Kathy Reichs' Novels Trivia Quiz

Answer: Deja Dead

The titles represent Kathy Reichs' first four books. In order, they are Deja Dead (1997), Death Du Jour (1999), Deadly Decisions (2000), Fatal Voyage (2001).

Answer: anthropology

Like her character, Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist. She is one of only 50 forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology and is on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Answer: Quebec

Tempe works for the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Quebec, as does the author, Kathy Reichs.

Answer: University of North Carolina in Charlotte

Tempe is a professor of anthropology for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, as is the author. Kathy Reichs is also a forensic anthropologist for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the State of North Carolina.

Answer: alcohol

According to a newspaper interview, Kathy Reichs said "I wanted to give Temperance some texture, some weaknesses. Maybe in the future she'll fall off the wagon. You have to be careful, though - I introduced her in "Deja Dead" as not having drunk in seven years as at April 1997. If you date each book your character ages really quick!" However, in the opening lines of the book, the date is set at Thursday, June 2, 1994, and at the end of Chapter Two, Tempe states "It'd been six years since I'd had a drink".

Answer: Katy

Katy is Tempe's daughter by her ex-husband, Pete. Gabby is a friend from college days in the 1970s. Harriet is Tempe's younger sister. (Lucy is the niece of Kay Scarpetta, Patricia Cornwell's main character).

Answer: Serge Archambault

"Deja Dead" was based on the serial killer Serge Archambault who committed several murders in Montreal in 1992. Kathy Reichs was involved in the retrieval and examination of the corpse of the first victim. It was a skeleton which had been expertly dismembered. Serge Archambault was a butcher and had the skills necessary to dismember the skeleton at the joints. Most killers cut the limbs off above or below the joints.

Answer: Death Du Jour

Jeanne LeBer had been exhumed three times over three centuries and was not buried alone. However, Reichs was able to identify her. Some of the evidence included "arthritic remodelling indicating she'd spent a lot of time kneeling. I also found classic grooving in her teeth where she had been pulling thread through her teeth, year after year, sewing tapestries".

Answer: Solar Temple

"Death Du Jour" involved a story based on the Solar Temple cult. In 1994, five members of the Solar Temple cult were found dead in Quebec and another 47 were found in Switzerland. Some were suicides but most appeared to be murders. Kathy Reichs was involved in this case because the Canadian remains had been burned. By 1999, 74 deaths were directly linked to the Solar Temple cult, 11 of which were children.

Answer: biker gangs

"Deadly Decisions" is Kathy Reichs' third novel. Quebec's Wolverine Squad is a special police unit formed in 1995 that deals with biker gangs and violence. According to Kathy Reichs, 120 people have either died or disappeared, including an 11-year-old boy, because of a turf war between biker gangs in Quebec.