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Reichs went to Guatemala in the spring of 2001 in an effort to help Clyde Snow find and identify some of "the disappeareds." Imagine exhuming twenty-three bodies from one pit as one woman watched the bodies of her four daughters and nine grandchildren were pulled from the pit. The science here is solving crime through DNA evidence. But, Grave Secrets is best known for the scene in which Brennan/Reichs wades into a septic tank and brings out the remains of a victim.

This actually happened on a real case in Belize.

Her next book will be set in Israel and will explore the roots of archaeology. It will be based in part on research conducted at Masada. Three skeletons were found in a palace there in the 60s. Just over the edge of the cliff, another twenty-five remains were found in a cave. The finds were not reported, and the remains seem to have disappeared. Throw in the ossuary supposedly holding the remains of James, brother of Jesus, and the murder of an Orthodox Jew in Montreal. Temperance and Detective Ryan must travel to Israel as colleagues and lovers. By the end of the book, Reichs says she will have "pissed off the Catholics, the Jews, and the Muslims."

That may well be true, but she will have done it with great style for she is a great storyteller. Reichs takes us into the science and makes us understand what she is writing about. And, the science is not just "there;" it moves the story along.