A field of corpses, laid out in a macabre displayA serial killer who confounds even the most seasoned profilersA doctor whose life has been shattered by crimeplunged into the heart of a shocking investigation In this masterful new novel by Simon Beckett, #1 internationally bestselling author of Written in Bone and The Chemistry of Death, forensic anthropologist David Hunter is thrust into his first murder investigation on U.S. soiland his most devastating case yet.In the heat of a Tennessee summer, Dr. Hunter has come to Knoxvilles legendary Body Farmthe infamous field laboratory where law enforcement personnel study real corpsesto escape London and the violence that nearly destroyed his life. Hes also here to find out if hes still up to the job of sorting through death in all its strange and terrible forms. Hunter will soon find his answer when hes called to a crime scene in a remote Smoky Mountain cabina scene as grisly as it is bizarre.The body is taped to a table. Everything about the crime scenethe wounds, the decomposition, the microscopic evidencequickly short-circuits the tools and methods of forensic experts. Within days, Hunter knows hes dealing with a serial killer, someone intimately familiar with the intricacies of forensics. All around him, egos and hierarchies clashfrom the boasts of a renowned criminal profiler to the dogged work of a young female investigatorbut fate keeps pushing Hunter further into the heart of the manhunt. And the killer keeps coming up with surprises: booby-trapping corpses, faking times of death, swapping bodiesfinally turning his sights on after Hunter himself.An electrifying race against time, a fascinating journey into the world of forensic science, and a terrifying portrait of a killer in love with death itself, Whispers of the Dead is a thriller of the highest order.From the Hardcover edition.