Kathy Reichs

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 (with her son Brendan) 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 (Emily Deschanel) 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.