Speaking in Bones Author Background Kathy Reichs Born: 1950, Chicago Illinois Education: B.A. (Anthropolgy) American University; PhD in Physical Anthropolgy, Northwestern University Dr. Kathy Reichs is an American forensic anthropologist, crime writer and academic. She is best known for her Temperance Brennan series of books following the life and career of a Book Groups @ Blue Mountains Library forensic anthropologist working at the Laboratoire de Medecine Legale in Montreal. Temperance (Tempe) Brennan is based closely on Reichs herself - she has said that “some of Tempe’s personality traits are also mine”1, and they both have the same CV. Unlike Brennan however, Dr. Reichs is not an alcoholic. Reichs’ first novel in the series,Déjà Dead, was a huge success, despite the author being more invested in her career as a Professor of Anthropology in the Carolinas and the official Forensic Pathologist for North Carolina and Québec than pursuing a writing career when she wrote it. While the idea for the novel and the character had been in Reichs’ mind for several years, she did not begin to write until she realised that there was significant public interest in her line of work. Reichs uses real career experiences in her books, and is “fastidiously conscientious about getting the science right”2. Speaking in Bones is the 18th book in the series. The success of the novels led to the television series Bones, also based on the character of Temperance Brennan, which ran from 2005 to 2017. Dr. Reichs was a producer on the show, wrote three episodes, and also made a cameo appearance in one episode. In the Bones universe, Dr. Brennan writes successful mystery novels featuring a fictional forensic anthropologist named Kathy Reichs. Dr. Reichs has lent her expertise to some high-profile and international cases. She has travelled to Rwanda to testify at the UN Tribunal on Genocide, and helped exhume a mass grave in Guatemala. She has also aided in the identification of war dead from World War II, Korea, and Southeast Asia, as well as assisting in the recovery of remains at the World Trade Centre following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In 2018 she was appointed to the Order of Canada. Dr Reichs is married with one son, Brendan, and two daughters, Kerry and Courtney. While a native of Chicago, she currently divides her time between Charlotte, North Carolina and Montreal, Québec. Sources: Author website, Wikipedia 1"Meet this season's best discovery: Kathy Reichs". Alden Mudge, Bookpage, Sept 1997. 2"Kathy Reichs: The ice queen of crime". Peter Stanford. The Independent. 21 July 2006. Speaking in Bones Book Summary Dr. Temperence Brennan finds herself drawn into a world of dark secrets and dangerous beliefs, where good and evil blur. Professionally, Brennan knows exactly what to do—test, analyse, identify. Her Book Groups @ Blue Mountains Library personal life is another story. She’s at a loss, wondering how to answer police detective Andrew Ryan’s marriage proposal. But the matter of matrimony takes a backseat when murder rears its head. Hazel “Lucky” Strike—a strident amateur detective who mines the Internet for cold cases—comes to Brennan with a tape recording of an unknown girl, held prisoner and terrorized. Strike is convinced that the voice is that of eighteen-year-old Cora Teague, who went missing more than three years earlier. Strike is also certain that the teenager’s remains are gathering dust in Temperance Brennan’s lab. Brennan has doubts about working with a self-styled websleuth. But when the evidence seems to add up, Brennan’s next stop is the treacherous backwoods where the chilling recording (and maybe Cora Teague’s bones) were discovered. Her forensic field trip only turns up more disturbing questions—along with gruesome proof of more untimely deaths. While local legends of eerie nocturnal phenomena and sinister satanic cults abound, it’s a zealous and secretive religious sect that has Brennan spooked and struggling to separate the saints from the sinners. But there’s nothing, including fire and brimstone, that can distract her from digging up the truth and taking down a killer— even as Brennan finds herself in a place where angels fear to tread, devils demand their due, and she may be damned no matter what. Source: Author website Speaking in Bones Discussion Questions 1. I seriously dislike reading the autopsy scenes that often pop up in crime fiction. When the Book Groups @ Blue Mountains Library scalpel flashes and the cutting is nigh, my trembling heart cries, “Please, can’t you just bury the poor guy?” (from a review by Patrick Anderson in The Washington Post, 21 July 2015). Do the lengthy technical descriptions of Tempe's work enhance the novel...or do you find them distracting, off-putting, or overly detailed? 