Category: Books-Fiction

Revisiting a Favorite Series – The Body Farm Books

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So I am currently reading The Bone Thief by Jefferson Bass. This is the fifth book in The Body Farm series and I have enjoyed everyone of them.

Let’s play the if then game. If you like Kathy Reich’s books and the TV show Bones, then you will like the Body Farm Books. The Body Farm is the Forensics Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee where they study decomposition of the human body. The Body Farm was founded in 1970  by one-half of the writing team Jefferson Bass, Dr. Bill Bass. What others say about the Body Farm and the novels:

“Nearly everything known about the science of human decomposition comes from one place—forensic anthropologist William Bass’ Body Farm.”
— CNN.com

There is a patch of ground in Tennessee dedicated to the science of death, where human remains lie exposed to be studied for their secrets. The real-life scientist who founded the “Body Farm” has broken cold cases and revolutionized forensics . . . and now he spins an astonishing tale inspired by his own experiences.

In the Body Farm books the fictional Bill Bass – Bill Brockton and his graduate assistant Miranda Lovelady have been faced with a variety of cases to solve two of which involved women that Brockton had relationships with! With a great cast of characters which include Brockton and Miranda along with defense attorney Burton  “Grease” DeVreiss, Medical Examiner Eddie Garcia, fingerprint guru Art Bohanan and other’s  coupled with unmatched forensic detail (who knows more about the body farm’s work than the founder!) this series has become a real favorite of mine!

I just started The Bone Thief and the story opens when Brockton and Miranda are called to exhume a body to get DNA for a paternity test. When they open the coffin they find that both of the arms have been surgically removed and the story sets off from there!!

This is a series that in my opinion should be read from the beginning because each case has added to the development of Dr. Bill Brockton’s character and well they’re just all good reads!! So check them out!

Post Update: Here is the Complete Body Farm Series

1. Carved in Bone

2. Flesh and Bone

3. The Devil’s Bones

4. Bones of Betrayal

The

Favorite Series – The Body Farm Books

  By

So I am currently reading The Bone Thief by Jefferson Bass. This is the fifth book in The Body Farm series and I have enjoyed everyone of them. Let’s play the if then game. If you like Kathy Reich’s books and the TV show Bones, then you will like the Body Farm Books. The Body Farm is the Forensics Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee where they study decomposition of the human body. The Body Farm was founded in 1970  by one-half of the writing team Jefferson Bass, Dr. Bill Bass. What others say about the Body Farm and the novels:

“Nearly everything known about the science of human decomposition comes from one place—forensic anthropologist William Bass’ Body Farm.”
— CNN.com

There is a patch of ground in Tennessee dedicated to the science of death, where human remains lie exposed to be studied for their secrets. The real-life scientist who founded the “Body Farm” has broken cold cases and revolutionized forensics . . . and now he spins an astonishing tale inspired by his own experiences.

In the Body Farm books the fictional Bill Bass – Bill Brockton and his graduate assistant Miranda Lovelady have been faced with a variety of cases to solve two of which involved women that Brockton had relationships with! With a great cast of characters which include Brockton and Miranda along with defense attorney Burton  “Grease” DeVreiss, Medical Examiner Eddie Garcia, fingerprint guru Art Bohanan and other’s  coupled with unmatched forensic detail (who knows more about the body farm’s work than the founder!) this series has become a real favorite of mine!

I just started The Bone Thief and the story opens when Brockton and Miranda are called to exhume a body to get DNA for a paternity test. When they open the coffin they find that both of the arms have been surgically removed and the story sets off from there!!

This is a series that in my opinion should be read from the beginning because each case has added to the development of Dr. Bill Brockton’s character and well they’re just all good reads!! So check them out!

1. Carved in Bone

2. Flesh and Bone

3. The Devil’s Bones

4. Bones of Betrayal

The Narrows – Michael Connelly

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Ok so the last book I read Nowhere to Run by C.J.Box was the 10th book in the Joe Pickett series and now book number 17 The Narrows by Michael Connelly also the 10th book in the series featuring  Harry Bosch only difference is that I have read all the books in the Pickett series and this is my first Harry Bosch book! I had started The Concrete Blonde book # 3 years ago and for one reason or another couldn’t get into it so I never tried to read another Connelly book (the series is now up to 14). What was I thinking! I enjoyed this book, liked both the writing style and Bosch’s character and will certainly read more, having picked up several last week at the library book sale.

