On the page or in real life, forensic scientists--those who perform chemical and physical analyses of evidence submitted by law enforcement officials--are crucial in piecing together a cohesive storyline between victims and suspects. A host of contemporary authors are currently spinning tales about the role and lifestyles of forensic experts:
Kathy Reichs, who is, herself, a practicing forensic anthropologist, has emerged as the leader of the pack. Her popular thrillers (Flash and Bones, Spider Bones) are filled with stories culled from her own work experience. Dr. Temperance Brennan, Reichs's protagonist and alter ego, is a highly skilled forensic anthropologist who works at the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington, D.C., and writes novels on the side. Reichs's series inspired the long-running FOX-TV show Bones.
In The House at Sea's End by Elly Griffiths, forensic archeologist and college professor Ruth Galloway lends her expertise to the discovery of a mass grave of skeletal remains found on Britain's Norwalk Beach. In this second novel featuring Galloway, secrets are unearthed that may stem from World War II. Readers become embroiled in a plot that holds deadly consequences, while they are also swept up in the intricacies of Galloway's personal life. She struggles to juggle the demands of her job and the investigation, her life as a single mother and a secret liaison with married DCI Harry Nelson.
Other Eyes, a carefully structured, stand-alone forensic mystery by Chicago writer Barbara D'Amato, features Blue Eriksen, a divorced single mother and a noted Northwestern University forensic archeologist. In this novel, Blue and her team travel the globe, studying and testing mummies, seeking to identify a scientific compound that may cure people of drug addictions. Their work is suddenly deemed as a threat, and Blue is stalked by an assassin who may be working for a powerful drug cartel. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines