Saralee Says
Fans of the Kathy Reichs series - which include Grave Secrets, Deja Dead, Death Du Jour, Deadly Decisions, Fatal Voyage and now Bare Bones - know that the lead character Dr. Tempe Brennan has lead a stormy life. She is a forensic anthropologist who spends part of her time teaching at in Charlotte, N.C. and helping the local police solve crimes. Brennan is also on loan to the government in Quebec where she uses her skills and analysis of forensic evidence for the police there, too.
As the story opens, Brennan is planning a romantic dinner for two. After a failed marriage she is finally ready to get back into the swing of dating. What may be the man of her dreams, Quebec detective Andrew Ryan, is on his way to Charlotte. The plans are for Ryan and Brennan to travel together to the beaches of North Carolina to find out if they are really compatible. Nothing is ever really simple in a good detective novel so things to do not go as planned for our heroine.
First, Brennan has to tell a former colleague that the burned remains of an infant who is his grandchild have been in a wood stove. Next, Brennan's dog uncovers some bones at a picnic. Not only does that spoil everyone's appetite, Brennan must use her skills as a forensic anthropologist to determine whether or not the bones are human or not. If they are not human remains, why go to all the trouble to hide the bones? There is money to be made in animal skins, drugs and other assorted vices and once again Reichs delivers a plot with twists and turns that will leave the reader guessing until the very end what the motives are for such strange behavior and who the killer or killers really are.
What are the similarities and differences between Kathy Reichs and her character Tempe Brennan and Patricia Cornwell and her character Dr. Kay Scarpetta? Brennan is a forensic anthropologist. Scarpetta is a Chief Medical Examiner. Do you know what the difference is between those two professions?
Both Reichs and Cornwell write great stories but Cornwell's Scarpetta series has become so dark and I think she has killed too many people who are close to the Scarpetta character. Both characters are involved in the lives of young women - Brennan has a daughter in college and Scarpettta has a niece in the FBI. Which of these two authors do you prefer and why? Just like Brennan, Kathy Reichs has worked as a forensic anthropologist for the province of Quebec and the State of North Carolina's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Patricia Cornwell worked for the Charlotte Observer as a crime reporter and for the Chief Medical Examiner's office of Virginia.
If you love reading mysteries, then you will not want to miss any of the panels featuring today's great mystery writers at the upcoming Southern Festival of Books.
Larry's Language
Mysteries and crime novels are like people, they come in every size, shape and variety. Some of these books called "cozies" are comfortable with the heart of the book focused on the intellectual challenge of solving the crime. Think Carolyn Hart, Sharyn McCrumb, Elizabeth Peters, and Margaret Maron. Probably this school started with Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie for whom the annual "Agatha" award for best "cozy" mystery novel is named.
Then there is the hard boiled genre of crime books, usually rewarded in recent years by the annual Macavity Award or the Edgar Award, where plot, setting and characters are all relentlessly focused on hard edged, gritty reality. Think George Pelecanos, Nashvillian Steven Womack, T. Jefferson Parker, Harlan Coben, Walter Mosely, G.M. Ford, John Sandford and James Lee Burke. This kind of story got its modern detective start with Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. They were closely followed by Charles Willeford and Ross McDonald. In recent years the female criminals have taken over in the form of authors such as Patricia Cornwell, Sue Grafton, Jan Burke, Nashvillians Sallie Bissell and Cecilia Tishy, and now Kathy Reichs.
I thought author Reichs first two books were unreadable. I tried them at least two different times and quit before the half way point. Lots of gore and sensation - which I happen to like at least in my fiction - but the writing seemed slow and it certainly did not keep me awake at night. Then I happened to pick up her fourth novel Fatal Voyage and thought it one of the best crime books of the year, especially in mid-plot when her character discovers a severed foot. Each of her novels since then has gotten better. Her most recent book, Bare Bones, is a little predictable but exciting, splashy with human fluids and slightly romantic without becoming mushy.
The main character in the Reichs books is Dr. Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist for the North Carolina Medical Examiner who also works in Canada and Guatemala. This kind of professional career involves the grisly effects of human remains in identification much like the work of Dr. Kay Scarpetta in the Patricia Cornwell novels. Of course, Scarpetta works in Virginia, D.C. and France and does so, at least in recent books, in a much darker, more depressing atmosphere. Reichs is getting better with every book and I am not sure about Cornwell whose early stories were outstanding.
Brennan solves the puzzle of a five-year missing federal law enforcement agent after examining the hidden bodily remnants of bears and rare birds she discovered in the middle of a picnic. Unfortunately, this spoils her vacation plans with her new boyfriend who has come from Canada expecting a romantic rendezvous and instead gets dead bodies, a plane crash and threats.
Join us for our next book club discussion, which will feature our recommendations for the Southern Festival of Books, Oct. 10-12, 2003 at Legislative Plaza.
