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The Body Farm (novel)
Encyclopedia
The Body Farm is a crime fiction
novel by Patricia Cornwell
. It is the fifth book in the Dr. Kay Scarpetta
series.
, whose murder is reminiscent of 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—.
, in particular human
decomposition
.
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
novel by Patricia Cornwell
Patricia Cornwell
Patricia Cornwell is a contemporary American crime writer. She is widely known for writing a popular series of novels featuring the heroine Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a medical examiner.-Early life:...
. It is the fifth book in the Dr. Kay Scarpetta
Kay Scarpetta
Kay Scarpetta is a fictional character and protagonist in a series of crime novels written by Patricia Cornwell. The character is based on former Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Marcella Fierro, MD. The series is noted for the use of recent forensic technology in Scarpetta's investigations.-...
series.
Plot summary
Kay Scarpetta is called in to assist in the investigation of the brutal murder of eleven-year-old Emily Steiner in rural North CarolinaNorth Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, whose murder is reminiscent of 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—.
Characters in The Body Farm
- Kay ScarpettaKay ScarpettaKay Scarpetta is a fictional character and protagonist in a series of crime novels written by Patricia Cornwell. The character is based on former Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Marcella Fierro, MD. The series is noted for the use of recent forensic technology in Scarpetta's investigations.-...
- Chief Medical Examiner. - Benton Wesley - FBI ProfileProfile- Computing and technology :* Profile , a concept in Unified Modeling Language* Apple ProFile, a hard drive* User profile refers to the computer representation of user information...
r. He started having romantic relationships with Kay, despite being married. - Lucy Farinelli - Kay's niece. On internship at the FBI Academy, QuanticoFBI AcademyThe FBI Academy, located in Quantico, Virginia, is the training site for new Special Agents of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was first opened for use in 1972 on 385 acres of woodland. It is a relatively small government academy, housing three dormitory buildings and...
. Had a romantic lesbian relationship with Carrie Grethen. However, she was sabotaged, although she was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing. Got into a car accident, under the influence of alcoholDUIDUI is a three letter acronym that may stand for:* Driving under the influence * Democratic Union for Integration — the largest ethnic Albanian party in the Republic of Macedonia* Data Use Identifier...
, in which Kay's Mercedes-Benz E500 was wrecked. It was later revealed that she was run off the road by Denesa Steiner. - Pete Marino - Captain in the RichmondRichmond, VirginiaRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
Police Department. - Lieutenant Hershel Mote - Lieutenant in the Black Mountain Police Department. Was at Max Ferguson's house, after finding Max dead, he had chest pains and dizziness, which will later on lead to a cardiac arrest.
- Dr. Thomas Katz - Forensic Scientist the Body Farm. He also was an expert in time of death, which he researched just as diligently with ways and means that were not commonly known to hoi polloiHoi polloiHoi polloi , an expression meaning "the many", or in the strictest sense, "the majority" in Greek, is used in English to denote "the masses" or "the people", usually in a derogatory sense. Synonyms for "hoi polloi" include ".....
. His laboratory is called The Body Farm. - Carrie Grethen - Lucy's romantic interest at Quantico, however she was using Lucy's identity to gain entry into classified areas, in order to avoid suspicion.
Victims
- Emily Steiner - 12 year old girl. Murdered in Black Mountain, North CarolinaBlack Mountain, North CarolinaBlack Mountain is a town in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 7,511 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town is named for the Black Mountain range of the Blue Ridge range in the Southern Appalachians.-History:Black...
. Her body was nude. Upon close inspection by the Buncombe County medical examiner, it was determined she had been sexually assaulted, and had large dark shiny patches on her upper thighs, upper chest, and shoulder, which were areas of missing flesh. She also had been gagged and bound with blaze orange duct tape, her cause of death a single small-caliber gunshot wound to the back of the head. - Max Ferguson - State Bureau of InvestigationNorth Carolina State Bureau of InvestigationThe North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is a state-level law enforcement agency in North Carolina. Within the state, the agency acts as a criminal investigation bureau, similar to the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the federal level. The SBI is a bureau of the North Carolina...
Agent. When Kay arrived, he was on his back, the size-D cups of a long-line black brassiere stuffed with socks that smelled faintly of musk. The pair of black nylon panties he had put on before he died had been pulled down around his hairy knees, and a condom still clung limply to his penis. He asphyxiaAsphyxiaAsphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of severely deficient supply of oxygen to the body that arises from being unable to breathe normally. An example of asphyxia is choking. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which primarily affects the tissues and organs...
ted on a hangman's noose, and was cut loose by Mote the moment he found him. - Emily's kitten, Socks - A stray kitten that Emily started feeding. She called her Socks because she was pure black except for these perfect white paws. It died of a broken neck.
Other Deaths
- A 14 year old boy, in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
- Modus operandi similar to Eddie Heath's case in Cruel and Unusual. There were excised flesh on his body. Gunshot to the head, body displayed. He was not killed by Denesa Steiner, but his killer was not revealed in the later books. - Denesa Steiner - Mother of Emily Steiner. Killer of Emily and Max Ferguson. She was killed by Kay after she barged into the room and saw Denesa sitting placidly on the edge of the bed where Marino lay, a plastic trash bag over his head and taped around his neck. She grabbed Marino's pistol off the table and this prompted Kay to fire Marino's Winchester rifleWinchester rifleIn common usage, Winchester rifle usually means any of the lever-action rifles manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, though the company has also manufactured many rifles of other action types...
, which she got from his car, and subsequently killed her.
Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science
- The story is set around Lake Tomahawk in Black Mountain, North Carolina.
- The original Body Farm is the University of Tennessee Forensic Anthropology Facility located a few mileMileA mile is a unit of length, most commonly 5,280 feet . The mile of 5,280 feet is sometimes called the statute mile or land mile to distinguish it from the nautical mile...
s south of KnoxvilleKnoxville, TennesseeFounded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, TennesseeTennesseeTennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, behind the University of TennesseeUniversity of TennesseeThe University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
Medical CenterUniversity of Tennessee Medical CenterThe University of Tennessee Medical Center is an academic medical center located in Knoxville, Tennessee and serves as a referral center for Eastern Tennessee and regions in Kentucky and North Carolina. The University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine oversees residency and medical student...
. The facility was founded by anthropologistAnthropologyAnthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
Dr. William M. BassWilliam M. BassWilliam Marvin Bass III is an American forensic anthropologist, best known for his research on human osteology and human decomposition. He has also assisted federal, local, and non-U.S. authorities in the identification of human remains...
in 1971, after he found that no such facilities existed that specifically studied decompositionDecompositionDecomposition is the process by which organic material is broken down into simpler forms of matter. The process is essential for recycling the finite matter that occupies physical space in the biome. Bodies of living organisms begin to decompose shortly after death...
.
Explanation of the novel's title
The novel, and its title, were inspired by the University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility, which is used in the study of forensic anthropologyForensic anthropology
Forensic anthropology is the application of the science of physical anthropology and human osteology in a legal setting, most often in criminal cases where the victim's remains are in the advanced stages of decomposition. A forensic anthropologist can assist in the identification of deceased...
, in particular human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
decomposition
Decomposition
Decomposition is the process by which organic material is broken down into simpler forms of matter. The process is essential for recycling the finite matter that occupies physical space in the biome. Bodies of living organisms begin to decompose shortly after death...
.