Audiobooks by Jefferson Bass

Identity Crisis: The Murder, the Mystery, and the Missing DNA

Renowned forensic anthropologist Bill Bass-founder of the Body Farm-tackles one of his most baffling cases ever in this real-life spellbinder. In 1978, fifty-six-year-old Leoma Patterson left a bar in Clinton, Tennessee, and was never seen again. Six months later, a female skeleton was found on a wooded lakeshore in a neighboring county. The bones were consistent with those of the missing woman, and one of Patterson's daughters recognized a ring found at the death scene as her mother's. The bones were buried, and six years later, a relative of Patterson's-one of the men she was last seen alive with-confessed to killing her. Case closed. But the tentative identification-made years before DNA testing was available to confirm it-failed to convince some of Patterson's relatives. And so it was that in 2005 Dr. Bass found himself winding around hairpin curves to the mountainside grave, where he would unearth the disputed remains and collect DNA samples. The forensic twists and turns that followed would test the limits of DNA technology . . . and of Dr. Bass's half-century of forensic knowledge.

Jefferson Bass (Author), Charles Constant (Narrator)

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Without Mercy

In the most suspenseful installment of the New York Times bestselling Body Farm series to date, forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton investigates a bizarre murder and confronts a deadly enemy he thought he'd put behind bars for goodForensic anthropologist Bill Brockton has spent twenty-five years solving brutal murders but none so horrific and merciless as his latest case: A ravaged set of skeletal remains is found scattered in the woods of nearby Cook County. They are all that is left of a victim who had been chained, hand and foot, to a tree on a remote mountainside. The bones tell Brockton and his longtime graduate assistant, Miranda, that the victim was a young male under the age of thirty. As they dig deeper to establish his identity, they uncover warning signs that long-simmering hatred is about to explode into violence, engulfing the region in chaos. But the shocking case is only the beginning of Brockton's trials. In the middle of the troubling investigation, the unthinkable happens. The most frightening and deadliest criminal Brockton has ever foiled the sadistic serial killer Nick Satterfield escapes from prison, bent on wreaking vengeance. And he's had nearly twenty years to plan. Simply killing Brockton isn't enough. Satterfield wants to make his nemesis suffer first, by destroying everything Brockton holds dear: his son, daughter-in-law, and grandsons, and even Miranda, who's now on the verge of completing her Ph. D. and launching a forensic career of her own. Barraged by dangers striking from all directions, haunted by the ghosts of old cases, and desperate to save those he loves, Brockton finds himself slipping closer to the abyss. Pushed to the edge, he is forced to question the two pillars that have guided his life and his entire career the justice system and the quality of mercy. Can the two truly coexist? If he cannot reconcile these principles, which will Brockton choose in his ultimate moment of truth? A harrowing, thoughtful, and provocative tale that explores what happens when one honorable, rational man is tested beyond all measure, Without Mercy is a powerful exploration that raises uneasy questions about justice and revenge, compassion and principle, the desire to kill and the will to survive.

Jefferson Bass (Author), Tom Stechschulte (Narrator)

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The Breaking Point: A Body Farm Novel

Past, present, and future collide to throw respected forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton's successful, secure life into devastating turmoil in this poignant novel in the New York Times bestselling Body Farm mystery series. It's been ten years since Dr. Bill Brockton created the Body Farm, the world's first postmortem research facility dedicated to advancing the frontiers of forensic science, and the researcher is at the pinnacle of his career. Under his leadership, the University of Tennessee's forensic anthropology program has become the most prominent in the world, and Brockton's skills and knowledge are in high demand among top law enforcement. Calling him in for a number of high profile cases, the FBI now wants him to identify the charred remains of a maverick millionaire, killed in a fiery plane crash. But a storm is about to hit Brockton with cataclysmic force. First, his identification of the crash victim is called into question. Then he receives a threatening message from the serial killer who attempted to murder the scientist and his family a decade ago. And from Brockton's beloved wife Kathleen, his lodestone and his source of security, he gets the most shocking news of all. Will Brockton be able to weather this deluge . . . or has he finally reached the breaking point?

Jefferson Bass (Author), Tom Stechschulte (Narrator)

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Cut to the Bone: A Body Farm Novel

