Themes: Unrequited Love and Romantic Tension

As the earlier Body of Evidence (1991) presents a series of fractured relationships, The Body Farmpresents a series of unrequited loves, continuing Cornwell's hesitant, suspicious portrayals of human interaction. Emily had a crush on a boy from her church, but he plays a cruel adolescent prank by getting her to go somewhere to meet him, then not showing up. Creed Lindsey, the janitor at her school, likewise has a crush on Emily despite their vastly...

Themes: Scarpetta's View of Violence and Evil

As the affair between Scarpetta and Wesley progresses, Scarpetta thinks of the crimes they have investigated together, of how often the serial killers inflict sexual intercourse as an act of violence. Even during love-making, Scarpetta thinks of how knowledge of horrid violations of women has inhibited Wesley, as if the killers' "collective sins had cost him the right to enjoy a woman's body as he was enjoying mine." They decide to banish from...

Themes: Religious References and Themes

The novel gives Scarpetta a final trial when Lucy disappears from a Newport, Rhode Island, clinic where she is recovering from a head injury and alcohol abuse. Frantic, Scarpetta goes to Newport. Too upset to do the logical thing and hire a private detective, Scarpetta herself seeks Lucy in places such as restaurants likely to hire college-aged workers. Predictably, the search yields no results, until the weary Scarpetta unburdens herself to two...