Kathy Reichs

Kathleen Joan "Kathy" Reichs (pronounced /ˈraɪks/1) is native of Chicago and works as a forensic anthropologist, an academic, and bestselling writer of mystery novels. She is a Professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, but is currently on indefinite leave.2 She divides her time between work for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of North Carolina, and for the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires hi et de Médecine Légale for the province of Québec. She is one of only fifty forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology3 and is on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. Her schedule also involves a number of speaking engagements around the world.

addition to technical books on Anthropology and Forensics, Kathy Reichs has written ten novels to date, which have been translated into 30 languages.6 Her first novel, Déjà Dead, won the 1997 Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel.

The fictional heroine in her novels, Temperance "Bones" Brennan, is also a forensic anthropologist. Her lifestyle closely mimics that of her creator. A good portion of the novels is based on real life science. Most of the techniques used and technology mentioned are things that Kathy Reichs uses in her real life job. The blood spatter analysis used in Deadly Decisions, for instance, is directly from her job. In the novel Grave Secrets she uses her experience from her visit to Guatemala to enhance the story. Reichs has said herself that she didn't want her character to be perfect and chose to give Temperance some history.

A 2005 FOX television series, Bones, is inspired by Reichs' life and writing.7 The series borrows the name of the books' heroine, Temperance "Bones" Brennan. As in the books, Temperance (Emily Deschanel) is a forensic anthropologist. She moonlights as an author, writing about a fictional forensic anthropologist named Kathy Reichs. The TV series does not tie in with the book series. It includes a cast of new characters and while the books are all set in either North Carolina or Montreal, the television series is based in Washington, D.C.

Reichs appeared in an episode of Bones, Judas on a Pole, in which she played Professor Constance Wright, a forensic anthropologist on the board performing Zack Addy's Thesis Defense.[