Kathy Reichs Quotations

If you want to be an anthropologist, you need to study physical anthropology specialized in bones. If you want to be a forensic chemist, get a degree in chemistry. Do you want to do DNA work? Get a degree in microbiology. And do well. Study hard and go to graduate school.

Many fiction writers who put the science in dont get it right.

I'm not writing great literature. I'm writing commercial fiction for people to enjoy the stories and to like the characters.

At first I probably seem very abrupt, but I like efficiency. There's work and there's play, and I always think: 'Let's get the work over with so we can thoroughly enjoy the play.

I work with the dead, but I am working for the living.

I was a university professor, I could talk on and on and on. Give me a podium and you have to drag me off with a hook.

Bones tell me the story of a person's life — how old they were, what their gender was, their ancestral background,

Murder mysteries are puzzles that are fun to resolve.

I've been accused of being a minimalist writer. I don't like a lot of verbiage in there.

I tend to watch a lot of movies at home. It's nice to be close to the refrigerator with my pyjamas on and just relax.

I do interviews and signings and readings and all of these people just hang off my every word. And then I go home and have dinner with my family and nobody lets me get a word in.

I originally worked as an archaeologist in North Carolina, and when bones were found police would take them out to the bones lady at the university, and that was me.

What gives my books authenticity is that I actually do what it is I'm writing about. I think the fact that I am in the autopsy room, I go to the crime scene and I do work in the lab gives my books this flavor that otherwise they wouldn't have.

I've never lost my capacity to be shocked.

You'd be naive if you think you are going to retain any control once you option a character to TV.

One of the surprising things I hadn't expected when I decided to write crime fiction is how much you are expected to be out in front of the public. Some writers aren't comfortable with that. I don't have a problem with that.

My first book was the most successful debut novel in the U.K. ever and every one of my books has reached number one in the U.K. Clearly the British know brilliance when they see it.

People love the cliffhanger endings to chapters. I get a lot of comments that I've changed people's lives, how they've never read and now they have, how they were depressed and now they have a passion.

People love the cliffhanger endings to chapters, ... I get a lot of comments that I've changed people's lives, how they've never read and now they have, how they were depressed and now they have a passion.

We hope my readers will get a kick out of that and realize that it's another manifestation of Tempe, and they are in on this inside joke,

Each of those stories will be original, ... It's a good outlet for ideas I don't use in the books.

good outlet for the ideas I don't use in books.

You can't get DNA results in 53 minutes.

Channel your outrage ... Do that which you are able to do.

Chance wore a white tuxedo with tails. On anyone else? Doopy. On him? Yes, please.

Let's do it. Monkeys are always funny. You pretty much can't go wrong with a monkey, right? Hi paused. Well unless that monkey wants you dead, or does needle drugs or something. Then it's wrong, and a bad monkey.

An elite confederacy of nerds. My peeps

You all right now?" "I'm exceptional. Wonderful. Thanks for the concern. You complete me.

Though a good cop, Luc Claudel has the patience of a firecracker, the sensitivity of Vlad the Impaler, and a persistent skepticism as to the value of forensic anthropology. Snappy dresser, though.

You'll start talking, and pretty soon we'll all start nodding, and then the next thing you know, I'm hang gliding off the Eiffel Tower at night, being chased by ninja vampires

Fine. Everybody wears seatbelts. No radio. No distractions.” Ben shot Hi a stern look. “No running commentary.” “Your loss,” Hi said. “To the pimp ride!

People love to hate the gravedigger.

Everyone’s gone mad, typing to themselves all day long like mindless robots.

Gritty and witty, The Chicago Way is done the classic Raymond Chandler Way. Harvey's taut plot, snappy prose, and memorable characters make this debut novel a real winner.

Violence wounds the body and it wounds the soul. Of the predator. Of the prey. Of the mourners. Of collective humanity. It diminishes us all.

I have come to think of violence as a self-perpetuating mania of the power of the aggressive over those less strong.

Indecision is the key to flexibility.

Experience is a valuable thing. It enables us to recognize mistakes when we repeat them.

She wanted to feel safe. Untouchable in her home. The ultimate female fantasy.

