Kathy Reichs’s first novel Déjà Dead catapulted her to fame when it became a New York Times bestseller and won the 1997 Ellis Award for Best First Novel. Dr. Reichs was also a producer of the hit Fox TV series, Bones, which is based on her work and her novels.
Dr. Reichs is one of only 100 forensic anthropologists ever certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology. She served on the Board of Directors and as Vice President of both the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, and is currently a member of the National Police Services Advisory Council in Canada. She is aProfessor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.
Dr. Reichs is a native of Chicago, where she received her Ph.D. at Northwestern. She now divides her time between Charlotte, NC and Montreal, Québec.
1. Tell us about your Background and Journey?
I was born in Chicago, grew up partly in Illinois, partly in the far northland of Minnesota. I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Skeletal Biology from American University in 1971.
A year later I completed a Master of Arts in Physical Anthropology at Northwestern University. In 1975, I finished my Ph.D in Physical Anthropology, also at Northwestern.
2. What inspired you to pursue Anthropology as a Career?
When I was a kid, I liked to read the popular archaeology works. I loved Thor Heyerdahl’s books, especially the ones about the Kon-Tiki and Easter Island. When I went to my 10-year high school reunion and the little yearbook listed what every student had gone on to do, and I’d gotten my doctorate, everyone said, “Makes sense, you were always reading those archaeology books in high school.”
So apparently it was more of an interest than I remembered. Forensics requires some additional skills that aren’t necessarily those of the bio-archaeologist, even one with extensive knowledge of osteology and the human skeleton.
So eventually I pursued additional training and submitted myself for candidacy for certification from the American Board of Forensic Anthropologists. That was a bear of an examination, both the written and practical portions!
3. When did you first realize you wanted to be a Writer?
It’s difficult to say what inspired me to start writing non-fiction. It was more like the the opportunity presented itself and I took a shot. In 1994, I’d been promoted to full professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and I had the freedom to pursue new projects.
I’d written textbooks and articles for scientific journals but wondered how I would do with fiction. I’d just completed my analysis and testimony concerning the victim of a serial murderer and decided to use aspects of that case as a broad brush for what became Déjà Dead.
4. Being a Forensic Anthropologist, how does it help you as an Author?
In the Temperance Brennan books and the television series Bones, I offer a peek into my professional life - my work as a forensic anthropologist. But I want my books to be more than just murder mysteries. I like to encourage the reader to consider broader societal issues.
Grave Secrets (2002) tackles Guatemala's ‘disappeared’. Bare Bones (2003) involves the trafficking of endangered species. Bones of the Lost addresses the issue of human trafficking (2013). I don't want to repeat serial killer after serial killer. I take a core idea from real life - perhaps, but not always a case on which I’ve consulted.
Then I change the details and ask myself - What if this? What if that? I originally trained as a bio-archaeologist, so I am also drawn to questions of historical significance. One of my favorite cases involved Jean LeBer, a woman who died in 1714. In the early nineties, Jean LeBer was proposed to the Vatican for beatification.
I was hired by the Archdiocese of Montreal to exhume and analyze her remains. This experience led to one of the plotlines in my second book, Death du Jour (1999).
5. What was the idea behind producing a TV series ‘Bones’?
In 2005, I was approached by TV producers who shared my vision, wanting a show with humor and unique main characters, not just another police procedural. The result was Bones. Writing for TV is quite different from writing books. With novels, it’s very much the classic image of the lone author typing away at a computer keyboard.
With TV, at least in the early stages, it’s a collaborative process. All of the writers gather in the writer’s room and brainstorm a storyline together. Then the script writer must pitch the idea to the showrunner for approval. Once that is given, then the writer is sent off to complete an outline, then the script.
I enjoyed the whole process—but I think that has a lot to do with the fact that we had an amazing showrunner, Hart Hanson, and an incredibly congenial writing staff.
6. Are you working on anything at the present you would like to share with your readers about?
I’m currently working on final edits for my twentieth Temperance Brennan, The Bone Code. It will be out July 6, 2021.
7. Which Author has inspired you the most and Why?
Agatha Christie and PD James were right there at the beginning of the genre. Now there are a lot more ladies in the game - Karin Slaughter, Val McDermid and Tana French would be good examples. And many of the gentlemen also rock - Dennis Lehane, Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, to name a few. I’d have to say I like the grittier, darker type of crime fiction.
8. What tips and advice would you give to aspiring Writers?
Write every day, even when you aren’t feeling motivated or inspired. As with many disciplines, writing requires constant polishing. If you hate what you’ve written at the end of the day, you can always edit your work. Or toss it out. Just keep writing.
9. Which is your favorite Book and Why?
It would be impossible to pick my favorite. I love Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series, and Terry Pratchett’s Disc World series. That’s the type of thing I read for pure relaxation.
From teaching FBI agents how to detect and recover human remains, to separating and identifying commingled body parts in her Montreal lab, as a forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs has brought her own dramatic work experience to her mesmerizing forensic thrillers. For years she consulted to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in North Carolina and to the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Québec. Dr. Reichs has travelled to Rwanda to testify at the UN Tribunal on Genocide, and helped exhume a mass grave in Guatemala. As part of her work at JPAC (Formerly CILHI) she aided in the identification of war dead from World War II, Korea, and Southeast Asia. Dr. Reichs also assisted in the recovery of remains at the World Trade Center following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Interviewed By - Serene Ingle
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