Death Du Jour

Rarely has a first-time novelist made such a spectacular international publishing debut as Kathy Reichs did with her acclaimed forensic thriller “Deja Dead.” A “New York Times” bestseller, a number one bestseller in both Canada and Britain, and winner of the prestigious Ellis Award for Best First Novel of 1997, it was also a Main Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, with foreign rights sold to nineteen countries.

Now, in “Death du Jour,” the author who lives the life she writes about extends her reach while still building on the rich ensemble cast, page-turning suspense, and cutting-edge forensic detail that made “Deja Dead” an international sensation.

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 hermounting attraction to Ryan, and plagued by worries about her sister Harry’s search for spiritual awakening.

Featuring the kind of forensic detail that only Kathy Reichs can provide — from skeletal reconstruction to insect analysis — “Death du Jour” takes the reader on a riveting journey from the morgue to the lab to the crime scene, from the warmth of a barrier island to the frigid cold of a deadly ice storm. With this poignant and powerful work, Kathy Reichs confirms her status as a brilliant new crime-writing star.