BONING UP
When most writers talk about the bones of a story they’re talking about the basics: plot, themes, setting, characters. When global bestselling crime writer Kathy Reichs talks about bones it’s in an entirely different context. As a forensic anthropologist, bones are her stock-in-trade, just as they are for her serial lead character Temperance Brennan, now in her nineteenth outing with A Conspiracy of Bones.
‘Forensic anthropology is the study of bones,’ says Kathy, just to make sure we’re getting the science right from the beginning. ‘It’s the exploration of the human skeleton. We’re brought in when a normal autopsy won’t work and we address questions of identity, cause of death, everything that we can tease out of the bones. We work very closely with forensic pathologists.’
Like Kathy – just like Kathy – Temperance is a forensic anthropologist. ‘Is she me? Professionally, completely. She goes to crime scenes. She works in a lab. For years I worked in a medical legal laboratory.’
Readers, she says, are drawn to Temperance because of her combination of intelligence, sass and sensitivity. ‘Temperance is smart. She’s independent and she’s able to do a difficult job in a largely man’s world. And yet she has flaws. She has weaknesses. She gets things wrong sometimes – which is realistic – but in the end she figures it out. Her personal issues she doesn’t always get right. She is layered. She can be impetuous. But she’s a pretty happy person.’
Temperance’s personal life is where her’s questions with the friendliness and courtesy of an approachable expert.
