Flesh and Bone: A Body Farm Novel

　　美國傳奇刑事人類學家、人體農場實驗室創辦人比爾．巴斯
　　繼紐約時報暢銷首作《雕刻人骨》，又一部宛若實境的犯罪鑑識小說

　　一具遭凌虐的年輕屍體在查塔努加近郊被發現。為了協助地方法醫中心的潔絲．卡特辦案，布洛克頓博士回到人體農場，選了一具體型、年紀相仿的屍體，並複製傷口，企圖以重建現場的做法確認被害人的死亡時間。

　　正當案件要水落石出之際，可怕的事情發生了：有另一具屍體被棄於人體農場，此舉不僅混淆了警方視聽，更使布洛克頓成了頭號嫌疑犯，讓他的事業與生活完全陷入困境。檢方甚至因為掌握了關鍵影帶，而起訴布洛克頓。一夕之間這位深受歡迎的明星教授成了人人喊打的過街老鼠。困境的網似乎將他愈箍愈緊，讓他喘不過氣來，手中到底還有什麼籌碼，能證明自己的清白呢？……

　　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 mechanical 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 Chattanooga death scene at the Body Farm, but a killer tampers with it in a shocking way: placing another corpse at the setting, confusing authorities and putting Brockton's career and life in jeopardy. Soon Brockton himself is accused of the horrific new crime, and the once-beloved professor becomes an outcast. As the net around him tightens, 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, its twists and turns marked by drama and pathos, humor and grief, families and friends and enemies. With captivatingly real characters, plus fascinating scientific insights drawn from the case files of a living forensic legend, this astonishing novel confirms Jefferson Bass as one of our most talented authors of suspense.

　　★本書中譯版《人骨告白》由臉譜出版。

作者簡介

比爾．巴斯博士 Bill Bass

　　是法醫圈內的傳奇人物，曾經協助偵辦幾百宗刑案。他幫過的執法單位很多，從各地小鎮的司法行政單位到聯邦調查局都有，並在一九九三年和刑事鑑識專家李昌鈺博士來台參加國際鑑識研討會期間，協助偵辦日本女學生井口真理子在台失蹤案。

　　他創辦了一處實驗室，專門研究人體分解現象，這是世界上第一家，也是唯一專做這種研究的機構：「田納西大學人類學研究場」。暢銷書作家派翠西亞．康薇爾寫了熱門小說《人體農場》，讓那處研究場名垂千古。巴斯發表過許多學術論文，含協力著作共有兩百多篇，其中多篇是根據實際案例寫成，包括他幫忙起訴或解答的謀殺案與神祕疑案。

約拿．傑佛遜 Jon Jefferson

　　是位資深記者、科學作家和紀錄片製作人。他為「歷史頻道」、「娛樂之藝術」（A and E）和「國家地理頻道」製作過多部節目，而且多家媒體都曾以專論介紹他的著述，包括：《紐約時報》、《美國今日報》和《通俗科學雜誌》，國營公共電台也曾廣播介紹。

　　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.