The book starts with Harry Bosch, asked by the widow of his former friend Terry McCaleb to investigate what she feels is the murder of her husband. McCaleb’s heart medicine (he had had a heart transplant -the storyline of the book and movie Blood Work)  had been switch with shark cartilage pills leading to a heart attack.

Meanwhile, FBI agent Rachael Walling receives a call that she has dreaded for eight years! Eight years earlier she had been involved in the chase to track done a serial killer known as The Poet, who turned out to be her former mentor at the FBI Robert Backus. The Poet is back and operating in the Las Vegas area. Harry’s investigation into McCaleb’s death quickly puts him on to the trail of The Poet and soon Bosch and Walling must join forces to catch Backus!

Like I said I enjoyed this book and the final pages flew by and I am certainly going to read more Bosch novels. I have a lot of catching up to do!!

My bookshelf at Goodreads.com now holds 796 books – 4 more to 800!! Next up the new Body Farm book by Jefferson Bass The Bone Thief another favorite series featuring Bill Brockton and the Body Farm at the University of Tennessee and while I root for Bill Brockton, this Florida Gator can’t root for the Volunteers!

Book 17 – The Narrows – Michael Connelly

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Ok so the last book I read Nowhere to Run by C.J.Box was the 10th book in the Joe Pickett series and now book number 17 The Narrows by Michael Connelly also the 10th book in the series featuring  Harry Bosch only difference is that I have read all the books in the Pickett series and this is my first Harry Bosch book! I had started The Concrete Blonde book # 3 years ago and for one reason or another couldn’t get into it so I never tried to read another Connelly book (the series is now up to 14). What was I thinking! I enjoyed this book, liked both the writing style and Bosch’s character and will certainly read more, having picked up several last week at the library book sale.

The book starts with Harry Bosch, asked by the widow of his former friend Terry McCaleb to investigate what she feels is the murder of her husband. McCaleb’s heart medicine (he had had a heart transplant -the storyline of the book and movie Blood Work)  had been switch with shark cartilage pills leading to a heart attack.

Meanwhile, FBI agent Rachael Walling receives a call that she has dreaded for eight years! Eight years earlier she had been involved in the chase to track done a serial killer known as The Poet, who turned out to be her former mentor at the FBI Robert Backus. The Poet is back and operating in the Las Vegas area. Harry’s investigation into McCaleb’s death quickly puts him on to the trail of The Poet and soon Bosch and Walling must join forces to catch Backus!

Like I said I enjoyed this book and the final pages flew by and I am certainly going to read more Bosch novels. I have a lot of catching up to do!!

My bookshelf at Goodreads.com now holds 796 books – 4 more to 800!! Next up the new Body Farm book by Jefferson Bass The Bone Thief another favorite series featuring Bill Brockton and the Body Farm at the University of Tennessee and while I root for Bill Brockton, this Florida Gator can’t root for the Volunteers!

Book 16 – Nowhere to Run – C.J. Box

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Nowhere to Run is my 16th read of the year and the 10th book in Box’s Joe Pickett series, which keeps getting better and better. This books opens with Joe in his last week of temporary assignment in Baggs Wyoming. The assignment has lasted a year and Joe will be returning to his wife and family soon. But Joe goes into the mountains to investigate some strange happenings, which include camp lootings, tents being slashed, and an elk butchered before the shooters can even collect it! There was also the case of a female Olympic class runner going for a run into the woods and never coming back! On the hunt Joe runs into two twin brothers Caleb and Canish Grimm, who appear to be the men who butchered the Elk! When Joe asks for their fishing license and gives them a citation for hunting without a license their wrath is taken out on himand he barely escapes the mountain alive, but not before he potentially sees the Olympic runner……and the rest of the book revolves around finding out who the Grim Brothers are and was that really the lost runner!

Like all Box’s books the characters are great from Joe to his wife Marybeth, Marybeth’s golddigging mother Missy. the kids Sheridan, Lucy and April to Nate Romanowski and the Brothers Grim! Coupled with the characters is Box’s great descriptive writing about the beauty of the mountains that form the setting of the story!

The pages in this book flew by and overall it was a very enjoyable read! The series can probably be read out of order because the story stands on its’ own but to get the full effect you need to know Joe and his past! So get busy because you have nine books to go to catch up but it will be worth the trip!

Fear the Worst – Linwood Barclay

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Fear the Worst - Linwood Barclay

 

So there was no time to start another book during the time I was reading Fear the Worst by Linwood Barclay. Simply because I couldn’t put this book down!

