Not the best of the series, but there is something about this series that does draw me in. It just felt like this story was big but the ending... wasn't.

3.5 stars

The mystery was very interesting and I enjoyed the “solving” aspect of the story. The social aspects that were added fell pretty flat for me as they are quite dated.

Dr Kay Scarpetta & Captain Marino head to Black Mountain, North Carolina to investigate a possible murder by Temple Gault. Eleven-year-old Emily Steiner was abducted from her bed & found murdered in a similar way to Eddie Heath, a previous Gault victim. When Benton Wesley joins Scarpetta & Marino in Black Mountain, simmering tensions between the three of them make it an uncomfortable case. Added to this, Scarpetta's niece, Lucy, is on an internship with the FBI but is accused of breaking into their secure system & sent home in disgrace. In both cases, Scarpetta realises that she is up against two remarkably clever & ruthless characters.

I amended my rating for this one down to 4 stars, as it is not as fast-paced as the previous books, & I didn't enjoy re-reading as much. The title is odd too, as the Body Farm actually plays only a very small role in the entire book, with the majority of the action taking place elsewhere. It was still an engrossing read, & the changing relationship between Scarpetta/Wesley, & Scarpetta/Marino is brought to a head.

TW: death of a child, death of an animal.