"In Quebec, winters can be slow for the forensic anthropologist. The temperature rarely rises above freezing. The rivers and lakes ice over, the ground turns rock hard, and snow buries everything. Bugs disappear, and many scavengers go underground. The result: Corpses do not putrefy in the great outdoors. Floaters are not pulled from the St. Lawrence... and some of last season's dead are not found until the spring melt."

Readers of Kathy Reichs's cool and clever first forensic thriller Déjà Dead will recognize the ironic voice of Tempe (short for Temperance) Brennan, the North Carolina-born scientist who winds up working at the Laboratoire de Médicine Légale in Montreal. Here she bristles at the conservative attitudes of some of her Canadian colleagues.

Despite the cold weather, Tempe's workload quickly becomes heavy: the bones of a long-dead nun now up for sainthood have been moved and tampered with; a deadly house fire turns out to be arson; and a university teaching assistant disappears after joining a cult. Tempe must figure out where (and why) all the bodies are buried in the hard Canadian ground. Her investigations take her home to North Carolina, and to a strange colony living on an offshore island.

Unlike certain other writers who specialize in forensic pathology, Reichs doesn't revel in the horror of death or rub our noses in gore: she uses the science of death to reveal rather than to shock or startle. It definitely makes for easier reading--especially at mealtimes. --Dick Adler


From Publishers Weekly
Forensic anthropologist Temperance "Tempe" Brennan of the Laboratoire de M?dicine L?gale in Montreal makes a triumphant second appearance in Reichs's powerful followup to her bestselling debut, D?j? Dead. The novel opens atmospherically in a frigid church graveyard as Tempe labors to exhume the century-old remains of a nun so that the Church can posthumously declare her a saint. But the bones aren't where they're supposed to be according to the graveyard map, and there's something suspicious about them when they do turn up. Tempe's caseload multiplies as a house fire proves to be a horrific instance of arson and a university teaching assistant who's recently joined a cult goes missing. The three seemingly individual events begin to braid together, as the doings with the doomsday cult draw Tempe to North Carolina. As in D?j? Dead, ReichsAherself a forensic anthropologistArenders comprehensively and believably the cool, tense intelligence of her heroine. A North Carolina native who consults in Montreal only a few months of the year, Tempe still hasn't acclimated to the bone-chilling Northern cold, and if she's come to expect the misogynist attitudes of some of the Canadian officials, she still bristles at them. Also well presented are Tempe's refreshing compassion in the face of relentless autopsies, her ability to describe a corpse with judiciously graphic detail and her penchant for revealing the art behind the science on such matters as the preservation of a corpse's teeth. Reichs's first novel, which won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel of 1997, was compared justifiably to the Kay Scarpetta novels of Patricia Cornwell. Soon, Cornwell's novels may be compared to Reichs's. Agent, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh. Major ad/promo; author tour. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
When her first forensic thriller, D?j? Dead (LJ 8/97) hit the best sellers list, Reichs was hailed by critics as the next Patricia Cornwell. Her heroine, forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan, was considered a worthy rival to Cornwell's medical examiner, Kay Scarpetta. Her new work proves that Reichs does not yet suffer the fatigue that has plagued Cornwell's later books. The novel opens with Tempe digging up the body of a nun buried more than a century ago in a convent graveyard in Quebec. While her job is to identify the corpse as a possible saint, Tempe's attention is drawn to the grisly killings of four-month-old twin boys and their parents. At the same time, Tempe's troubled sister Harry comes to Montreal to take a self-help workshop. Investigating these deaths leads Tempe back to the Carolinas, where more bodies are discovered on an island monkey preserve, and clues point to a mysterious cult. Fearing that her sister might be involved with this group, Tempe heads back to Montreal for a climatic showdown during the Great Quebec Ice Storm of 1998. Although the plot is somewhat contrived, this still offers an enjoyable read for Cornwell fans who want something new.-AWilda Williams, "Library Journal"Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
A brutal baby massacre in Quebec, a grizzly girl gutted in North Carolina: Could they be related? Forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan must find the answers and catch the killers. Bonnie Hurren obviously enjoys performing this international thriller. Her greatest talent lies in her expertise with dialects. Subtle North Carolina sweetness gives way to a Tennessee drawl in an instant, followed by an amazing ability to portray Canadian French. She even captures Nova Scotia's regionalisms to perfection. Her Texan accent comes across a little harsh, but in tone rather than dialect. And she really should have learned how to pronounce "Memphremagog," but only listeners from northern Vermont/southern Quebec will pick up on it. Hurren's performance is a real treasure. R.P.L. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Kirkus Reviews
Called from her peaceful exhumation of the century-old bones of Sister Elisabeth Nicolet, whose heroic work during Quebec's 1885 smallpox epidemic may qualify her for sainthood, consulting anthropologist Temperance Brennan finds herself in a charnel house. The two bodies that have been discovered in a burning house in St-Jovite were both murdered, one horribly, before the fire was set, and four more corpses, two of them infants, are found nearby. This tableau, showing Reichs's strength in the gruesome details of forensics, is only Act One of a tale that will involve Tempe with a student missing from McGill University, a threateningly oracular professor of religious studies, and Tempe's own flamboyant sister, Harriet Lamour. When the grisly discoveries Tempe's made in the lab link the dead of St-Jovite to Dominick Owens's commune in sleepy Beaufort, South Carolina, the site of two other killings, the evidence shrieks conspiracy, and the prose shrieks along with it: chapters end with the likes of Tempe's trepidation escalat[ing] to real fear, an icy wind rocketing through my soul, and my jaw dropp[ing] in amazement. Beneath all the hand-wringing, readers with strong stomachs will find an even broader canvas than Dj... Dead (1997), Reichs's striking debut, though one with more mystification than mystery. Reichs plots ambitiously, knows her way around a morgue, isn't afraid to pile on the Grand Guignol, and spins a tale that reads, well, like a house afire. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
New York Newsday Temperance Brennan is the real thing, that's because her creator, Kathy Reichs, is the real thing.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Who woulda thunk it.

