SPEAKING IN BONES with Temperance Brennan #FridayReads

Kathy Reichs’ Speaking In Bones is her 2015 novel involving alter ego Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist based in North Carolina and Quebec, Canada. And, of course, the template for the television series, Bones, for which Reichs is writer and advisor and role model.

Brennan's latest case is set in the backwoods, cliffs, and towns spread throughout her home state of North Carolina. The events covered in this story are well-researched: web-sleuthing; religious fanaticism; and personality disorders - specifically DID - dissociative identity disorder.

Once again, Brennan becomes actively involved in the investigation and places herself prominently in harm’s way.

I haven’t watched the television series since Season Four, when they did those really weird things to poor Zak. That’s when the shift occurred and I found Kathy Reichs’ novels more entertaining than the series. Reading her medical thrillers is a cross between experiencing tension-filled entertainment and attending an uncredited college course.

The shorter length of this review is no reflection on the quality of the story’s plot or the writing. I’ve just run out of words. Actually, I’m eager to watch more DVD replays of the (original) X-Files - Mythology Collection. My taste in entertainment reflects multi-levels of weird.

 

Next up for review is:

The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland

 

Forensics aka Medical Jurisprudence

Forensic Science, aka Medical Jurisprudence and commonly called forensics, has a broad range of uses. Events in the world today dictate that forensic teams monitor certain countries for compliance with international agreements such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Chemical Weapons Convention, and to learn if a country is developing secret nuclear weapons.

The most common use of forensic science is to investigate criminal cases involving a victim: crimes ranging from assault and robbery, to kidnapping, rape, or murder. If you watch CSI or BONES, you are familiar with the various departments within a forensics lab, including pathology, toxicology, and odontology - the study of teeth.

My favorite “ologist” is the forensic anthropologist, who is trained to determine height, weight, sex, and ethnic group of a deceased person - from body parts. The anthropologist can read marks on bones that indicate past injuries and diseases suffered by the individual. Investigators can identify a body by comparing the forensic anthropologist’s findings to old X-rays and medical history of a missing person.

It is fascinating to watch as the forensic expert takes a skull, adds markers to specific surfaces, and slowly builds a complete and identifiable face.

What’s your favorite "ology?