Kathy Reichs interview
Kathy Reichs is out promoting her 10th book, Bones to Ashes. In an online interview with Campbell Live, she talks about what her life as the real “Temperance Brennanâ€? is like. (Check out the video interview for yourself - it’s worth watching.)
Reichs is one of only 55 forensic anthropologists in North America. She deals mostly with looking at bones to determine the answers of the questions who is it and what was the cause of death. She occasionally works on what happened to the body after death, for example in the case of dismemberment. In her work, she can provide a biological profile of the victim – age, sex, height, race, medical history, and lifestyle habits (such as repetitive patterns).
Her real life cases inspire her novels, which in turn inspire the TV show Bones. Although Reichs admits laughingly that her real life lab is a little more “low tech� than the show. Obviously there is no ‘Angelator’ for her to use, and her storage of bones is more of a cardboard box sort instead of the classy display case on Bones.
She says she has to remain detached and not become emotionally involved in the cases she works on. Something that isn’t always easy as she can sometimes find herself wondering about the victims. Reichs says that one big myth of most TV crime shows is that every case is eventually solved. In truth, there are many that remain unsolved.
When asked about our culture’s fascination with murder mysteries and crime dramas, she says “murder is the ultimate wrong you can do� and that she believes that reading (or watching) a murder mystery gives people a voyeuristic look into the world of a murder case.
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