While there have been serial killer novels in various forms for at least a century, this particular type of tale didn't formalize into a subgenre until Shane Stevens, Lawrence Sanders, Thomas Harris, and Patricia Cornwell defined it as a set of conventions and story patterns. Harris and Cornwell added the forensics. Sort of what Erle Stanley Gardner did with the legal mystery back in the '30s. Because Cornwell now leads the pack, everybody who works in anything remotely like the serial killer form is compared to her. She has her fans; she has her detractors.

Kathy Reichs's first novel, Deja Dead , was so successful that the Cornwell comparison was inevitable and, in at least a few ways, fair. What impels them novels is science, forensic science, and what seems to win their readers is the particular tone the forensics lend the narrative. The knowing clinical detail seems to excite the readers as much as the human aspects of the story.

You can decide for yourself which writer you like better, Cornwell or Reichs. Hell, nothing wrong with liking them both. Comparisons and competitions get tiresome after a while.

As for my report on the new Reichs novel, Death du Jour — you knew I'd get around to it eventually, didn't you? — I found it a skillfully done mystery, long on mood and character. Reichs has a solid grasp of how to start and end a scene, paying it off with maximum effect so you'll be sure not to put the book down. If she hasn't studied her Ed McBain (the all-time champ of starting and ending scenes), I'd be surprised.

She is also able to juggle subplots extremely well. The A plot here concerns Temperance Brennan (a Romance novel name I'll never warm to) exhuming the remains of Sister Elisabeth Nicolet, who was buried in 1888, a nun the church may make a saint. When the bones are finally located, Brennan suspects that the nun did not die naturally. The B story line involves a nasty arson case. And story line C brings in Brennan's sister, a missing student, and...I'm getting confused just retyping my notes here. The amazing thing is, you don't see any of the seams in this book. Reichs is a first-rate plotter. She pulls off some very intricate storytelling with ease.

She's also a good writer. There's a finished, polished feel to her sentences, and a real feel for place in her descriptions. She enjoys writing and has respect for it. There's nothing slapdash here. I haven't yet read her first novel. But if it's half as good as this one, I can see what all the fuss was about.

