So today was not a big music day more a sports day. Go Roy Halladay and Flyers. But I did finish book no. 19 for 2010 The Bone Thief by Jefferson Bass. The Bone Thief is the fifth book in the Body Farm series by the writing team of Dr. Bill Bass founder of the Body Farm at the University of Tennessee and Jon Jefferson. The series follows the activities of Dr. Bill Brockton and his graduate assistant Miranda Lovelady and others in exploits surrounding the Body Farm.
This book opens with the exhumation of a body involved in a paternity suit. The request for exhumation was made by attorney Burton “Grease” DeVriess who has been on the bad and good side of Bill Brockton in other books! Anyway when the body is exhumed both arms have been surgically removed! Soon Bill is thrust into the world of black marketing of body parts. The FBI soon asks Bill to help in an undercover sting operation to bring down the dealers!
The plot of the novel also includes a storylines from the last novel Bones of Betrayal as Dr. Brockton deals with repercussions from his relationship with Isabella the librarian! Eddie Garcia the medical examiner who lost his hands after handling radioactive material in the last book is also dealing with that terrible l tragedy and researching ways to get hands back either through total hand transplants or mechanical hands!
I don’t know if I liked the overall plot in this book as much as the others but still the characters of Bill Brockton and Miranda as well as all the others more than make up for it and while the book did not deal as much with the forensic details from the Body Farm the information presented about the black market for body parts and the development of artificial bones was interesting. Overall it was a very satisfying read and I look forward to the next Body Farm adventure!