Dr. Bill Brockton is a world-famous forensic anthropologist who has spent his career surrounded by death and decay, all in the name of science. As the founder of the Body Farm, the only laboratory devoted to the study of human decomposition, his groundbreaking discoveries have revolutionized the way law enforcement solve crimes. But the loss of his wife two years ago has forced him to reflect on his life in new ways. When an unusual corpse—an almost perfectly preserved mummy—is discovered in East Tennessee’s mountainous Cooke County, Brockton is called in. But even this seasoned expert is hard-pressed to identify the cause and time of death. And he won’t be getting any help from the locals, an suspicious, insular community who don’t take appreciate meddling outsiders, expecially in an investigation that reopens old wounds and rekindles long-standing feuds. . . .