— Ed Gorman

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Assaulted by the bitter cold of a Montreal winter, the American-born Dr. Temperance Brennan, Forensic Anthropologist for the Province of Quebec, digs for a corpse where Sister Elisabeth Nicolet, dead for over a century and now a candidate for sainthood, should be lying in her grave. A strange, small coffin, buried in the recesses of a decaying church, holds the first clue to the cloistered nun's fate. The puzzle surrounding Sister Elisabeth Nicolet's life and death provides a welcome contrast to discoveries at a burning chalet, where scorched and twisted bodies await Tempe's professional expertise. Who were these people? What brought them to this gruesome fate? And where are the children? Homicide Detective Andrew Ryan, with whom Tempe has a combustive history, joins her in the arson investigation. From the fire scene they are drawn into the worlds of an enigmatic and controversial sociologist, a mysterious commune, and a primate colony on a Carolina island. Tempe is overwhelmed by the case, confused by her mounting attraction to Ryan, and plagued by worries about her sister Harry's search for spiritual awakening.

SYNOPSIS

Rarely has a first-time novelist made such a spectacular international publishing debut as Kathy Reichs did with her acclaimed forensic thriller Déjà Dead.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Forensic anthropologist Temperance "Tempe" Brennan of the Laboratoire de Me dicine Legale in Montreal makes a triumphant second appearance in Reichs's powerful followup to her bestselling debut, Deja Dead. The novel opens atmospherically in a frigid church graveyard as Tempe labors to exhume the century-old remains of a nun so that the Church can posthumously declare her a saint. But the bones aren't where they're supposed to be according to the graveyard map, and there's something suspicious about them when they do turn up. Tempe's caseload multiplies as a house fire proves to be a horrific instance of arson and a university teaching assistant who's recently joined a cult goes missing. The three seemingly individual events begin to braid together, as the doings with the doomsday cult draw Tempe to North Carolina. As in Deja Dead, Reichs--herself a forensic anthropologist--renders comprehensively and believably the cool, tense intelligence of her heroine. A North Carolina native who consults in Montreal only a few months of the year, Tempe still hasn't acclimated to the bone-chilling Northern cold, and if she's come to expect the misogynist attitudes of some of the Canadian officials, she still bristles at them. Also well presented are Tempe's refreshing compassion in the face of relentless autopsies, her ability to describe a corpse with judiciously graphic detail and her penchant for revealing the art behind the science on such matters as the preservation of a corpse's teeth. Reichs's first novel, which won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel of 1997, was compared justifiably to the Kay Scarpetta novels of Patricia Cornwell. Soon, Cornwell's novels may be compared to Reichs's. Agent, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh.

Library Journal

What kind of a corpse will Dr. Temperence Brennan be faced with today? Old or young woman? Baby? Cat? She gets them all. Did you know one can tell the time of death by the kinds of bugs found in the putrefying body? Get ready for the details. The plot takes second place to the bodies, but the characterization of Tempy has improved--she is more interesting, less defensive, and more likable than in D j Dead, where she was introduced to the reading public. Moreover, the descriptions of Beaufort, SC, Charlotte, NC, and Montreal are certain to appeal to aficionados of those locales. Bonnie Hurren reads the story well and uses several variant Southern, French, and Irish accents with confidence and verve. She is fun to listen to and brings credibility to Tempy's uncertainty about beginning a romance with charming Lt. Ryan. Recommended for regional or large mystery collections.--Juleigh Muirhead Clark, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Lib., Williamsburg, VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

AudioFile - David Pitt

Reichs's second novel (after 1997's D￯﾿ﾽJA DEAD) finds forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan looking into a Quebec arson case that might be connected to a strange North Carolina commune. Borowitz's performance gets off to a shaky start--she sounds a tad bored--but once she gets into the meat of the story, she livens up. The story's packed with the kind of realism and detail that fans of Patricia Cornwell or the television series "Quincy" will enjoy. A firstrate mystery with a sneak-up-and-grab-you performance: a perfect combination. D.L.P. ￯﾿ﾽAudioFile, Portland, Maine

AudioFile - AudioFile Review

A brutal baby massacre in Quebec, a grizzly girl gutted in North Carolina: Could they be related? Forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan must find the answers and catch the killers. Bonnie Hurren obviously enjoys performing this international thriller. Her greatest talent lies in her expertise with dialects. Subtle North Carolina sweetness gives way to a Tennessee drawl in an instant, followed by an amazing ability to portray Canadian French. She even captures Nova Scotia's regionalisms to perfection. Her Texan accent comes across a little harsh, but in tone rather than dialect. And she really should have learned how to pronounce "Memphremagog," but only listeners from northern Vermont/southern Quebec will pick up on it. Hurren's performance is a real treasure. R.P.L. ￯﾿ﾽ AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine

Read by Bonnie Hurren

NY Times Book Review