Kathy Reichs

Kathy Reichs wrote her first novel ten years ago, just to do something different. A successful forensic anthropologist and professor, she was tired of writing textbooks and teaching the FBI how to dig up bodies. That first book, Déjà Dead, featured a lead character inspired by her own life, Reichs’s literary alter ego, Dr. Temperance Brennan. The book hit the New York Times best-seller list and established Reichs as a major force on the thriller scene. Since then she’s written ten more Temperance Brennan novels and added a hit television show based on the series.

Reichs’s latest release, Devil Bones, centers on two young victims, a girl whose skull is found in the center of a sacrificial shrine and a teenage boy who’s found on the shores of a lake — without a head. While Brennan tries to figure out how and when the teens were killed, a local preacher turned politician whips the community into a frenzy about the strange killings. (It’s devil worship! It’s Santería! It’s voodoo!) Can Brennan keep the witch hunt in check until she solves the mystery? See if Reichs gives up any clues at today’s reading. 6 p.m. Murder by the Book, 2342 Bissonnet. For information, call 713-524-8597 or visit www.murderbooks.com. Free.
Sat., Sept. 6, 6 p.m., 2008