Each month Abington Library will feature a favorite book from a faculty, staff member, or student. They will give a brief synopsis of their chosen book.
Hannah Jackson is a Freshman at ASU-Beebe.
The reason I chose The Body Farm was because I love to watch and read about things that involve murder and mystery. Being able to learn about what goes through a person’s mind or just what drove them to do the gruesome things they do really intrigues me and gets me wondering if those thoughts or those things can just happen to any person, even someone close to you. Especially learning about the dangers that investigators and cops have to go through to catch the people that do these things, is also very interesting. It kind of puts a new perspective of the world in my eyes, honestly and helps me to understand people as a whole more. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone with similar interests. - Hannah Jackson, Freshman at ASUB!
The Body Farm by Patricia Cornwell
In the book, The Body Farm by Patricia Cornwell, it begins at the FBI training academy in Quantico, Virginia. The main character is female named Scarpetta and is part of an FBI’s investigative support unit. The unit is called upon to help find the ruthless murderer of an eleven year old, Emily Steiner. Emily had been missing for five days when her body was finally discovered in a nearby lake, naked, with pieces of flesh cut out and missing, and a bullet wound to her head. They first though it certainly could be one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted, Temple Brooks Gault.
As the murder investigation continues, they suddenly have to open a new investigation when local FBI agent, Max Ferguson, kills himself on his way back to California. He was found wearing women’s underwear & appeared as if he was apparently the victim of an accidental hanging after an evening of sexual activity. While the team is scoping the house, they come across the missing pieces of Emily Steiner in his refrigerator.
Later in the story, Scarpetta’s niece named Lucy gets charged with spying and was dismissed from the academy after she was caught in an unauthorized area after hours. She was also involved in a car accident while driving Scarpetta’s car drunk.
As the investigation goes on, Gault is still the prime suspect, but something in Scarpetta’s gut tells her there is a difference with the condition of the girl’s body and the mother’s very unusual behavior the night she disappeared. Scarpetta heads to the University of Tennessee's Decay Research Facility, The Body Farm, to get more information on the nature of body decay. As she’s there, forensic scientist Thomas Kats delivers an essential lead in cracking the case.
At the end, Scarpetta begins to think that Emily’s mother suffers from Munchausen’s Syndrome, which fabricates emotional or physical trauma to get attention. She goes to confront Emily’s mother at her house, but when she gets there she walks in on her holding a plastic bag over officer Marino’s head. The mother starts to reach for Marino’s gun, but Scarpetta shoots and kills her with a shotgun just in time to save hers and Marino’s lives.
