Cut to the Bone: A Body Farm Novel

Acknowledgments

Solving crimes requires the intelligence and cooperation of many people. So does creating crime novels. Luckily, many smart people have been kind enough to help us with that latter task.

Art Bohanan — the real one, not the fictional one — was, as always, a good sport and a great source of insight into crime-scene and crime-lab work. So was forensic ace Amy George. Dawn Coppock and James Rochelle — smart, good-hearted people who love the mountains of east Tennessee — offered helpful information on strip mining and its environmental effects, especially the severe and lasting effects of mountaintop removal. Precision blaster John Koehler — a man who can topple a smokestack like a tree, or collapse a building into its own basement — provided a fascinating glimpse into the world of explosives.

Lt. Keith Debow, commander of the Knoxville Police Department’s SWAT team, was remarkably informative, patient, and good-humored in answering a fusillade of questions about the book’s SWAT-team scenario; so was Lt. Doug Stiles, the team’s previous commander. We appreciate their gracious help; we also appreciate their willingness to put themselves in harm’s way — in serious harm’s way — to protect the lives of others. Thanks also to Ed Buice and Special Agent Mike Keleher, at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, who offered insights and suggestions about how a sailor who came unhinged might be investigated.

No book about a recent serial killer would be complete or credible without drawing on the work of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, whose “profilers” are justly renowned for their insights into the darkest of criminal minds. Supervisory Special Agent James J. McNamara (retired), who headed the BSU’s serial-killer division for years, was generous with his time and helpful with his advice about what might motivate a sexual killer to add Dr. Bill Brockton to his list of potential victims. Sincere thanks to Jim McNamara, as well as to special agents Ann Todd and Angela Bell for making the connection with him possible. Tallahassee psychologist and researcher Thomas Joiner — author of The Perversion of Virtue: Understanding Murder-Suicide—also helped illuminate the dark corners and crevices of the soul.

To switch from serial murder to a slightly less frightening arena — the arena of publishing — we express our continuing gratitude to our agent, Giles Anderson, for keeping us gainfully and happily employed for the past decade (time does fly when you’re having fun!). Editorial consultant Heather Whitaker read an early draft of this novel and offered suggestions that made the book far more coherent and far more suspenseful, and the eagle-eyed Casey Whitworth proofread the galley pages and made them far more corrct. Er, correct.

We’re deeply grateful to a whole host of people at William Morrow and HarperCollins who make these books possible, especially our editor, Lyssa Keusch, and her associates, Amanda Bergeron and Rebecca Lucash; our publisher, Liate Stehlik, and deputy publisher, Lynn Grady; publicity wizard Danielle Bartlett; marketing director Kathy Gordon; online marketing guru Shawn Nicholls; the seldom-sung heroes in art and production, who turn computer files into actual books (and e-books) — production editor Julia Meltzer; designer Richard Aquan (great cover art for the dust jacket!); paperback art director Thomas Egner; and — of course — the sales staffers who actually persuade people to part with their hard-earned money to purchase our books, led by Doug Jones and Brian Grogan.

Last, to our wives, Carol Bass and Jane McPherson, for so many things that, if we listed them all, would make this book would be twice as long.