Kathy Reichs

Dr. Kathleen Joan Reichs is an American crime writer, forensic anthropologist and academic. She is a professor emerita of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is well known for inspiring the television series Bones.

Early life and education

Kathleen Joan Toelle was born in 1948 in Chicago, Illinois.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in anthropology from American University in 1971. In 1972, she completed her Master of Arts in physical anthropology at Northwestern University, where, in 1975, she completed her PhD, also in physical anthropology.

Academia and anthropology

Since 1975, Reichs has taught at Northern Illinois University, University of Pittsburgh, Concordia University, and McGill University, and currently holds a position as professor emerita of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In the past, Kathy Reichs has consulted for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in North Carolina.
Reichs has appeared in Tanzania to testify at the United Nations's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. She has assisted Clyde Snow and the Foundation for Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology in an exhumation in the area of Lake Atitlan in the highlands of southwest Guatemala. She was a member of the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team assigned to assist at the World Trade Center disaster.
She is one of 100 anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology and is on the board of directors of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. She is also affiliated with the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Quebec.

Fiction

In addition to technical books, as of January 2019, Reichs has written 23 novels, which have been translated into 30 languages. 20 of those novels constitute the "Temperance Brennan" series. Her first novel, Déjà Dead, won the 1997 Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel.
The fictional heroine in her novels, Temperance "Tempe" Brennan, is also a forensic anthropologist. Her lifestyle closely mimics that of her creator, with Reichs stating that Brennan and she "have the same CV" and that "Some of Tempe's personality traits are also mine," but there are differences in their personal lives, such as the character's alcoholism. A good portion of the novels are based on real life science, and Reichs has stated that she is "fastidiously conscientious about getting the science right." She has used experience from her career in her novels and said about Déjà Dead that "Everything I describe in the book, I actually did." In the novel Grave Secrets, she uses her experience from her visit to Guatemala.
She has also co-written the young adult novels series named Virals, centered on Tempe's great-niece, Tory Brennan, and a pack of her friends, Ben, Hiram, Shelton, and wolfdog Cooper.
A stand-alone novel, Two Nights, published July 11, 2017, features Sunday Night, a tough-talking, scarred heroine.

Television

The 2005 Fox television series Bones is inspired by Reichs' life and novels. The series borrows the name of her books' heroine, Temperance "Bones" Brennan. As in the books, Brennan is a forensic anthropologist; however, there are many differences: the television character is younger, more socially awkward, and is based in the Jeffersonian, a fictionalized version of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Additionally, the Brennan character in the TV series moonlights as an author, writing about a fictional forensic anthropologist named Kathy Reichs. Aside from the character's name and occupation, there are few similarities between the TV show and the novels.
Reichs worked as a producer on the show to "keep the science honest". She appeared in the second-season episode "Judas on a Pole", playing Professor Constance Wright, a forensic anthropologist on the Jeffersonian's board of trustees who conducts Zack Addy's dissertation defense.
Reichs wrote the season five episode, "The Witch in the Wardrobe," the season nine episode, "The Dude in the Dam," and wrote the season eleven episode, "The Stiff in the Cliff" with her daughter Kerry.

Casey Anthony murder trial

In 2011, Reichs was an expert witness in the Casey Anthony murder trial. Reichs was reluctant to get involved, but later agreed and performed a full skeletal analysis of Anthony's daughter, Caylee, but could not determine a cause of death. She was, however, able to conclude that there was no evidence of abuse and that the child appeared to be well-nourished.

Personal life

Reichs has two daughters and a son.

Selected works

Academic papers

Academic books

Temperance Brennan series

Stand-alone books

Virals series

This series was co-authored by Reich's son, Brendan Reichs. Tory Brennan, the great niece of Temperance Brennan, is the titular character of this series.

Title	Published	ISBN	Notes
Virals	2010
Seizure	2011
Code	2013
Exposure	2014
Terminal	2015
Trace Evidence	2016		a short story collection including Shock, Shift, Swipe and Spike.

Novellas

Reichs has released six downloadable short stories:

Title	Published	Notes
Shift	2013	Set in the Virals country, but featuring both the Virals characters and Temperance Brennan.
Bones In Her Pocket	2013	A Temperance Brennan story giving details of a case briefly mentioned in Bones of the Lost.
Swipe	2013	A Virals story, also featuring Temperance Brennan, set at Comic-Con in San Diego.
Swamp Bones	2014	A Temperance Brennan story set in the Florida Everglades.
Shock	2015	A Virals story telling how they first meet.
Bones On Ice	2015	A Temperance Brennan story of how she gets wrapped up in the ultimate cold case: a death on Mount Everest.