audible list, so will reserve judgment for the time being, leaving a simple suggestion to put this book at the end of the list unless you are slogging through this series in the proper order which might be the thing to do if you have a lot of time.

me recibí de middle aged white woman

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.

The fifth book in the Kay Scarpetta series, written by Patricia Cornwell, continues to unfold a slew of interconnected mysteries, all linking back to one main suspect. In Kay's travels, she travels very close to home to solve a heinous crime. Taking place in Black Mountain, The Body Farm takes several dark twists and many turns for the worst as Kay and her close friend, Pete Marino, the police chief from Richmond, uncover what truly happened to 11-year-old, Emily Steiner. While the story is incredibly detailed and precise, the level of fear is really instilled if you have already been to the places that Ms. Cornwell describes so vividly. Many times, I have driven past the motel that Kay and Pete stayed in while investigating the case, and shuddered to think about the atrocious murder of Emily Steiner. Although the book is fictitious, the realism behind every action (the investigation to the medical examination) the book draws you in and leaves you feeling as though you were right there in the investigation. The Body Farm leaves an almost nauseous feeling in your stomach when you realize just how "close to home" this story is, in comparison to the other works of Ms. Cornwell. Reading into the book, the plot thickens in an unusual way. Although, on the surface, the murder of Emily Steiner is the main topic, underneath is a silent game of backstabbing artifice in regards to Kay's niece, Lucy Farinelli. While investigating the same case as Kay, Lucy is in a romantic relationship with a woman by the name of Carrie Grethen, who she believes to be an honest and moral person. Throughout the book, small hints are dropped about unusual things happening, every event somehow linking back to Carrie, and only, in the end, is the truth revealed about Carrie's grim intentions with Lucy. The Body Farm opens a discussion about murder in the Blue Ridge mountains, as well as what can go on behind the scenes, even in real life, and just how easy dangerous things can be overlooked. The fantastic thriller is a one-of-a-kind book in the series that leaves you wanting more from each character but also wanting to set the book down out of terror that can be far too realistic for comfort.

After a long hiatus, I have come back to Patricia Cornwell, picking up from The Body Farm. Now, I am a changed Patricia Cornwell reader: the story is not central for me, but the characters. I want to know if Kay Scarpetta finally gets a man and stops having an affair with a married man, Benton Wesley; if Lucy Farinelli, Scarpetta's niece, gets to be an FBI agent and if she is really a lesbian; and if Pete Marino stops being a jerk and becomes civil a little for the sake of humanity.

In this book five, Kay Scarpetta is called in to assist in the investigation of the brutal murder of 11-year-old Emily Steiner in rural North Carolina, whose murder resembles the handiwork of a serial killer who has eluded the FBI for years. Scarpetta is joined by her ingenious, rebellious and very annoying niece, Lucy, an FBI intern with a promising future in Quantico's computer engineering facility. To help with the investigation, Scarpetta turns to a clandestine research facility in Tennessee known as the Body Farm. There she finds answers to Emily Steiner's murder.

Arrgh! From the misnomered title (A 'body farm' is only in a small portion of the book) to the implausible plot--how did this get past editors??? SPOILER!!! For starters...Only 3 people work at this TOP SECRET section of the FBI and 2 are dismissed because of malfeasance??? One has a dubious past and 'lied' on her application??? Come on!!! Our protagonist easily found that out, but NOBODY from the bureau vetted this crooked employee? Geez! Give me a break! I'm willing to suspend a bit of logic but I am NOT willing to check my brain at the door!! There are many other problems with the storyline...Scarpetta returns to the crime scene at night and 'forgets' a flashlight??? Really??? Her partner may be in grave danger and she says NOTHING???? A child is missing and NOBODY thinks to search her home--but Kay does? Scarpetta enters a suspected killer's home without a gun, yet she sleeps with one next to her bed at all times? Right!! Truly, I didn't really even like/care about the main character...she was a snobby know -it-all and she was sleeping with a married man. Sorry I wasted my time reading this....

Ten pages to go but I gotta expurge some of the annoyed boredom now. The only reason I read two Cornwells in two days was that I was waiting for mail, but it enhances the flaws of her writing (or logic? I can't even say). Where no. 4 had been just boring and unpleasant and boringly unpleasant, in no. 5 now all the same people involved have completely forgotten that in the case they are actually following up here, fingerprints had already been unreliable. Yet now nobody even seems to doubt them. Then Lucy, whom I still don't like (just as I don't like Scarpetta), is suddenly an alcoholic, and 10 pages to the end I still cannot believe it because I have nothing but Scarpetta's word for it. Cornwell infamously has the most important emotional events between books (I had to keep googling to tripplecheck that yes, another guy left the stage between books, I hadn't missed a novel), and for a long time I tried to see it as her "style", but the praise is ridiculous, she's not writing incisively or chillingly, she just can't seem to write certain things?
She also seems completely overreacting about Marino without actually doing anything about him - just as going to one bar makes Lucy an alcoholic, being justifiably hurt and angry and considering a new life in a small town makes Marino a liablity she and the FBI suddenly don't talk to, despite him seemingly working with them on a case. But worst of all, while Scarpetta goes to boldly confront a baddie instead of making sure they don't bolt by being alarmed, she runs AWAY when she sees the killer they've been searching for years, despite having a gun in her bag and being surrounded by people and him not killing in public - and that is not even questioned.
I'll talk more about how her doing nothing but driving and flying around endlessly makes every book the same; here though she had the Body Farm as a fascinating and real object and has the audacity to use it as title when it's not used at all in the book, the chapter devoted to it superfluous at best.
Finally, we are meant to be on her side about being smart and with great breasts, naturally slim and a great cook, doctor and laywer and rich and succesful, because her awful family uses that as their stick. Scarpetta says she is "a woman that is not a woman" and then ruins what I would have liked - a different sort of het relationship of loving equals - by ridiculous phrases ... I always liked her smart FBI guy, right from when she was with that other one I didn't care for, but to say "his voice was lean and muscled like his body" ... gahd, Cornwell just has a knack of making everything flat, and that was the only time I laughed in all her books. I haven't checked if Cornwell is lesbian herself, but in the 6 novels I read so far it was the lean, interesting men I found appealing - and yet it just makes Scarpetta look worse when she obviously could never consider Marino, because he's fat and semi-bald (all characters are either lean or grossly overweight in her world).

A friend said Cornwell's first novels were good but quickly worsened into Mary Sues - I don't know why I thought it was about sexuality, but I'm dreading the shelf of unread novels of her yet to plough through.
Like Sarah Dunant, Cornwell makes McDermid look good again.

Was a bit peeved this one was not available on Audible. Why have every book available, bar two, in the middle of a series? Kay Scarpetta is a one-woman show, despite her backup and I did feel in this one that some of the plot lines were incredibly implausible, however, they make for great reading. Sometimes you do feel she is acting incredibly stupid considering she is usually so security conscious, but as I said above, said stupid actions make for great reading. If you can put this aside as creative license, then you will love this series as much as I am, despite them being set decades ago.