In this long-awaited prequel to his New York Times bestselling series, Jefferson Bass turns the clock back to reveal the Body Farm's creation,and Dr. Bill Brockton's deadly duel with a serial killer In the summer of 1992, Arkansas governor Bill Clinton and Tennessee senator Al Gore begin their long-shot campaign to win the White House. On a sweltering hillside in Knoxville, Dr. Bill Brockton, the bright, ambitious young head of the University of Tennessee's Anthropology Department, launches an unusual,some would call it macabre,research facility, unlike any other in existence. Brockton is determined to revolutionize the study of forensics to help law enforcement solve homicides. But the scientist's plans are derailed by a chilling murder that leaves him reeling from a sense of deja; vu. Followed by another. And then another: bodies that bear an eerie resemblance to cases from Brockton's past. The police chalk up the first corpse to coincidence. But as the body count rises, the victims' fatal injuries grow more and more distinctive,a spiral of death that holds dark implications for Brockton himself. If the killer isn't found quickly, the death toll could be staggering. And the list of victims could include Brockton . . . and everyone he holds dear. Jefferson Bass is the writing team of Jon Jefferson and Dr. Bill Bass. Dr. Bass, a world-renowned forensic anthropologist, is the creator of the University of Tennessee's Anthropology Research Facility, widely known as the Body Farm. He is the author or coauthor of more than two hundred scientific publications, as well as a critically acclaimed memoir about his career at the Body Farm, Death's Acre. Dr. Bass is also a dedicated teacher, honored as U.S. Professor of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Jon Jefferson is a veteran journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. His writings have been published in the New York Times, Newsweek, USA Today, and Popular Science and broadcast on National Public Radio. The coauthor of Death's Acre, he is also the writer and producer of two highly rated National Geographic documentaries about the Body Farm.

Jefferson Bass (Author), Tom Stechschulte (Narrator)

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Inquisitor's Key

"The real deal." -Kathy Reichs "The Sherlock Holmes for bones." -Katherine Ramsland, author of The Forensic Science of C.S.I. The most riveting and ambitious novel to date in Jefferson Bass' New York Times bestselling Body Farm mystery series, The Inquisitor's Key takes forensic investigator Dr. Bill Brockton to Avignon, France, and embroils him in a deadly religious mystery that could shake the Vatican itself to its very foundations. Another sterling crime novel in the vein of Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs, and Karin Slaughter, as well as TV's C.S.I., The Inquisitor's Key adds a touch of James Rollins and The Da Vinci Code to the typically acclaimed Jefferson Bass mix of suspense, surprise, and finely detailed forensic investigation. Book Description Miranda Lovelady, Dr. Bill Brockton's protégé, is spending the summer helping excavate a newly discovered chamber beneath the spectacular Palace of the Popes in Avignon, France. There she discovers a stone chest inscribed with a stunning claim: inside lie the bones of none other than Jesus of Nazareth. Faced with a case of unimaginable proportions, Miranda summons Brockton for help proving or refuting the claim. Both scientists are skeptical-after all, fake relics abounded during the Middle Ages-but evidence for authenticity looks strong initially, and soon grows stronger. Brockton and Miranda link the bones to the haunting image on the Shroud of Turin, revered by millions as the burial cloth of Christ, and then a laboratory test finds the bones to be two thousand years old. The finding triggers a deadly tug-of-war between the anthropologists, the Vatican, and a deadly zealot who hopes to use the bones to bring about the Second Coming-and trigger the end of time. Set against an international landscape, and weaving a rich tapestry of religion, history, art, and science, The Inquisitor's Key takes Jefferson Bass to an exciting new level of suspense.

Jefferson Bass (Author), Tom Stechschulte (Narrator)

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Bone Yard

In this latest thriller from New York Times bestselling author Jefferson Bass, Dr. Bill Brockton discovers the dark side of the Sunshine state when he's called in to investigate human remains found on the grounds of a boys' reform school in Florida The Bone Yard The onset of summer brings predictably steamy weather to the Body Farm, Dr. Bill Brockton's human-decomposition research facility at the University of Tennessee. But Brockton's about to get more heat than he's bargained for when Angie St. Claire, a forensic analyst with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, asks him to help prove that her sister's death was not suicide, but murder. Brockton's quick consulting trip takes a long, harrowing detour when bones begin turning up amid the pines and live oaks of the Florida panhandle. Two adolescent skulls–ravaged by time and animals, but bearing the telltale signs of lethal fractures–send Brockton, Angie, and Special Agent Stu Vickery on a search for the long-lost victims. The quest leads them to the ruins of the North Florida Boys' Reformatory, a notorious juvenile detention facility that met a fiery end more than forty years ago. Guided by the discovery of a diary kept by one of the school's young "students," Brockton's team finds a cluster of shallow graves, all of them containing the bones of boys who suffered violent deaths. The graves confirm one of the diary's grim claims: that one wrong move could land a boy in the Bone Yard. But as the investigation expands, it encounters opposition from the local sheriff, who's less than delighted to find forensic experts from the state capital and the Body Farm digging up dirt in his county. As Brockton and his team close in on the truth, they find skeletons in some surprisingly prominent closets . . . and they learn that the ghosts of the past pose perilous consequences in the present.

