Bones author Kathy Reichs talks about how Montreal shaped her approach to writing bestselling crime fiction
Ryan B. Patrick | | Posted: May 20, 2020 4:44 PM | Last Updated: July 7, 2021
Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist, academic and bestselling crime writer with more than 20 novels to her credit.
Born in Chicago, Reichs has a unique Canadian connection: she has divided her time between her present home of North Carolina, where she was a professor in the anthropology department at the University of North Carolina, and Montreal, where she is affiliated with the Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de medecine legale as a practicing forensic anthropologist.
Reichs's debut novel Déjà Dead, set in Montreal, won the 1997 Arthur Ellis Award for best first novel and features fictional heroine Temperance "Tempe" Brennan, is also a forensic anthropologist who investigates human remains at crime scenes. The bestselling book series featuring the character was turned into the long-running television show Bones.
She has also co-written the YA series Virals centered on Tempe's great-niece, Tory Brennan and the standalone thriller Two Nights featuring protagonist Sunday Night. Her latest book in th series is called The Bone Code.
In The Bone Code, Temperance Brennan finds herself solving a grisly case in South Carolina in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane.
Reichs spoke with CBC Books in 2020 about writing crime fiction and how the genre has evolved over the years.
You came to Montreal from America on an academic exchange, much like Temperance, who like you accepted a job at the Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de medecine legale. What's your connection to Montreal these days?
My connection these days is that I've commuted back and forth working there since the 1980s. I have a lot of friends who live there but I'm not doing as much casework now. There came a point where I was writing an adult book a year or a young adult book a year and a screenplay for the TV show. So something had to go. I come back to Montreal regularly because I have friends in the city and I miss it. I miss being there.
I come back to Montreal regularly because I have friends in the city and I miss it. I miss being there.
I guess my biggest misconception when I first went there was my ability to speak French! I wasn't nearly as good at that as I thought I was at the time. When I started working there in those days — the late 1980s to the early 1990s — I think I was the only Anglophone on the floor.
I had to quickly bring my skills up!
What was your take on Montreal's culture? Did living there inform your writing approach, being an American in Quebec?
Toronto models itself on New York or London — and Montreal models itself on Paris. There's quite a different flavour to the place, in my recollection. It stays open much later and it's a very vibrant city. Fantastic restaurants and pubs — and it's a multi-multicultural city. It's not just French and English.
I would live in downtown Montreal and you'd hear like all kinds of languages all around you.
Your first very first novel, Déjà Dead, was actually set in Montreal and most of the books have connections to Canada. Did you ever imagine that you'd have all the success you've had with the books and the television series?
I did not imagine it at the time. I was teaching university full-time in North Carolina. I would commute back and forth. I remember reading a review of the first book and the reviewer said, "This is ridiculous. Nobody could commute back and forth between North Carolina and Montreal." I thought, well that's what I do!
I didn't anticipate writing fiction. I had never written fiction. I'd written textbooks and journal articles but never fiction.
I didn't anticipate writing fiction. I had never written fiction. I'd written textbooks and journal articles but never fiction. I'd worked there at least six or seven years I think before I decided to try to write fiction.
What is your approach to writing crime fiction that's packed with science and medical terminology and technical terms?
I write the kind of book I like to read. I don't have any training in writing. I really avoided literature classes at the university, I preferred taking you know zoology and physiology and all the "-ologies" over in the lab.
When you're writing fiction, you get to make stuff up, which is a lot of fun. I do try to keep all the detail authentic and realistic. I constantly do research as I'm writing — I'll research anything that I know.
You've got to keep the science brief and you've got to keep it authentic, honest and jargon-free.
There's that difference: you can make it up. You can flavour your story. But just like in the TV writers room when we would be writing an episode for the show, you need to keep the science honest and plausible. We used to use the word 'plausible' all the time. I write murder mysteries. I write good old fashioned thrillers. But the difference is the solution is driven by science rather than just good old fashioned cop legwork.
You've got to keep the science brief and you've got to keep it authentic, honest and jargon-free. You can't rely on all the special terminology we use among ourselves as scientists. I think those are the three rules of thumb when you're writing science in fiction.
