What is the best book written by Kathy Reichs?
I had Kathy Reich’s first two books on my “to read” shelf and didn’t get to them until recently. Like you, I love the TV show, and the stories looked interesting. So finely, last summer, I decided to read the books I had and I just loved them. So much so that I had to have all of them and read them one after the other. Each book is an individual story, so you could read them in any order, but some of the background details refer to previous stories, so I always prefer to read the books in order. There are 10 books right now, and I can’t wait until the next one comes out. In order: Deja Dead Death du Jour Deadly Decisions Fatal Voyage Grave Secrets Bare Bones Monday Mourning Cross Bones Break no Bones Bones to Ashes The character on TV is different from the one in the book: she is young and somewhat clueless as to everyday life. Kathy Reich herself could be the Temperance in the books: a forensic pathologist who divides her time between Canada and the US, working with the police in Queb
I’ve read them all and I really like them a lot. If you like the show, I think you’ll like the books even better. Here they are, I THINK in order: Deja Dead, Death du Jour, Deadly Decisions, Fatal Voyage, Grave Secrets, Bare Bones, Monday Mourning, Cross Bones, Break No Bones, Bones to Ashes. They are sequential, but you can very easily pick up any one and read it. You might not be quite up to date on Temperence’s personal life if you read out of sequence, but as far as the story itself, you’ll be fine. The show is a bit different than the books. The tv character is quite a bit younger than her book counterpart, and I think they moved the setting. I read that it is supposed to take place before the books start (in the books, Temperence is in her 50s) although I’m not so sure how that works since the technology is up-to-date as far as I can tell. Kathy Reichs has her own website with a whole bunch of info about herself, her books, and the tv show. It’s at
I couldn’t tell you the best one because I’ve only read a few of hers. I liked Deja Dead and Death du Jour, the only ones I’ve read so far, equally. You don’t seem to have to read them in order from what I’ve seen so far. They seem pretty self-contained. It’s been a while since I’ve read these, but they’re why I started watching the show. Did you know that the Bones character in the show writes about a character named Kathy Reichs? I love that. I like the bulk of the show better than other forensics type of shows that are on these days, but I’m getting sick of the annul-my-marriage subplot that makes no sense and I find really dull. I skip over those bits when possible. I don’t watch for the pretend romance bits. I watch it for the main characters. I like Bones as a character a lot. And I could be happy watching David Boreanaz read the phonebook.
I’ve never seen Bones, so I don’t know about the relationship with the books, but Reichs’ works all involve the same character. They’re all standalone, but I’d recommend reading in order just to get the benefit of character development. I’m not sure what exact order to read – I usually look at copyright dates to decide where in a series a particular book belongs. Incidentally, I think Reichs is way ahead of Patricia Cornwell – Scarpetta spends too much time lately in self-centered reflection.
