Education
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Jefferson has written eight novels in the Body Farm series under the pen name, in consultation with renowned forensic anthropologist Doctor Bill Bass, as well as two non-fiction books about Doctor Bass’s life and forensic cases. Born in Saint Joseph, Missouri, Jefferson spent most of his youth in Guntersville, Alabama. He did graduate study in English and comparative literature at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Prior to writing books, Jefferson worked as a staff science writer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
As an educator and administrator at Planned Parenthood of East Tennessee. As a freelance magazine and newspaper journalist.
And as a television documentary writer/producer. His great writings have been published in The New York Times, Newsweek, United States of America Today, and Popular Science and have been broadcast on National Public Radio. His documentaries include programs for the A&East Network, The History Channel, and the Oxygen Network.
He also wrote and directed for the National Geographic Channel a two-part documentary -- Biography of a Corpse and Anatomy of a Corpse—about the University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility, which is also widely known as the Body Farm.
The success of the memoir Death’s Acre inspired Jon Jefferson to create a series of collaborative crime-fiction novels with Doctor Bass using the pen name In 2006, the pair published a debut novel, Carved in Bone, which reached # 25 on the New York Times Best Seller List. Every year thereafter, published another novel in the Body Farm series, including: Flesh and Bone, The Devil"s Bones, Bones of Betrayal, The Bone Thief, The Bone Yard, The Inquisitor"s Key and Cut to the Bone. Based on accurate forensic science, the Body Farm series has helped to increase popular interest in forensic criminal investigations involving the remains of the human body.
One of his best known, Beyond the Body Farm is about the 1983 Benton fireworks disaster.
Jon Jefferson now lives and writes in Tallahassee, Florida. He has not yet decided whether he will donate his own body to the Body Farm.
Carved in Bone. William Morrow. 2006.
X.; excerpt
Flesh and Bone. William Morrow. 2007.; excerpt
The Devil’s Bones.
William Morrow. 2008.; excerpt
Bones of Betrayal.
William Morrow. 2009.; excerpt
The Bone Thief.
William Morrow. 2010.; excerpt
The Bone Yard. William Morrow. 2011.
.; excerpt
The Inquisitor"s Key.
William Morrow. May 2012. X.
Cut to the Bone. William Morrow. September 2013.
The Breaking Point.
William Morrow. June 2015. Death"s Acre. Berkley Trade. 2004.
; excerpt
Beyond the Body Farm.
William Morrow. 2007.; excerpt
"Cold Hits Meet Cold Facts: Are deoxyribonucleic acid Matches Infallible?," an essay in Transcript, Spring 2008
"The Making of a Phenom," an essay in Hopkins Medicine, Spring 2008
"Mapping Human Rights," an essay in Transcript, Spring 2010
"Strange Bedfellows," an essay in Huffington Post, March 2011
"Fact, Fiction Merge in Juvenile Justice Horror," an article in The Tampa Bay Times, March 2011.