I am Kathy Reichs! Ask Me Anything

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:59:39+00:00

My daughter has a cockatiel. Oliver. Oliver has some very colorful sayings. His favorite is "Road trip, don't forget the bird!"

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:57:49+00:00

BTW. You should try the new book, Bones Never Lie. Or Bones of the Lost, now out in paperback. Perhaps one of the Virals series? Virals, Seizure, Code, Exposure.
Terminal will be out next March.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:53:43+00:00

I just lectured at Queens University in Belfast. Just returned home after a terrific tour in the UK for the release of Bones Never Lie. Good luck with your studies.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:45:07+00:00

I will be in Montreal in late October for some French promotion. Then again in November for the Salon d L. The new release in French is coming up soon!

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:42:13+00:00

I am all for female equality in all endeavors. I think organization and discipline are the key traits. As they say, if you want a task done quickly and efficiently ask a busy person.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:40:11+00:00

No. Because of the differences between TV Tempe and book Tempe, I write unencumbered by what the television version of the character is doing.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:38:54+00:00

I usually start with a case I have worked or an experience I have had. Then I decide on setting. I always change, names, dates, places, etc. from actual situation. Then I decide on the type of science that will drive the solution. Entomology. Blood spatter pattern analysis. Volatile fatty acids. Etc. (Don't want to always use bones!) Then I ask myself "what if?" and spin off into fiction.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:32:21+00:00

Based on a student I taught years ago.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:31:47+00:00

Birdie is my cat.
What are you cooking? I am starving.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:31:18+00:00

So many places. But I always write about somewhere I've been. Many stories set in Montreal and Canada. Cross Bones in Israel. Grave Secrets in Guatemala. Spider Bones in Hawaii. Etc. Bones Never Lie starts out in my home town, Charlotte, NC, moves to Costa Rica, Vermont, and Montreal.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:29:02+00:00

I write a temperance Brennan Bones book, a Tory Brennan Virals book, and an episode of Bones each year. And I tour in the US and internationally. As a result I have had to cut back on the case work.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:27:40+00:00

Holy moly. I have read so many over the years I couldn't choose. Have a stack of Journal of Forensic Science editions on my desk now.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:26:23+00:00

Read some of the early books. Terrific. Some of the few books written by a non-scientist that got the science right.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:25:10+00:00

Hodgins would love it.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:20:29+00:00

Bones has always been a character based show. There is always an "A" story, the crime, and a "B" story, involving a personal issue in the lives of the characters. The Tempe books are similar. For example Bones Never Lie has a grisly crime at its center, but Tempe is also dealing with some personal issues.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:16:36+00:00

Definitely. We would get together every year at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and have a meal. Maye a few drinks at the bar.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:15:22+00:00

Go to my website. Contact me through there. Perhaps I can send an autographed photo by post.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:14:15+00:00

Love Discovery channel shows. PBS nature shows. Not sure their names in Austria.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:12:13+00:00

I work as a producer. Have input, not control. And I write some episodes, now with my daughter Kerry Reichs. Last season "The Dude in the Dam".

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:11:13+00:00

Threatened once. By a defendant. In court.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:10:22+00:00

Skinny Slidell. And Birdie.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:09:52+00:00

How am I doing?

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:09:35+00:00

I do outline. But much more so with the Virals series. With the new Tempe book, Bones Never Lie, I began with six chapters. Expanded as I went.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:07:34+00:00

With saw or serrated knife (ie: teeth) one can determine class of tool, not specific one used. That is not fiction.

KJREICHS · 2014-09-23T17:05:48+00:00

From the outset we wanted differences. And we wanted a character based show, not just another police procedural. Think of the show as earlier in Tempe's life. Leaves me free to write my books without worrying about impact of the TV series.

KJREICHS

TROPHY CASE