Those of you that have watched the Bones TV series will recognize Kathy Reichs as a producer of the popular show.  Temperance Brennan is the key character in both the books and the TV series and in essence Reichs is Brennan or Brennan is Reichs. However Brennan in the books is a much different character from the one in the TV series. For instance there is no Agent Booth in the books but there are a few romantic interests and an ex-husband. Rather than being an agnostic like Brennan in the TV series Brennan in the books was raised Catholic.For perspective, here is a short bio on Kathy Reichs from her website.

Dr. Reichs is one of only eighty-two forensic anthropologists ever certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology. She served on the Board of Directors and as Vice President of both the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, and is currently a member of the National Police Services Advisory Council in Canada. She is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.

This background, and the following, lead to compelling and authentic writing on the subject.  Again from the author’s website.

From teaching FBI agents how to detect and recover human remains, to separating and identifying commingled body parts in her Montreal lab, as a forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs has brought her own dramatic work experience to her mesmerizing forensic thrillers. For years she consulted to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in North Carolina, and continues to do so for the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Québec. Dr. Reichs has traveled to Rwanda to testify at the UN Tribunal on Genocide, and helped exhume a mass grave in Guatemala. As part of her work at JPAC (Formerly CILHI) she aided in the identification of war dead from World War II, Korea, and Southeast Asia. Dr. Reichs also assisted with identifying remains found at ground zero of the World Trade Center following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Now to the books. To date I have read five books in the series and am working on number six. For the record I have completed; Spider Bones, Bones Are Forever, Bones to Ashes, Devil Bones and Flash and Bones and am working on Cross Bones, While there is some carry forward in the series reading the books in the order written is not critical. Temperance Brennan in the novels bounces back and forth between North Carolina and Quebec much like the real life Reichs. In one of the series Temperance is in Hawaii working on the identification of recovered bones and resolves an apparent impossibility – someone listed as killed in action turns up floating and newly deceased in Canada many years later. One of the things I really like about these novels is that the main characters are portrayed as imperfect with all of the flaws and foibles that the rest of the human race struggles with.

Obviously given that I am on book number six I like this author’s work and highly recommend that you give it a try. The authenticity that comes from the author being highly skilled in the endeavors of the main character is a real plus.