Temperance Brennan is accused of mishandling an autopsy.

Kathy Reichs, #1 bestselling author and producer of the FOX televison hit is at her brilliant best in a riveting novel featuring forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan—a story of infanticide, murder, and corruption, set in the high-stakes, high-danger world of diamond mining.

A woman calling herself Amy Roberts checks into a Montreal hospital complaining of uncontrolled bleeding. Doctors see evidence of a recent birth, but before they can act, Roberts disappears. Dispatched to the address she gave at the hospital, police discover bloody towels outside in a Dumpster. Fearing the worst, they call Temperance Brennan to investigate.

In a run-down apartment Tempe makes a ghastly discovery: the decomposing bodies of three infants. According to the landlord, a woman named Alma Rogers lives there. Then a man shows up looking for Alva Rodriguez. Are Amy Roberts, Alma Rogers, and Alva Rodriguez the same person? Did she kill her own babies? And where is she now?

Heading up the investigation is Tempe’s old flame, homicide detective Andrew Ryan. His counterpart from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is sergeant Ollie Hasty, who happens to have a little history with Tempe himself, which she regrets. This unlikely trio follows the woman’s trail, first to Edmonton and then to Yellowknife, a remote diamond-mining city deep in the Northwest Territories. What they find in Yellowknife is more sinister than they ever could have imagined.

Crackling with sexual tension, whip-smart dialogue, and the startling plot twists Reichs delivers so well, is the fifteenth thrilling novel in Reichs’s “cleverly plotted and expertly maintained series” (). With the FOX series in its eighth season and her popularity at its broadest ever, Kathy Reichs has reached new heights in suspenseful storytelling.

It's the second-to-last day of archaeological field school. Dr Temperance Brennan's students are working on a site of prehistoric graves on Dewees, a barrier island north of Charleston, South Carolina, when a decomposing body is uncovered in a shallow grave off a lonely beach… The skeleton is articulated, the bone fresh and the vertebrae still connected by soft-tissue; the remains are encased in rotted fabric and topped by wisps of pale, blond hair – a recent burial, and a case Tempe must take. Dental remains and skeletal gender and race indicators suggest that the deceased is a middle-aged white male – but who was he? Why was he buried in a clandestine grave? And what does the unusual vertical hairline fracture of the sixth cervical vertebrae signify? While Tempe is trying to piece together the evidence, her personal life is thrown into turmoil. When a bullet – intended, perhaps, for her – puts Tempe 's estranged husband Pete in hospital, her unexpectedly emotional response complicates her on-off relationship with Detective Andrew Ryan… But before long, another body is discovered – and Tempe finds herself drawn deeper into a shocking and chilling investigation, set to challenge her entire view of humanity…

Life appears peaceful on Loggerhead Island – rescued from financial disaster, the research institute is flourishing once more. But the tranquility is quickly shattered when Tory Brennan and her technophile gang discover a mysterious box buried in the ground.

A seemingly innocent treasure hunt soon turns into a nightmarish game of puzzles, as it becomes clear that one false move will lead to terrible, explosive consequences.

The clock is ticking. Can Tory and the Virals crack the code in time to save the city – and their own lives?

The latest gripping thriller from world class forensic anthropologist, Kathy Reichs, bestselling author of Bare Bones and Monday Mourning Temperance Brennan has a mystifying new case in this eighth novel from New York Times bestselling author and world-class forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs. Tempe is called in to interpret the wounds of a man who was shot in the head, but while she tries to make sense of the fracture patterning, an unknown man slips her a photograph of a skeleton, telling her it holds the answer to the victim's death. Detective Andrew Ryan is also on the case and, as his relationship with Tempe heats up, together they try to figure out who this orthodox Jew in the Israeli "import business" really was. Was he involved in the black market trade in antiquities? And what is the significance of the photo? With the help of Jacob Drum, a biblical archaeologist and old friend from the University of North Carolina, Tempe follows the trail of clues all the way to Israel. In the Holy Land, she learns of a strange ossuary at Masada, a shroud, and a tomb that may have held the remains of Jesus's family. But the further she probes into the identity of the ancient skeleton, the more she seems to be putting herself in danger…

The first Temperance Brennan novel in the “cleverly plotted and expertly maintained series” () from the #1 internationally bestselling thriller writer Kathy Reichs.

