2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales by William M. Bass.

Pages: 320 pages

Length: 1 month (October)

Participants: Beth, TerryJane

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

I read this last year, but don't remember enough to discuss it. Most of the chapters are individual case studies.

The author and Jon Jefferson write as Jefferson Bass and have a fictional series The Body Farm based on the actual body farm and Dr. Bass's career.

Chalmation wrote: "The author and Jon Jefferson write as Jefferson Bass and have a fictional series The Body Farm based on the actual body farm and Dr. Bass's career."

Thank you, Chalmation, for the info on the fiction series. I was at first disappointed to see that my libraries have no audio versions on Overdrive/Libby, but then I found that my daughter's library in another county has all ten of them in audio on Hoopla. Yay!

TerryJane wrote: "Chalmation wrote: "The author and Jon Jefferson write as Jefferson Bass and have a fictional series The Body Farm based on the actual body farm and Dr. Bass's career."

Thank you, Chalmation, for the info on the fiction series. I was at first disappointed to see that my libraries have no audio versions on Overdrive/Libby, but then I found that my daughter's library in another county has all ten of them in audio on Hoopla. Yay!"

Hope you enjoy them. I have.

I think I'll be starting this one soon. I haven't secured a copy yet, though!

I'm starting this one today. 💀

Having grown up on Quincy, MD, I find forensics fascinating. (I'm telling my age, huh?)

This book got a bit repetitive at times, more like a collection of essays that re-visited previous material. Perhaps they were written so that one could read about a particular case without the need to start on page 1.

No matter, though. The cases were intriguing, I enjoyed learning about the origins of the cadaver research, and I got a chuckle from the dashes of humor that were thrown in occasionally.

I may need to add some Patricia Cornwell to my TBR, as well as the fiction Body Farm series that Chalmation mentioned. I'm glad you suggested this book, Beth.

Beth, did you ever read this one? Regardless, I'm grateful that you suggested it, and that Chalmation told us about the fictional series. I'll be looking into that one and Cornwell's books. 💀😊

I haven't yet! I'll be reading it by the weekend.

Sorry I'm dragging on it!

Finished! Wow, that was a fascinating read. I was really interested in learning how he applied his knowledge directly to cases.

I hadn’t realized how much Cornwall publicize Bass’s work. I remember reading Body Farm years ago (along with many of the Scarpetta books). Definitely time to pick her up again.

I agree with you about the repetition. I found myself thinking, “hey, you explained this already!” But, honestly, it didn’t hurt too much because I don’t have the greatest memory for details.

And I’m with you on Quincy, MD! I always found it weird that Oscar Madison became Quincy. 😂 But Klugman had some great roles, including at least 1 Twilight Zone and the movie Twelve Angry Men.

Thanks for reading this with me!