2. Reichs uses First Person point of view. This means that the reader is privy only to the information that the protagonist receives directly, and that information is filtered through the protagonist’s personality and perception. Do you think this style works in a thriller? What would have been the effect if we could have been aware of the killer’s thoughts and plans? 3. “A habit of taking things apart may explain why Kathy Reichs, forensic anthropologist and successful thriller writer, seems unable to string two words together”. Will Cohu, writing in The Telegraph in 2004, complains about the author’s habit of writing truncated sentences that leave words out. For example, ““I have little to report. Still waiting on DNA from the bones, trace from the concrete. A lobotomy on Slidell.” (p.187). Do you enjoy this staccato style, and how do you think it serves the novel? 4. “Death Becomes Her”, reviewing the novel for CrimeFiction.com, suggests that newcomers to this series may be disadvantaged by the minimal backstory offered in this instalment. Have you read other books in the series? How much did you know about Tempe’s backstory before picking up this novel, and do you think it affected your enjoyment of this book? 5. Kathy Reichs and Temperence Brennan could be compared to Patricia Cornwell and her heroine, Dr. Kay Scarpetta. If you are familiar with Cornwell’s works, how would you say the two writers (and their heroines) compare? Why do you think forensic professionals are such popular protagonists? 6. One reviewer (Kylie, for athrillaweek.com) says that Tempe “seems to be reasonably intelli- gent, but yet time and time again she does really stupid stuff”. On at least one occasion in this story, Dr Brennan places herself in a potentially life-threatening situation, without a plan or support. Did you find this thrilling, or irritating? 7. Just for Fun… Kathy Reich’s early novels in the series incorporate elements of French in their titles in keeping with their Quebec setting, and she has now moved on to including the word “Bones” in every one. What might she choose next as a title theme? Speaking in Bones Reviews “I read Reichs for the same reason I watch CSI or Silent Witness...it's about the intellectual challenge of trying to work it out before the detectives do “ - Lesley Mason, thebookbag.co.uk Book Groups @ Blue Mountains Library As ever with a Kathy Reichs book, Speaking in Bones’ strengths lie in the intriguing detail that surrounds Tempe Brennan’s work, brought vividly to life in a way that only someone who has worked in the field they’re writing about can achieve. The forensic detail is fascinating, and Reichs is one of the few writers I know who can get away with frequent info dumps. Her only habit that I could happily have less of is the frequent foreshadowing and the constant ending of chapters on minor cliff-hangers. Foreshadowing is always annoying, and the cliff-hangers soon pall as a technique. - Linda Wilson, crimereview.co.uk A hallmark of Kathy Reichs' Temperance Brennan novels is how she incorporates a solid knowledge of forensics in a way that a novice can understand the intricacies, yet still appeal to an expert in the field. In "Speaking in Bones," Reichs uses Temperance's work as a forensic anthropologist in an involving, complex plot that combines science, missing persons, fanatical religion and amateur sleuths. This latest novel in the series moves at a brisk pace, taking the reader deep into the investigation. -Oline H. Cogdill, The Lowell Sun Autopsies aside, “Speaking in Bones” is smart and pleasurable. […] It’s an interesting plot, but I was equally impressed by Reichs’s characterization of Brennan. She surely ranks with Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone among the most interesting women protagonists in American crime fiction. Besides fighting crime, Brennan is busy dealing with her mother, sexist colleagues in law enforcement and two men who are candidates for her affections. […] The book has too much medical jargon, but it also features crisp writing that’s thoughtful, tough-minded and lyrical[…] Still, the novel’s most memorable line is Brennan’s declaration that “The Devil’s Tail bucket definitely contained Mason Gulley’s head.” Trust me, that makes perfect sense in context. Thus are murders solved. - Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post Speaking in Bones Reviews (continued) Book Groups @ Blue Mountains Library […]The faithful will not be disappointed with Speaking in Bones. If you’re coming to the series cold, however, it is a different matter. I know that Tempe has a huge and complicated back story and it really can’t be trotted out every time a new book is released, but I feel Reichs has erred too far on the side of caution this time – meaning that newcomers may feel a little left out.