Bücher von Jefferson Bass

Miranda Lovelady, Dr. Bill Brockton's protégé, is spending the summer helping excavate a newly discovered chamber beneath the spectacular Palace of the Popes in Avignon, France. There she discovers a stone chest inscribed with a stunning claim: inside lie the bones of none other than Jesus of Nazareth. Faced with a case of unimaginable proportions, Miranda summons Brockton for help. Both scientists are skeptical?after all, fake relics abounded during the Middle Ages?but evidence for authenticity looks strong initially, and soon grows stronger.Brockton and Miranda link the bones to the haunting image on the Shroud of Turin, revered by millions as the burial cloth of Christ, and then a laboratory test finds the bones to be 2,000 years old. The finding triggers a deadly tug-of-war between the anthropologists, the Vatican, and a deadly zealot who hopes to use the bones to bring about the Second Coming?and trigger the end of time.

Forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton has spent twenty-five years solving brutal murders?but none so horrific and merciless as his latest case: A ravaged set of skeletal remains found chained to a tree on a remote mountainside. But the shocking crime is only the beginning. Mid-case, the unthinkable happens: The deadliest criminal Brockton has ever foiled?the sadistic serial killer Nick Satterfield?escapes from prison, bent on vengeance.But simply killing Brockton isn't enough. Satterfield wants to make him suffer first, by destroying everything Brockton holds dear: his son, daughter-in-law, grandsons; even -Miranda, his longtime graduate assistant, now on the verge of completing her Ph.D. and launching a forensic career of her own.The dangers from all directions force Brockton to question two things on which he's based his entire career?the justice system and the quality of mercy?and to wonder: can the two coexist? If not, which will Brockton choose in his ultimate moment of truth?