I guess I’ll forgive Mr Barclay for not writing any more Zack Walker books if he keeps writing books as good as this one.

The Story – Fear The Worst

The story starts one day when a divorced father Tim Blake questions his daughter, who is staying with him for the summer  about some Versace sunglasses that she has. He questions her because he fears she may have stolen them.

The result of his questioning  is that she storms out of the house leaving the receipt on the kitchen table. Well, that night his daughter doesn’t come home and after receiving no phone calls or informationas to where she is! Tim sets out to find her and starts at her job a  motel in town.

When he asks about his daughter he is told that his daughter has never worked there!  Soon the police locate her car abandoned in a mall parking lot in a neighboring town!  The rest of the book revolves around Tim and his ex-wife’s frantic search to find their daughter!

My Thoughts

As usual I love all of the characters in the book. But I particularly Tim, who as a desperate father fighting to find his daughter faces a Herculean task! As I said the book moves along quickly as the tension builds and I was up past my normal bedtime to finish the book!!

Definitely a 4.5 to 5 out of 5 stars and I can’t wait to read his current  book Never Look Away

So if you’ve never read a Linwood Barclay book, check him out! As for me I’m number 12 in the que at the library to get the book , so I’m off to Wyoming and the new C.J. Box book Nowhere to Run!

iWebsite
Orion Books
Amazon
Wikipdianks

Linwood Barclay

About Linwood Barclay

Linwood Barclay continues to be a prolific author, releasing new, critically acclaimed thrillers annually. Known for his high-octane plots and relatable characters, his recent work has solidified his status as a master of contemporary suspense.

Update: There is now a sequel to this book – Linwood Barclay’s No Safe House – new problems for Terry and Cynthia Archer when their daughter becomes involved in a possible murder.Check out my review here

Visit the Linwood Barclay Page

If you like standalone Mystery/Thrillers…….

Here are three Authors whose books might enjoy:

Charlie Donlea
Charlie Donlea
Michael Koryta/Scott Carson
Riley Sager
Riley Sager
  • Charlie Donlea — tightly plotted thrillers often built around cold cases, missing persons, and strong female leads, with twists that keep coming
  • Michael Koryta / Scott Carson — blends crime, suspense, and sometimes the supernatural, with a darker tone and strong atmosphere
  • Riley Sager — modern psychological thrillers with big twists, often centered on isolated settings and unreliable pasts

Roger Smith – Mixed Blood

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So this is the fourth country visited in my quest to read twelve books sent in different countries. So far I have read books set in Canada, Russia, and Australia and now Mixed Blood by Roger Smith set in South Africa, by far the least favorite place to visit of the four!  Book 13 of the year is a gritty book filled with murder, drugs, crooked cops, poverty and despair! The story opens with Jack Burn his wife Susan and son Matt on the run in South Africa after Jack becomes involved in a bank robbery which goes bad leaving a policeman dead. One night two black gangstas climb into their rented home.  To save his family, Jack kills the two men and his life goes downhill from there.

The book is a real page turner and the characters including Benny Mongrel a harden each con working as a watchman in a neighboring house under construction who witnesses the thieves going into the Burn house, Rudi “Gatsby” Barnard the crooked cop who rules by killing and Disaster Rondi, the good cop are a full well developed characters. Like I said the book is gritty and not for the faint of heart with lots of references to drugs, abuse and prostitution. I found that there weren’t a lot of good guys in the book to cheer for, but that did little to detract from the overall effect of the book.

Overall, I liked the book  four stars out of five and will look for more by the author.  But I will stay away from South Africa at least the Cape Flats!

No Time for Goodbye – Linwood Barclay

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No Tim,e for Goodbye - Linwood Barclay

 Orinally posted April 2010 – Revised and Updated April of 2026

What would you do if one day you were a normal fourteen year old with a mother, father and brother. You get caught with a boy in a car at the mall drinking, your father pulls your butt out of the car. you go to bed, Then you wake up the next morning and YOUR FAMILY is GONE! no note, no evidence of a fight or struggle they are just gone! That what happens to Cynthia Bigge in Linwood Barclay’s No Time for Goodbye.

The Story

The story picks up 25 years later, Cynthia is now married to Terry Archer and they have an eight year old daughter Grace. She has lived with this mystery for twenty five years and now things are happening that are opening all the wounds. Is the brown car really following her family? How did her father’s hat get in the house? What’s happening?