Jefferson Bass (Author), Tom Stechschulte (Narrator)

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The Bone Thief: A Body Farm Novel

New York Times bestselling author Jefferson Bass delivers an authentic and knuckle-biting thriller in which forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton must confront a crime of unimaginable proportions on his own doorstep. Find out why Booklist says, 'Fans of forensic fiction will want to add this author to their list of favorites.' Dr. Bill Brockton has been called in on a seemingly routine case, to exhume a body and obtain a bone sample for a DNA paternity test. But when the coffin is opened, Brockton and his colleagues, including his graduate assistant Miranda Lovelady, are stunned to see that the corpse has been horribly violated. Brockton's initial shock gives way to astonishment as he uncovers a flourishing and lucrative black market in body parts. At the center of this ghoulish empire is a daring and prosperous grave robber. Soon Brockton finds himself drawn into the dangerous enterprise when the FBI recruits him to bring down the postmortem chop shop'using corpses from the Body Farm as bait in an undercover sting operation. As Brockton struggles to play the unscrupulous role the FBI asks of him, his friend and colleague medical examiner Eddie Garcia faces a devastating injury that could end his career. Exposed to a near-lethal dose of radioactivity, Dr. Garcia has lost most of his right hand and his entire left hand. Out of options, he embarks on a desperate quest: both of his ravaged hands will be severed at the wrist and replaced with those from a cadaver. But unless suitable ones are found soon, the opportunity will be lost. As Brockton delves deep into the clandestine trade, he is faced with an agonizing choice: Is he willing to risk an FBI investigation'and his own principles'to help his friend? Will he be able to live with himself if he crosses that line? Will he be able to live with himself if he doesn't? And as the criminal case and the medical crisis converge, a pair of simpler questions arise: Will Dr. Garcia survive'and will Brockton?

Jefferson Bass (Author), Dan Woren (Narrator)

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Bones of Betrayal

World-renowned forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Bass and acclaimed journalist Jon Jefferson have combined their talents on several New York Times best-sellers. A thrilling tale of suspense, Bones of Betrayal shows why Kathy Reichs praises Bass and Jefferson's "terrific forensic detail" and calls them "the real deal." "Southern-fried forensics. Nothing too fancy, but it does taste good going down."-Kirkus Reviews

Jefferson Bass (Author), Tom Stechschulte (Narrator)

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The Devil's Bones: A Novel

In two previous New York Times bestselling novels, Jefferson Bass enthralled readers with ripped-from-the-headlines forensic cases, memorable characters, and plots that "rival Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). Drawing on research at the Body Farm, three acres of land in the backwoods of Tennessee, where bodies are left to the elements to illuminate human decomposition, Bass has moved fiction to a fascinating new realm, with forensics expertise drawn from his five decades of work as the world's leading forensic anthropologist. But this latest novel cements Jefferson Bass as one of the finest writers of suspense working today, and in a work of drama, cunning, and heartbreak, thrills the reader with fiction that feels all too real. A woman's charred body has been found inside a burned car perched atop a hill in Knoxville. Is it accidental death, or murder followed by arson? Forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton's quest for answers prompts an experiment straight from Dante's Inferno: In the dark of night, he puts bodies to the torch, researching how fire consumes flesh and bone. In the meantime, Brockton is sent a mysterious package, a set of cremated remains that looks entirely unreal. With the help of a local crematorium, he investigates and discovers a truth too horrifying to believe: A facility in another state has not been disposing of bodies properly, instead scattering them all around the grounds. Little does Brockton know that his research is about to collide with reality, with the force of a lit match meeting spilled gasoline. En route to trial, his nemesis, medical examiner Garland Hamilton, has escaped from custody. What follows is a deadly game of cat and mouse, played for the ultimate stakes: Brockton's own life. With help from his loyal graduate assistant, Miranda, and ace criminalist Art Bohanan, Brockton eventually tracks Hamilton, but when the police arrive, they find only a smoldering ruin. Sifting through the ashes, Brockton finds the incinerated remains of Hamilton . . . or does he? The answer, along with Brockton's ultimate test, comes in a searing moment of truth.

Jefferson Bass (Author), Tom McKeon (Narrator)

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Flesh and Bone: A Body Farm Novel

Dr. Bill Brockton, the founder of the world-famous Body Farm, is hard at work on a troubling new case. A young man's battered body has been found in nearby Chattanooga, and it's up to the talented Dr. Brockton to assemble the pieces of the forensic puzzle. Brockton is brought into the case by the rising star of the state's medical examiners, Jess Carter. Just as they're on the verge of breaking the case open, events take a terrifying turn. Brockton has re-created the gruesome Chattanooga death scene at the Body Farm, but a killer places another corpse at the site, putting Brockton's career and even his life in jeopardy. Soon Brockton is accused of the horrific new crime, and the once-beloved professor becomes an outcast. Brockton must use all of his forensic skills to prove his own innocence...before he ends up behind bars with some of the very killers he's helped to convict. Flesh and Bone is another roller-coaster ride into the world of forensic anthropology, raising powerful questions about the nature of justice, loyalty, honor, and evil. This astonishing novel confirms Jefferson Bass as one of our most talented authors of suspense. Performed by Erik Singer

Jefferson Bass (Author), Erik Singer (Narrator)

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