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The Cult of Dr. Bill Bass

Mary Jo Tarvin (left) and cousin Susan Seals look out for Dr. Bass at all his speaking engagements. If an event will be particularly hectic, Seal and her husband, Jim, sometimes enlist one of their children to help.

Photo by Justin Fee, Justin Fee

Mary Jo Tarvin (left) and cousin Susan Seals look out for Dr. Bass at all his speaking engagements. If an event will be particularly hectic, Seal and her husband, Jim, sometimes enlist one of their children to help.

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  • Forensic science in crime solving in general, and Dr. Bill Bass and the Body Farm in particular, got a popularity boost with the publication of Patricia Cornwell's novel The Body Farm in 1994. One character was patterned after Bass, and several scenes set at the UT facility.
  • In October, the Board of Trustees at University of Tennessee approved the naming of the Dr. William M. Bass III Forensic Anthropology Center, which will be constructed near the UT Medical Center. He is the third generation of educators in his family to have a school building named after him.
  • Forensic science in crime solving in general, and Dr. Bill Bass and the Body Farm in particular, got a popularity boost with the publication of Patricia Cornwell's novel The Body Farm in 1994. One character was patterned after Bass, and several scenes set at the UT facility.
  • Bones of Betrayal is set in Oak Ridge, where co-author Jon Jefferson lived for years. It incorporates both a modern mystery and a cold case from the Manhattan Project era.
  • Mary Jo Tarvin (left) and cousin Susan Seals look out for Dr. Bass at all his speaking engagements. If an event will be particularly hectic, Seal and her husband, Jim, sometimes enlist one of their children to help.

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