What is the body farm? It is a research facility at the University of Tennessee where students who are studying forensics can learn about the various stages of decomposition of bodies. There are hundreds of corpses in various states of disrepair. Some bodies are above ground and others are buried.

Angie St. Claire, a forensic analyst with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, asks Dr. Brockton who is in charge of the body farm for help. Angie's sister has died and the death has been ruled a suicide. Angie does not believe her sister committed suicide. Her belief is that her sister was murdered and probably by her own husband. To add fuel to the fire, the husband did not waste any time burying Angie's sister. In fact, she was not embalmed. The difficult part is that Angie has to prove her accusations.

Dr. Brockton agrees to help Angie. He also believes that Angie's sister was murdered because suicide by shotgun is rare, especially among women. As he is beginning his investigation into Angie's sister's death, some strange things start to happen. A dog has found not one but two sculls which end up belonging to adolescents. These sculls also appear to contain fractures. Their search to identify the victims leads them to the North Florida Boy's Reformatory. A diary, apparently written by one of the students, has been found and claimed that one wrong move could land a boy in the Bone Yard. As Dr. Brockton continues his investigation, he finds opposition from the local Sheriff. Why? What is the Sheriff hiding?

Are Angie and Dr. Brockton able to find the answers that will explain how her sister really died? What is going on with the second mystery involving the sculls?

The writing team of Jefferson Bass is never short on details regarding the body farm. Some of the details will make you cringe as you are reading this book. The Bone Yard involves a mystery within a mystery. How is that for a double treat? Most of the action happens beforehand but the exciting part is following Dr. Brockton and watching him using his expertise in order to put all the pieces of the puzzle together to find the truth. The forensic details make for an interesting read as well as one that is also educational for the reader. I have enjoyed several of the books written by the team of Jefferson Bass. The Bone Yard really held my attention and I could not wait to read the next chapter. If you enjoy investigations involving forensics, The Bone Yard is a must read.

I could never understand how anyone would harm an animal. Dog fighting operations inflict such cruelty and terrible treatment to dogs in order to “toughen them up”. This torture is beyond belief. It is difficult to comprehend how anyone could stand by and watch this brutal blood sport.

Oogy is a dog that suffered from the brutal sport of dog fighting. Fighting dogs that will not fight are usually destroyed in very inhumane ways such as being electrocuted, hung, stabbed, and drowned, etc. Oogy was probably given to another dog to be torn apart. This is another way to destroy a dog that will not fight. Oogy was used as bait. He was tied up and left there for a Pit Bull to tear apart. That is exactly what happened. The left side of Oogy’s face was torn off including his left ear. Then he was left in a cage to bleed to death. This is only some of the injuries that occurred to this dog. More damage to Oogy would be discovered later.

Oogy was discovered when police raided the dog-fighting center. He was taken to an emergency hospital. Diane Klein, who was the Director of Operations, pleaded with Dr. Bianco to look at the dog to see if anything could be done to save him. After Dr. Bianco’s exam, he told Diane that the dog could not be saved because of infection and the trauma that would result because of surgery. Diane, refusing to give up, told Dr. Bianco he had to save the dog.

Dr. Bianco performed surgery on Oogy and it lasted for several hours. Shortly thereafter, Oogy had another complication. He did not want to eat. Dr. Bianco had a feeling as to what might be wrong and dug into the back of Oogy’s jaw with forceps and felt loose jawbone. He extracted a piece of the jawbone. The bone was crushed during the violent attack. When Oogy tried to eat, the loose bone was digging into the roof of his mouth causing extreme pain even though he did not show anyone how much pain he was in. Thanks to everyone on the staff, Oogy now began his journey to recovery.

The Levin family came to Dr. Bianco’s office with their cat and they were well aware this would be the last time because the cat was very ill. As they were in the office, Oogy came running over to the family and showered them with kisses. The family fell in love with Oogy immediately. The father asked whom the dog belonged to and Dr. Bianco told him Oogy did not belong to anyone. The Levin family adopted Oogy. Oogy seemed to know when he saw the Levin family that he would soon be part of them. Was this fate or what?

Oogy had to undergo a few more operations as he grew to get rid of some of the scar tissue and an ACL tear. After what he had been through as a pup, life with the Levin family was like being in heaven.

I am an animal lover and it was difficult for me to get through the part of this book that went into detail about the injuries that Oogy had as a result of the dog fighting Pit Bull attack. On the other hand, this book was a delightful read to see how so many people worked together to save Oogy. Thank goodness there are people in this world like Diane Klein, Dr. Bianco and the Levin family. Oogy will make you cry but it will also make you laugh. We can only hope that more and more will be done to stop this cruel “sport” of dog fighting. Oogy is a touching story about people coming together to save a dog who in turn helped bring something special into each and every one of their lives. Oogy is a very special dog that would not give up the will to survive.

Larry Levin did an excellent job of giving the readers the details of Oogy’s life through the good and bad times. It was interesting to read about Oogy’s antics and that will make you laugh.

All you have to do is look at the cover of this book and you will fall in love with Oogy!