My Thoughts

I loved this well crafted well paced book. I have enjoyed Barclay’s books for a while now and have read all four of the Zack Walker books and Too Close to Home also highly recommended) another standalone.

In No Time for Goodbye the characters are believable and story line keeps moving and the suspense building toward the surprising conclusion!

In this book, I really enjoyed the character of Terry Archer, who narrates  the story. His character was a little like Zack Walker, someone, who at times is in a little over their head!

Anyway the book was great and rates at least a 4.5 if not a 5! Go find it and enjoy!

iWebsite
Orion Books
Amazon
Wikipdianks

Linwood Barclay

About Linwood Barclay

Linwood Barclay continues to be a prolific author, releasing new, critically acclaimed thrillers annually. Known for his high-octane plots and relatable characters, his recent work has solidified his status as a master of contemporary suspense.

Update: There is now a sequel to this book – Linwood Barclay’s No Safe House – new problems for Terry and Cynthia Archer when their daughter becomes involved in a possible murder.Check out my review here

Visit the Linwood Barclay Page

If you like standalone Mystery/Thrillers…….

Here are three Authors whose books might enjoy:

Charlie Donlea
Charlie Donlea
Michael Koryta/Scott Carson
Riley Sager
Riley Sager
  • Charlie Donlea — tightly plotted thrillers often built around cold cases, missing persons, and strong female leads, with twists that keep coming
  • Michael Koryta / Scott Carson — blends crime, suspense, and sometimes the supernatural, with a darker tone and strong atmosphere
  • Riley Sager — modern psychological thrillers with big twists, often centered on isolated settings and unreliable pasts

Parnell Hall – You Have the Right to Remain Puzzled (Puzzle Lady #8) Book 11 of 2010

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You Have the Right to Remian Puzzled 2 Book No. 11 for 2010 is the 8th book in the Puzzle Lady series by Parnell Hall, You Have the Right to Remain Puzzled. Now I read my first book in the other series by Parnell Hall featuring Stanley Hastings in 1991 and have loved that series. I read the my first Puzzle Lady book,  Book 1 A Clue for the Puzzle Lady of the series in 2000. Why I’ve waited ten years to read another I don’t know! Maybe it’s like being an Mets fan and not being able to root for the Yankees or the Giants and the Jets anyway to hell with that, I loved this book!

I really enjoyed the character of the Puzzle Lady and the book is written with the same sharp wit that Hall displays in the Hastings series.  The writing will never be confused with great literature, but who needs that when they can enjoy a good mystery and get a lot of laughs too!!  So it’s Tolstoy or Evanovich or Dickens or Hall. I’ll take Hall and Evanovich every time!! So go grab a Puzzle Lady book and enjoy!

Forgotten Books – November Man

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📚 Journal Flashback: Forgotten Books – Bill Granger’s November Man

The Infant of Prague - November Man

I’ve seen other bloggers post about Forgotten Books, and I’ve done my share of Forgotten Music—so here’s a dive into a forgotten book series that still sticks with me: Bill Granger’s November Man.

I started keeping a book journal in 1987, jotting down the dates I finished each book along with a few thoughts and star ratings. Looking back, I noticed that in both March 1988 and March 1989, I read one book from this series each year—and both left a strong impression.

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📖 March 1988 – The Infant of Prague

Rating: ★★★☆☆

This was book #8 in the series. My journal says:

“Devereaux tries to bring a defector out of Czechoslovakia. The story kept moving and the ending was satisfying. Better than the previous one I read (*Hemingway’s Notebook*).”

📚 Amazon synopsis here

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📖 March 1989 – Henry McGee is Not Dead

Henry Magee is Not Dead

Journal comments:

“Henry McGee is an agent who crossed over in Alaska. There’s a complex plot to destroy R Section, a bomb on the pipeline, and Devereaux and Denisov (Soviet defector) are in the middle of it. The writing was occasionally difficult, but overall a good read.”

📚 Amazon/PW synopsis here

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🕵️ Why I Loved the Series

These were some of the best spy novels I read back in the day—always exciting, with a fascinating lead character in Devereaux. The books had an edge, a Cold War atmosphere, and a different tone from your typical spy thrillers.

More on Bill Granger at Fantastic Fiction

Looking back, the November Man books definitely laid the groundwork for my later love of authors like Brad Thor, Vince Flynn, and Alex Berenson.

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📚 Forgotten Book Tip

If you ever see a copy of a Bill Granger novel at a library sale or used bookstore—grab it! You won’t be disappointed.