Her life is devoted to justice – even for those she never knew.

In the year since Temperance Brennan left behind a shaky marriage in North Carolina, work has often preempted her weekend plans to explore Québec. When a female corpse is discovered meticulously dismembered and stashed in trash bags, Temperance detects an alarming pattern – and she plunges into a harrowing search for a killer. But her investigation is about to place those closest to her – her best friend and her own daughter – in mortal danger…

“A genius at building suspense” (, New York), Kathy Reichs’s Temperance Brennan books are both “accomplished and chilling” () and “ripe with intricate settings and memorable characters” ().

From Publishers Weekly

Critics (and publicists) often compare Reichs to Patricia Cornwell, as both are women who write bestselling thrillers featuring a female forensic expert. There's a significant difference between them, though. Reichs brings to her grisly novels a scientific detail and authenticity that Cornwell rarely matchesAa virtue arising from Reich's background as a top forensic anthropologist for the governments of North Carolina and Quebec, a background mirrored by that of her heroine, Tempe Brennan. But CornwellAa journalist before she turned novelistAis a more accomplished writer than Reichs, and her more fluid prose and plotting support a heroine who exudes a vitality that Brennan doesn't. Reichs's strengths and weaknesses are apparent in this third novel (after Death du Jour) featuring narrator Brennan, which finds the crime fighter tangling with outlaw motorcycle gangs in Montreal. The novel opens as Brennan, "sorting badly mangled tissue" in an autopsy room, is interrupted by the arrival of another body: that of a girl, nine, caught by a bullet that one gang, the Heathens, had intended for a rival Viper. The mangled tissue belongs to two Heathens who'd been en route to bomb the Vipers' headquarters: war is raging among bikers in Montreal, and Brennan is soon caught in the battles, not least because her visiting nephew, Kit, is enamored with bikersAincluding some involved in the war. The narrative carries Brennan to assorted bikers' hangouts, and to much forensic digging, all of which Reichs handles with an admirable intensity and veracity. Still, the novel has a stiff, storyboarded feel, with a subplot involving Brennan's cop loverAhas he turned gang member?Aparticularly intrusive. The pacing is lopsided, laborious in front and action-stuffed at the back, and the narrative spreads its message about the malfeasance of outlaw bikers with a heavy hand. Overall, the novel works, but the gears show one time too many. Agent, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh at the Writer's Shop. Major ad/promo; 6-city author tour.

In a house under renovation, a plumber uncovers a cellar no one knew about, and makes a rather grisly discovery – a decapitated chicken, animal bones, and cauldrons containing beads, feathers, and other relics of religious ceremonies. In the center of the shrine, there is the skull of a teenage girl. Meanwhile, on a nearby lakeshore, the headless body of a teenage boy is found by a man walking his dog.

Nothing is clear – neither when the deaths occurred, nor where. Was the skull brought to the cellar or was the girl murdered there? Why is the boy’s body remarkably well preserved? Led by a preacher turned politician, citizen vigilantes blame devil worshippers and Wiccans. They begin a witch hunt, intent on seeking revenge.

Forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan – “five-five, feisty, and forty-plus” – is called in to investigate, and a complex and gripping tale unfolds in this, Kathy Reichs’s eleventh taut, always surprising, scientifically fascinating mystery.

With a popular series on Fox – now in its third season and in full syndication – Kathy Reichs has established herself as the dominant talent in forensic mystery writing. Devil Bones features Reichs’s signature blend of forensic descriptions that “chill to the bone” (Entertainment Weekly) and the surprising plot twists that have made her books phenomenal bestsellers in the United States and around the world.

