Author Kathy Reichs discusses A Conspiracy of Bones and quarantining in the U.S.

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The bestselling author Kathy Reichs will be the first guest of The Globe and Mail’s online Book Club, with an hour-long livestream event beginning at 8 p.m. ET tonight. She’ll be discussing her latest Temperance Brennan novel.

A Conspiracy of Bones is the latest in Reichs’s blockbuster crime series about a forensic anthropologist with a brilliant mind, a complicated personal life and a series of fascinating cases. The books have won awards, been translated into about 30 languages and been adapted for television – the long-running series Bones. Reichs herself is a forensic anthropologist with a storied career who decided to give fiction writing a shot.

In the new novel, Tempe, sidelined by medical issues and mourning a terrible personal loss, involves herself in a mystery after receiving an anonymous text message containing disturbing photographs: an unidentifiable corpse.

The investigation takes Tempe down some bizarre and disturbing rabbit holes, including talk radio shows that promote ludicrous conspiracy theories. The circumstances have Tempe questioning, repeatedly, what is real and what is not.

In advance of their interview, The Globe’s Marsha Lederman engaged in a teaser Q&A with Reichs, who divides her time between North Carolina, South Carolina and Montreal – and has been in the United States during the shutdown.

Globe Book Club, virtual edition: Join our livestream here on May 20 to hear Kathy Reichs talk about her new novel A Conspiracy of Bones

How have you been spending your time in quarantine?

I am self-isolating at my beach house with two daughters, four grandkids, two dogs, two cats and a bearded dragon. Lots of writing (for me), communal dinners, walks on the beach and kid movies.

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What are you missing about Montreal?

The restaurants!

If Temperance Brennan had to spend this much time away from Montreal, what would she miss about it?

The restaurants! And fascinating cases at the Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de médecine légale.

Conspiracy theory radio/blogs play a significant role in your new book. What was it like to conduct that research?

Disturbing. So much alarming, sometimes dangerous misinformation and disinformation floating around out there on the internet.

Feral hogs also play a role in this book. Have you ever come across one? (Or, heaven forbid, more than one?)

I have not. Would like to keep it that way.

The Globe Book Club virtual event will take place Wednesday, May 20, at 8 p.m. ET at tgam.ca/bookclub. Reichs will also answer questions from Globe and Mail readers, so please submit them to bookclub@globeandmail.com.

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