Though Anne was born in Alabama and schooled in Mississippi, she had traveled North, and, like many Southerners, gained a theoretical understanding of the concept of cold. But the mind is an overprotective parent. What it doesn't care for, it hides. Like many inhabiting the subtropics, Anne had repressed the reality of subzero mercury.

Who's going to rob us? A crackhead crab? A jellyfish junkie?

Today he wore a burnt-orange shirt, black pants, and a tie that looked like a street fight at the south end of the color wheel.

We did just leave an insane asylum,” Hi agreed. “For all we know, Chance spend his nights dancing naked with sock puppets, plotting to invade Canada.

I’m adding ‘canine’ to my searches,” I said. “And ‘instinct.’” “Whatever. I’m adding ‘lunatic.

God help anyone who messes with the Virals!

Ben locked his eyes on mine for a long moment. Then, “How?” “How do you think?” I smiled, then slapped him full across the face

Ahh! Lady Pillows. So much fluffier than mine.” He took a giant whiff. “Why does everything girlie smell so delightful?” “Because we acknowledge the importance of basic hygiene. And periodically clean our bathrooms.” “Brilliant. I should write that down. After all, it takes a village.

Amazing.” Hi stripped off his shirt, wrung it out. “Score one for your honker.” “Thanks, I think.” I cocked my chin at Hi’s substantial midsection. “Nice abs.” “Yeah, I work out twice a month. No expectations. But stop hitting on me, it’s embarrassing.

Hiram!' Shelton ran to Hi's side. 'Aren't you you bleeding? I thought she shot you!' 'Red wine. When I saw it running everywhere, I played dead.' He winced as Shelton poked his belly. 'But I'm not leaping off any more shelves. That was pretty stupid.

I can't believe you jokers fixed it." Hi was picking his way down to the beach. "Believe it, clown. Too much brain power here to fail." Still pumped, Shelton threw another palm Ben's way. "Oh, I'm sure." Hi streched, yawned. "It was something highly technical, I suppose? Something requiring mechanical ability? Nothing as simple as tightening a wire or flippin a switch, right?" Ben reddened. Shelton developed an intrest in his sneakers. Score one for Hi.

Ben yanked Hi sideways as spikes snapped from the wall…Once again, only Ben’s reflexes had saved him. “Please stop doing that!” Ben barked. “Please keep doing that!” Hi warbled.

Tory a father isn’t supposed to fear his fourteen-year-old daughter. That being sad, you terrify me.

As a pirate, she once undressed a fencing instructor using only her sword!

Edmonton is Canada's answer to Omaha. Solid, unassuming, and surrounded by a whole lot of nothing. It's a place that makes you think of sensible shoes.

My first book was the most successful debut novel in the U.K. ever and every one of my books has reached number one in the U.K. Clearly the British know brilliance when they see it.

I see you, Ben. I always have. You're in my pack." He pulled away. "What if being packmates isn't enough for me?

Whitney smacked Coop's snout while simultaneously pressing herself deeper into the couch. Coop fixed her with an unblinking ice-blue stare, gray-brown fur bristling along his spine. "Tory!" Whitney squealed. "He's going to attack!" "Maybe." I walked into the kitchen and snagged a Diet Coke from the fridge. "Try to protect your throat.

Most Bolton students were scions of the city's wealthiest families. My crewe stuck out like hooker at church. We werent part of their pampered, priveliged world, and many of our classmates were quick to remind us of that fact. Taunting the "boat kids" was practically a varsity sport.

I hated myself for needing him at such times, for craving his strength whenever I felt upset.

Im studying jerkoffs in the wild," Ben answered dryly. "This seemed like a good chance to view one up close.

I have a cotillion event. Some yacht-club charity fundraiser thingy. Whitney is insisting, and Kit took her side.” Three wide smiles. “Oh shut up.

My line of work makes you aware of the fragility of life. You can get up in the morning, eat your cornflakes, blow-dry your hair, go to work and end up dead.

High school popularity is so fickle.

Death in anonymity is the ultimate insult to human dignity.

Why do all your brilliant ideas involve felonies?