Andrew Ryan, detektyw z Wydziału Zabójstw, znowu może pomóc w rozwikłaniu zagadki Tempe, a przy okazji i…sobie! Bo prywatnie samotność doskwiera przecież obojgu…

La antropóloga forense Temperance Brennan es una de las primeras personas en acudir al monte donde acaba de estrellarse un pequeño avión de pasajeros. Casi todos ellos eran estudiantes que formaban parte de un equipo de béisbol, y entre las víctimas también podría encontrarse Katy, la hija de Tempe.

Asustada la doctora decide investigar los motivos de la tragedia y, a partir de ese momento, se verá envuelta en una conspiración dirigida a entorpecer por todos los medios su trabajo y acabar con su vida.

La doctora Temperance Brennan acaba de llegar a Montreal para cubrir el puesto de directora del Departamento de Antropología forense de la provincia de Québec. Atrás ha dejado una situación matrimonial delicada y una época de trabajo nada fácil, por lo que Temple acaricia la perspectiva de un relajante fin de semana. Antes, sin embargo, debe personarse en el lugar donde la policía acaba de encontrar un cadáver descuartizado y meticulosamente clasificado en bolsas de plástico.

El singular proceder del asesino le resulta terriblemente familiar a la forense, y en seguida acude a su memoria el caso de la joven Chantale Trottier, de dieciséis años, que había llegado a la morgue desnuda, escrupulosamente descuartizada y empaquetada en varias bolsas de basura tiempo atrás. Con la certeza de que un asesino anda suelto por la ciudad, Tempe ha de recurrir a sus habilidades como forense para probar que ambos casos están relacionados. Pero para lograr la detención del psicópata ha de convencer a sus colegas del Departamento de Policía de que sus sospechas son ciertas, por lo que no la queda mas remedio que actuar con rapidez e incluso poner en peligro su vida y la de cuantos le rodean.

Tory Brennan, niece of acclaimed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (of the Bones novels and hit TV show), is the leader of a ragtag band of teenage "sci-philes" who live on a secluded island off the coast of South Carolina. When the group rescues a dog caged for medical testing on a nearby island, they are exposed to an experimental strain of canine parvovirus that changes their lives forever. As the friends discover their heightened senses and animal-quick reflexes, they must combine their scientific curiosity with their newfound physical gifts to solve a cold-case murder that has suddenly become very hot-if they can stay alive long enough to catch the killer's scent. Fortunately, they are now more than friends: They are a pack. They are Virals.

Pracująca jako antropolog sądowy w Montrealu, doktor Tempe Brennan zostaje wezwana do klasycznego z pozoru przypadku odkrycia kobiecych kości na terenie opuszczonego cmentarza. Analiza szczątków ofiary wskazuje, że może to być kolejna zbrodnia maniakalnego zabójcy kobiet. Nikt nie daje wiary tym hipotezom, dopóki…

Książka, która zainspirowała twórców serialu tv "Kości"

***

Kathy Reichs jest autorką wielu powieści kryminalnych, których cechą główną jest prezentacja śmierci także w ujęciu medycznym. Jej utwory to dzieła pełne strachu i przerażenia, ale także zawierające wielki kunszt literacki autorki. Do jej twórczego repertuaru należy wiele opowiadań kryminalnych, jednak to właśnie "Zapach Śmierci" jest najbardziej popularną książka jej autorstwa.

Od największych na świecie Frankfurdzich Targów Ksiązki zaczęła się błyskotliwa kariera debiutującej tam Amerykanki Kathy Reichs, kiedy wydawcy z wielu krajów bez wahania zapłacili rekordowe zaliczki za prawa do edycji "Zapachu śmierci". I się nie zawiedli. Podobnie jak czytelnicy.

