The Inquisitor's Key (Body Farm Series #7)

( 37 )

Overview

While helping to excavate a newly unearthed chamber beneath the spectacular Palace of the Popes in Avignon, France, Miranda Lovelady—protégée of Dr. Bill Brockton—makes a startling discovery: a stone chest bearing an inscription declaring it holds the bones of Jesus of Nazareth. The find could rock the Church to its very foundations, and it draws Brockton from the Body Farm to determine the truth, using modern forensic science.

But when Brockton and Miranda link the bones to the...

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The Inquisitor's Key (Body Farm Series #7)

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More About This Book

Overview

While helping to excavate a newly unearthed chamber beneath the spectacular Palace of the Popes in Avignon, France, Miranda Lovelady—protégée of Dr. Bill Brockton—makes a startling discovery: a stone chest bearing an inscription declaring it holds the bones of Jesus of Nazareth. The find could rock the Church to its very foundations, and it draws Brockton from the Body Farm to determine the truth, using modern forensic science.

But when Brockton and Miranda link the bones to the haunting image on the famous Shroud of Turin, their investigation sparks a deadly tug of war between scientists, the Vatican, and Apocalypse-obsessed fanatics—and a newly slain corpse soon appears on hallowed ground. Suddenly the search for answers to a mystery born in an ancient era has taken on a frightening urgency . . . as a crazed zealot waits in the shadows, determined to trigger the end of time.

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Editorial Reviews

Katherine Ramsland
"The Sherlock Holmes for bones has arrived. . . . A privileged glimpse into the world of a ground-breaking pioneer."
Charlotte Observer on The Devil's Bones
“A superb mystery novel—well-plotted, filled with memorable characters, based on accurate forensic science and written with more flair and literary sensibility than anything by John Grisham. The novel, in fact, is in Cornwell’s league, high praise indeed.”
USA Today
"Carved in Bone has a unique corpse, solid science, quirky humor and a loveable protagonist. That a novel like this can be described as charming is a tribute to the team that created some very human, down-to-earth characters."
Booklist
"This series . . . just keeps getting better. [Bones of Betrayal] features both the most compelling story and the best portrayal yet of Brockton, who has completed the transition from fictional representation of coauthor Bass to fully realized protagonist."
USA Today
Carved in Bone has a unique corpse, solid science, quirky humor and a loveable protagonist. That a novel like this can be described as charming is a tribute to the team that created some very human, down-to-earth characters.
Booklist
This series . . . just keeps getting better. [Bones of Betrayal] features both the most compelling story and the best portrayal yet of Brockton, who has completed the transition from fictional representation of coauthor Bass to fully realized protagonist.
Publishers Weekly
Dr. Bill Brockton too often acts like a cookie-cutter action hero in the pseudonymous Bass’s seventh novel featuring the Tennessee bone expert (after 2011’s The Bone Yard), an awkward blend of a conspiratorial religious thriller and a forensic procedural. Brockton drops his work on a dead undercover DEA agent to rush to France after hearing that his assistant and budding love interest, Miranda Lovelady, is about to be operated on. To his surprise, and to the detriment of some plausibility, he learns on arrival that the message was a hoax to bring him to Europe to tackle the mother of all forensic anthropological exams—determining whether a skeleton is, in fact, that of Jesus Christ himself. While Brockton’s exam and his related analysis of the evidence concerning the provenance of the Shroud of Turin fascinate, a mélange of assassination attempts and hostage-taking distracts from the science. Bass is the writing team of Dr. Bill Bass, a forensic anthropologist, and journalist Jon Jefferson. Agent: Giles Anderson, Anderson Literary Agency.(May)
Charlotte Observer
“A superb mystery novel—well-plotted, filled with memorable characters, based on accurate forensic science and written with more flair and literary sensibility than anything by John Grisham. The novel, in fact, is in Cornwell’s league, high praise indeed.”
Kirkus Reviews
Can the ancient bones discovered in a stone chest in Avignon, France, possibly be the remains of Jesus of Nazareth? Urgently summoned from the scene of a more mundane horrible killing in Tennessee to find out, forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton investigates with the Vatican and a religious zealot bearing down on him. The latest installment in the Body Farm series (Carved in Bone, 2006, etc.) explores the mysteries surrounding the Shroud of Turin. Brockton and Miranda Lovelady, his protégé and the object of his unstated romantic desires, determine from a forensic reconstruction of its face that the ancient skull may indeed have been the basis for the faded image on the Shroud. When lab tests on a tooth from the skull reveal the bones are 2,000 years old, all bets are on. The investigation takes Brockton and Miranda from France to Italy to Switzerland, each stop more dangerous than the last. Their French associate, Stefan, who has a thing for Miranda himself, has hidden motives. René Descartes, the French investigator who arrives on the scene after a gruesome murder (he claims to be a descendent of the philosopher), proves to be untrustworthy. And a madman calling himself Reverend Jonah kidnaps Miranda. Bass (the team of noted forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Bass and science writer Jon Jefferson) is a solid storyteller who inspires credibility with scientific expertise. The book also reveals a keen interest in art and history in scenes set in 14th century Avignon, where intrigue surrounds the painter Simone Martini's discovery of Christ's remains, which were hidden by Pope Benedict, and the death portrait of Jesus he commits to a piece of fabric. But as competent as this book is, it lacks the swirling dramatic intensity of The Da Vinci Code, which Brockton mentions in passing, and the suspense is less than gripping. This novel isn't better than average as a thriller, but it provides plenty of food for thought about religious artifacts and their role in people's lives.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780061807060
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • Publication date: 1/29/2013
  • Series: Body Farm Series , #7
  • Format: Mass Market Paperback
  • Pages: 496
  • Sales rank: 99,662
  • Product dimensions: 4.10 (w) x 7.30 (h) x 1.30 (d)

Meet the Author

Jefferson Bass is the writing team of Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. Dr. Bass, a world-renowned forensic anthropologist, founded the University of Tennessee's Anthropology Research Facility—the Body Farm—a quarter century ago. 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 National 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.

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3.5
( 37 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(11)

4 Star

(12)

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(6)

2 Star

(3)

1 Star

(5)

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Sort by: Showing 1 Customer Reviews

  • Posted March 1, 2013

    I Enjoyed This

    I thought this was a good read. I have read all of the Body Farm books and enjoyed this one also. I thought bringing out the affection between Miranda and Brockton did not add to the story, better if it had been more subdued. However, the story was good, fast paced, suspenseful, and I loved the descriptions and the history too. Made me want to visit the locations described. I will probably read it again in a few years.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
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