The Bone Collection

A collection of chilling tales featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan - including the untold story of her first case.

The No.1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs is renowned for suspense and fascinating forensic detail. Now she brings that same artistry to her first volume of collected short stories.

In First Bones, a prequel to Reichs's very first novel, Dej Dead, she at last reveals how Tempe became a forensic anthropologist. In this never-before-published story, Tempe recalls the case that lured her from a promising career in academia into the grim but addictive world of criminal investigation.

Three more stories take Tempe from the low country of the Florida Everglades, where she makes a grisly discovery in the stomach of an eighteen-foot Burmese python, to the heights of Mount Everest, where a frozen corpse is unearthed.

No matter where she goes, Tempe's cases make for the most gripping reading.

"Reichs' own experiences shine through at all times and she writes with an authority that few can match, but these are not dry takes from a textbook. Even in the middle of death at its most gruesome, life finds a way to shine through." Crime Review

As a forensic anthropologist to the province of Quebec, Canada, Kathy Reichs has often said that words with the dead, but for the living.

Forensics are an integral part of her world, with cases constantly coming in to her lab. And yet her chosen profession is, she says, like any other job. You may get used to what's happening around you, and to the sounds and smells and sights of death, but this doesn't mean you become immune to it.

Each of her books is based loosely on the cases she's worked on, or some experience she's had. She believes that her stories remain fresh because they originate from her being enmeshed and engaged in forensic work on a regular basis.

Kathy Reichs is one of only eighty-two forensic anthropologists ever certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology. She is a professor in the Anthropology Department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.