Akcja powieści „Zapach Śmierci” toczy się w Monteralu, gdzie to pracująca jako antropolog sądowy, doktor Tempe Brennan zostaje wezwana do klasycznego z pozoru przypadku odkrycia kobiecych kości na terenie opuszczonego cmentarza. Analiza szczątków ofiary wskazuje Tempe, że może to być kolejna zbrodnia maniakalnego zabójcy kobiet. Nikt jednak nie daje wiary tym hipotezom. Tempe rozpoczyna śledztwo na własną rękę. Reichs prezentuje nam determinacje kobiety, która chce poznać prawdę, a przede wszystkim chce udowodnić innym, ze miała racje.

"Zapach Śmierci" to ksiązka pełna niebezpieczeństw, wzbudzająca u odbiorcy poczucie leku, ale tez chęć poznania prawdy. Wiele w niej wątków pobocznych, które zmuszają czytelnika do myślenia. Czytelnik sam próbuje za pomocą własnej wyobraźni rozwikłać tę kryminalną zagadkę – kto jest morderca. Autorka specjalnie kieruje świadomość odbiorcy na inne sprawy i innych podejrzanych, po to, żeby na końcu wzbudzić u niego poczucie zaskoczenia i niespodzianki. Z pewnością to jej się udaje.

Fabuła niby znana powszechnie – poszukiwanie i pościg za mordercą, jednak sposób w jaki Reichs to prezentuje jest z pewnością godny podziwu. Mole książkowe, które uwielbiają obszernych rozmiarów książki z kryminalnymi wątkami, nie zawiodą się na tej książce.

Mnie, osobiście książka zaintrygowała bardzo. Chociażby poprzez sposób w jaki jest napisana – język prosty, trafiający do zwykłego odbiorcy, nawet wszystkie terminy medyczne, o których nie ma pojęcia, nie są w stanie zepsuć ogólnego pozytywnego wrażenia. Jedynie co mogę zarzucić Reichs to zbyt rozlegle opisy miejsc i okoliczności. Czytelnik podczas czytania zbyt rozległych opisów, niecierpliwi się o dalszy rozwój sytuacji. Poza tym, mam wrażenie, że autorce umyka czasem, przy tych wszystkich opisach rzeczywistości, charakterystyka głównej bohaterki – Tempe. Być może był to celowy zabieg, aby zmusić każdego do wysilenia własnej wyobraźni. Jednak należy stwierdzić, że ogólne wrażenie po lekturze książki jest jak najbardziej pozytywne i mogę ją polecić każdemu, nie tylko tym, których fascynuje perspektywa rozpadającego się ciała, czy tez bardzo dokładny opis poszczególnych kości człowieka po jego śmierci.

Książka „Zapach Śmierci” została uznana za międzynarodowy bestseller i została przetłumaczona na co najmniej 20 języków. Niesamowitym atutem tej książki jest jej realizm. Należy dodać, że niektóre zaprezentowane w książce przypadki są prawdziwymi przykładami z rzeczywistości i pracy zawodowej autorki. To, dodatkowo wzbudza u czytelnika ciekawość i chęć poznania przyczyn i skutków.

Ważny podkreślenia jest fakt, że na ekrany polskiej telewizji Polsat, wszedł serial "Kości", inspirowany bestsellerowymi powieściami pisarki kryminolog – antropolog Kathy Reichs.

Dr. Temperance Brennan, director of forensic anthropology for the province of Quebec is looking forward to a relaxing weekend. Instead, she is called to stop at an uncovered burial site and one look at the decapitated and dismembered body tells her she'll spend the weekend in the crime lab. To catch the killer, Brennan has to identify the victim­someone with reddish hair and a small bone structure. And as the evidences fall into place, Tempe links this case to another one­the murder and dismemberment of sixteen-year-old Chantale. Hot on the killer's trail, Tempe realizes that the next victim could be her daughter, her friend or even herself.