Smithsonian Interviews Kathy Reichs
I found a really cool interview with Kathy Reichs done by Smithsonian.com. Here’s and excerpt:
What attracted you to the field of forensic anthropology?
I was doing archaeology, and the police started bringing me cases. If there was a local bones specialist at a university, often law enforcement would take skeletal remains there. As I started doing it, I liked that it was very relevant.
How closely do you work with criminal investigators?
Not everything that comes in is a homicide. It could be an old person who wandered off, died in the woods and the body is found years later. If it’s a homicide, we work with the investigators at the outset. I might tell them, “You’re looking for a middle-aged black male.” They’ll go off and get missing persons lists, and they might bring back some possible names and profiles. They’ll try to get medical records, dental records. If it’s a homicide, then we might also talk about trauma. If someone is prosecuted, then I’ll testify.
You work on crime victims. Do you think about them a lot?
You have to remain objective, of course. My colleague Clyde Snow has said, “If you have to cry, you cry at night at home. While you’re doing your job, you do your job.” The cases that stay in your mind are the ones that haven’t been resolved.
I have been a big fan of the show Bones and just finished my first Kathy Reichs’ book, Break No Bones. The book was as good as the show (except that you can’t look at David Boreanaz). I will definitely have to check out some of her other books while waiting for season 3 to start. Great blog.