Kathy Reichs: Devil Bones

What I always keep in mind, though, is that I work with the dead, but for the living. I work to help families when someone has gone missing. I testify in court to bring justice if there has been a violent crime.

Q: This is now your eleventh Temperance Brennan novel. How do you keep them fresh?

A:I think the thing that gives my stories freshness is what gives them authenticity: the fact that I work in a medico-legal lab. I’m around forensics all the time. Cases are constantly coming in. There’s never any end to inspiration.

Each of my books is based loosely on a case that I’ve worked on or an experience that I’ve had. I never use exact details. I change the names, the dates, the places. I take the kernel of a scenario at the lab – unidentifiable body part found at a crash site, trash-bagged remains of endangered species – then spin off into a series of what-ifs.

What motivates me to stick with the same character is that she seems to have such resonance with readers. People genuinely like Temperance Brennan. The books are now printed in more than thirty languages. So the old gal has global appeal.

Q: Where/what next for Tempe Brennan?

A:The book I’m working on now starts out in Chicago. Tempe and Ryan (concerning whom she is still sorting out her feelings) have been asked to transport remains from the LSJML/Quebec Coroner’s Office to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office. While there, Tempe is faced with a disturbing discovery.

I was born in the Windy City and return each year to visit family. My family is large, Irish, extended. My husband’s is large, Latvian, extended.

While in Chicago, Tempe also visits family so readers finally meet members of the Petersons clan. The action then moves to Montreal. Problems at the lab. Problems with LaManche. Problems with her car. Problems with Ryan. Oh, my.