Houston Mystery Specialty Bookseller Supports Injured Veterans

Monday, August 25, 2008

KathyReichs.com

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

KathyReichs.com

Forensic Expert Assists the Mystery of the Missing Cat

Monday, August 4, 2008

Comments sent to the website for forensic anthropologist and international best-selling author Kathy Reichs explain how her novel Bare Bones helped a couple in Wilmington, Delaware, USA solve a mystery in their own home.

Their story is reprinted below in their words. We are all delighted to know that the cat is back with his family after being lost for more than a year.

"We have an interesting story about how a Kathy Reichs novel solved the mystery of a missing cat.

Kathy Reichs writes mystery novels upon which the TV program Bones is based. She also unknowingly solved a mystery at our house. It was the result of reading one of her latest books "Bare Bones".

A few weeks ago, we heard and saw a nice looking gray cat hanging around and under the deck at the rear of our house. The cat had a long silky coat with short fur on his head. It looked somewhat like a Maine Coon without the ear tufts. We were reluctant to bring it in the house because we did not know if it had had shots. Also, we did not want to encourage it if it belonged to someone in the neighborhood. It was obvious that he had been someone's house pet because when we opened the back door to let our dog out, the cat came right over and rubbed against our legs.

After a few days, we began to put food and water out for the cat. He came to Loretta, my wife, and allowed her to comb tangles out his coat. Loretta also removed several tics from his long silky coat. When our Boston Terrier went out the door, the cat didn’t react negatively and usually tried to rub up against the dog. The dog wasn't so sure he liked that. After a week or so, we placed ads in the local papers, called all the local vets, contacted the SPCA and others to see if anyone reported a missing cat. We got no response but did find out that one of our neighbors was also feeding the cat and had put a flea collar on him. Fortunately it was spring and the weather was relatively mild. When it rained, the cat stayed under our deck where it was dry and out of the wind.

After a few more weeks we became attached to the cat and decided that if no one claimed him we were going to take him to the vet for a check up and "adopt" him for our own.

A few days before the deadline we had set for action Loretta was reading "Bare Bones", the Kathy Reichs novel. In that story the heroine solves a homicide after finding the remains of a cat with the remains of a murder victim. She also noticed a small pellet which she recognized as a microchip in an x-ray of the cat. Microchips are often put under the skin of a cat or dog to identify it if it is lost. The heroine used the information from the microchip to identify the cat and the cat's owner, who turned out to be the homicide victim.

A few days after reading this, it suddenly occurred to Loretta that maybe "our" cat might have a microchip. She went to the cat and felt between the cat's shoulder blades. Sure enough, it felt something like a large grain of rice which she thought might be a microchip. As the heroine in the book did, we called the local vet and found that he had a microchip scanner. We excitedly gathered up the cat and took him to the vet.

A simple scan of the cat with the chip reader disclosed that it was a microchip and the scanner read out an ID number. The vet's assistant called the Home Finder service which keeps records of such ID numbers. In minutes, we had a name and a phone number of the cat's owner. The assistant called the number and the man who answered acknowledged that they had indeed lost a cat but said it had disappeared over a year ago.

He was excited and a short time after getting directions to the vet's office, several of the family arrived at the office. When they entered the lobby and started talking, the cat's ears perked up and he seemed to recognize their voices. When they came in the room and saw him, they where overwhelmed to see their beloved cat.

Even though he had been missing for more than a year he was healthy and in good condition. The scene was like a big Welcome Home party. The cat's owners were delighted to have their cat back. We were sad to see him go but we were happy for his owners.

With the mystery of the cat's owner solved, the next mystery was why the cat was found more that 10 miles from its original home. We had no clue as to how he had gotten from his neighborhood to the other side of town and across numerous busy roads. We also wondered who had kept him through the previous winter. But unless that cat learns to talk, even reading more Kathy Reichs' novels will not solve those mysteries. "

KathyReichs.com

Kathy Reichs to be Featured Speaker at ThrillerFest 2008

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

For the writing professional or the thiller enthusiast, ThrillerFest 2008 promises to be an event unlike any in the world. On July 10-12 in the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York, NY, USA, presentations and interviews will expose the full spectrum of the thriller genre.

ThrillerFest 2008 promises to be better than ever with a star-studded cast: ThrillerMaster Sandra Brown and Spotlight Authors Eric Van Lustbader, Dr. Kathy Reichs, and Brad Thor. Fans can mix and mingle with their favorite authors, learn what makes them tick, the secrets of their craft, and what inspires them to write what they do. Attendees are invited to a fabulous night on Saturday, July 12, for the party of the year, the International Thriller Writers Banquet featuring the ThrillerMaster Sandra Brown.



