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author kathy reichs to reunite with creator of bones tv series at calgary wordfest
long before becoming a bestselling author, kathy reichs...
aug 9 2024
4 minute read
kathy reichs. credit: marie-reine mattera
cal
long before becoming a bestselling author, kathy reichs would drive her children crazy when watching a crime series on television.
the forensic anthropologist f elt the need to point out the scientific mistakes the writers were making, of which there were many.
“my kids wouldn’t watch shows with me,” says reichs. “when i would make comments like that, they would say, ‘you can keep quiet and you can listen. we don’t want to hear your critique.’ so apparently i did critique unrealistic shows.”
science has been at the centre of reichs’s work as a writer, just as it was with her work as a forensic anthropologist. while she has more or less retired from the latter career, her book series based on the investigations of temperance “tempe” brennan is still going strong. in fact, reichs just released her 23rd “tempe” book, fire and bones. as with all her books, this instalment promises to mix a murder mystery with character development and some science-based criminal investigation.
reichs always wants her legion of devoted readers to learn something new with each outing.
“in this one, we learn a bit about fire and arson and the impact of fire on the human body, which is not good,” reichs says.
presumably, it gets more technical than that. the plot involves tempe being brought to washington, d.c. to investigate a fire in what she initially assumes will be a routine call. but when a body is discovered in a hidden sub-basement of the home, she learns the victim was not killed in the blaze. tempe is joined by an investigative journalist named ivy dole, and they discover that the crime appears to be linked to the descendants of the foggy bottom gang, who were bootleggers and racketeers in the 1930s and ’40s.
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“that’s actually what kicked off the idea for this book is reading about the foggy bottom gang,” reichs says. “foggy bottom is a neighbourhood in washington, d.c., so that’s where this book is set. i just liked the name. i actually wanted to call the book the foggy bottom bones but my publisher said we’re not doing that. i learned about the foggy bottom gang back in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, the illegal booze initially and then bootlegging and gambling. i thought that would make an interesting historical backstory for this particular plot. it started with that idea.”
reichs has maintained a remarkable consistency with her novels, creating 23 science-based investigations for tempe in the literary world. the books were also the inspiration for the long-running tv series bones, for which reichs was a consultant and writer. her direct involvement in the series meant it was a positive experience for reichs, which is not always the case when it comes to tv and film adaptations. on aug. 15, reichs will be reunited with hart hanson for a wordfest event at the central library. hanson was the creator of the tv show and also an author himself.
bones first aired in 2005 and ran for 12 seasons. it featured emily deschanel in the lead role, while david boreanaz co-starred as an fbi agent. it debuted eight years after reichs published deja dead, her first novel. reichs said she had been approached by others to adapt the books for television, but it wasn’t until hart and executive producer barry josephson came to the table that the chemistry seemed right.
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“when i talked to barry and hart, we seemed to be in agreement on a lot of things,” reichs says. “they wanted a character-based show, they wanted a show that had some humour to it. we wanted a main character that would be appealing, that would be engaging to audiences. we were all on the same page as that. putting humour into the books, which i do, and the tv show — both of which deal with violent death — that’s a hard call. i think the writers did a great job with that.”
reichs admits she would never have dreamed the book series would have lasted this long. when she penned the first one in the mid-1990s, she had no publisher and no writing experience. part of the success, she says, may have been timing. the 1995 o.j. simpson trial seemed to have whetted the public’s appetite for learning about forensics.
“it was 1997 when the first book came out,” she says. “it was time for strong female protagonists. it was also time for forensic science. no one paid any attention to us and then for some reason in the late 1990s, people became fascinated with forensic science, all aspects: forensic pathology, forensic chemistry, fire and arson analysis, microfibre analysis, whatever it happened to be. csi came on air, my books came out. there was just a swell of interest in science.”
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that said, there are still some misconceptions about the role of science in investigating crime.
“the big misconception because of books and tv series is that every crime gets solved,” she says. “that is certainly not the case. they talk about something called the csi effect. juries are used to seeing it and they expect forensic science in every single case. if you’ve got a fender bender and someone is suing someone else, you’re probably not going to get a lot of forensic science in there.”
kathy reichs will be at the patricia a. whelan performance library at the central library on aug. 15 at 7 p.m. the event is hosted by hart hanson.
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