How hard is it to come up with an original story at this point? You've written all the novels and you were hands-on with the show. What is it like coming up with with a new adventure for Temperance Brennan?
When we would sit in the writers room, we'd do something called "breaking the story," which is very different from writing a book. We would break the story together and do it collectively. For the first week or two you're just throwing out ideas. Each opening of the show would begin with compromised remains. It would be something that an anthropologist would work on — a burned, mutilated, mummified or dismembered or a decomposed body — or just bones!
It's said that there are no original storylines, so every story's been told. What you have to do is find new twists and new ways of presenting old dilemmas.
It did become harder and harder to come up with believable opening scenarios. It's said that there are no original storylines, so every story's been told. What you have to do is find new twists and new ways of presenting old dilemmas.
Where do you draw the line in terms of gore or grisly content?
At least for the books, it has to be something that will drive the story. You don't put in gore for the sensationalism of it. I never wanted to do that. It had to be something that would advance the plot.
Now that said, I have worked for years in autopsy rooms as part of a medical, legal and crime lab. I've seen a lot. I don't hesitate to put factual details into my books because I think my readers are looking for that. They want to vicariously experience going to a crime scene or an autopsy, but not necessarily have to be there in person.
I understand that you adhere to a strict writing schedule. How do you manage that, given how busy your career is?
It takes self-discipline. Anytime you have a free block of time, you have to be disciplined enough to use that to be productive. I don't believe in writer's block. If you have that period of time that's designated for writing, then you write something. Later you may delete it, and you may look at it and think it's rubbish.
I don't believe in writer's block. If you have that period of time that's designated for writing, then you write something.
But if you let yourself just say, "Oh today's not a good day," or think that the muses are not with you, that's a slippery slope. I think that you sit yourself down on your chair and write something.
What constitutes an ideal day of writing for you?
I need quiet. I have a home office in both my two homes. When I'm in Montreal, I have to have a place where I can be alone and quiet. I don't play music. I don't have a TV going on in the background. I do need to be able to focus, to be able to concentrate and not be interrupted.
I don't write well on airplanes and when I'm traveling. I can edit but sitting on an airplane and writing? I'm not so good at that. I know some colleagues who can write an entire book sitting in airports waiting for a flight. I'm not that disciplined!
You also co-write the YA series Virals, which includes supernatural elements. What is it like to write in a different genre?
We did have a good time with that. My son is a lawyer. He practiced law for about two years. He hated it and wanted out. He proposed that we write the YA series. I agreed to do that. We divided it up because he's younger than I am, obviously. He had a better thumb on how young people would think, what their social concerns would be and how they talk. Whereas I was better with the science and the investigative end of it.
We would write and then periodically we would get together for our editorial meetings and discuss our artistic differences. That worked well; we did six books together. I did enjoy doing that a lot.
How do you define success both for your career and for this latest book?
A fairly easy barometer is, "Do people buy the books? Do they like the books? Do they watch the show?" We were in something like 100 foreign territories with the show. We were everywhere. The books are in something like 36 languages.
The Temperance Brennan character — and the concept of a forensic anthropologist — seem to have global appeal.
The Temperance Brennan character — and the concept of a forensic anthropologist — seem to have global appeal. People are buying the books and continue to watch the show. We're not in production anymore, but we'll be on air forever.
How do you ensure that you're growing and evolving as a writer?
That's always a dilemma. You want to keep growing and evolving obviously. That's why in [A Conspiracy of Bones] Tempe is different. She's got different issues and different problems. It's always a dilemma. I read other thriller writers. On the one hand, I want to keep my thumb on what's going on out there. I want to be aware of what's going on. On the other hand, you need to be wary of not borrowing or being influenced by another writer's growth.
The trope of the female anti-hero in crime fiction has evolved over the years. What are your thoughts on having set that template in a character like Tempe?
We've gone from a period where it was more introspective or more good old fashioned legwork, to where science is driving the plot — to where you've now got the more psychological thrillers where you've got the unreliable narrator.
Of course, there's always shifts in what interests the public.
Kathy Reichs's comments have been edited for length and clarity.