Dr. Kathy Reichs will begin the activities with a 9:00 AM interview on July 11.

Join the real experts from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) for fascinating presentations of the latest technology. Terrorism, weapons, bombs and intelligence are great fodder for thrillers today. Several special agents will demonstrate the weapons and tools the ATF uses in day-to-day operations. You can see and handle weapons used by law enforcement plus confiscated street guns and trafficking handguns, learn about explosives and more! Get answers straight from the real experts.

You are invitied to register for ThrillerFest 2008 as soon as as possible at the International Thriller Writers website. We look forward to seeing you there!

KathyReichs.com

Bones to Ashes in Paperback Available June 24

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

The thriller Bones to Ashes by NY Times best selling author Kathy Reichs will be released in paperback on June 24, 2008. The series features Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist thrust into the dangerous business of solving some of most hideous crimes documented by police.

A video detailing the basis for this new thriller is available on KathyReichs.com. The blog comments on BookVideos.tv are also interesting and entertaining.

The literary world has received Bones to Ashes with high praise.

From Library Journal
Reichs keeps her superb suspense piece on track, leaving the reader totally wrung out by the time the ultimate villains are tracked down and confronted.

From Booklist
With crisp prose, well-drawn characters, unflagging attention to detail, and a resonant emotional angle, Reichs’s tenth Temperance Brennan mystery…finds the forensic anthropologist in top form…Reichs deftly provides enough background to make this a successful stand-alone, at the same time advancing relationships between characters for her increasing legion of fans, who won’t want to miss this one.

From Kirkus Reviews
Tempe is both deeper and funnier than she’s ever been, making this her best outing to date.

From More magazine
We can’t get enough.

From Publishers Weekly
In bestseller Reichs's entertaining 10th Temperance Brennan forensic thriller (after Break No Bones), Brennan, her relationship with Det. Andrew Ryan on the rocks, welcomes the distraction of an unidentified New Brunswick skeleton from Québec's cold case unit. But when the bones are determined to be that of an adolescent girl, Brennan is convinced they belong to her childhood friend, Évangéline Landry, who disappeared at age 15. Now Brennan must come to terms with Évangéline's possible death, while trying to ignore her feelings for Ryan as they investigate a series of teenage abduction murders that could be tied to the mysterious bones. With her usual blend of cutting-edge forensic science, nail-biting suspense and characters that pop off the page, Reichs, who's vice president of the American Academy of Forensic Scientists and the producer of Fox's Bones, has produced another winner in one of the genre's most satisfying series. (Aug.)

From teaching FBI agents at Quantico 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. She continues to work full time for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in North Carolina and for the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaires et de Medecine Legale for the province of Quebec. She is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. Kathy is one of only fifty forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology and is on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Demand for Bones to Ashes in paperback will be high. Check with your local bookseller for availability.

KathyReichs.com

Full Bones Episodes Available on Your PC

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

KathyReichs.com

Crime Scene Investigations and Testimony

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

It used to be a complicated process at each new trial where scientists educated the jurors on what forensic science could do and what it had been able to reveal in that particular case. Sometimes this was such a new concept that it was not readily received as reliable evidence. As knowledge of forensic science entered the mainstream, public acceptance of this technology increased exponentially and scientists breathed a sigh of relief. Their need for an accurate explanation of the science was still needed, but at least they were no longer starting from scratch. Jurors began to accept these new procedures and take them into consideration during trials.

However the pendulum has swung the other way, with news stories bringing up cases where the jury has not been swayed by significant amounts of this incriminating forensic evidence. This is called the CSI Effect, since TV shows showing forensic science solving case after case have led jurors to trust this evidence more than might perhaps be warranted. Jurors are waiting for that lynchpin piece of amazing forensic work that makes it an open and shut case like they see on television and while forensic science can help build a case, it may not always be able to completely solve the case.

While the level of public awareness regarding forensic science is laudable, entertainment is just that and isn't a solid basis for judgment. Kathy spends considerable time working with the Bones cast and crew to ensure the science is accurate but even this does not replace expert testimony in real life trials. While we as an audience enjoy the stories, we need to consider real life cases through a different lens as a jury of peers, considering the actual evidence instead of comparing it to evidence on TV.

KathyReichs.com

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