Was Devil Bones preparatory material for a copycat murderer?
Kathy Reichs’ novel Devil Bones has been associated with a real-life murder as a result of the killing’s similarity to the book’s plot.
Roshan Dantis was last week jailed for 24 years for the murder of his friend’s wife Khusbu Shah, who he strangled and dismembered, before attempting to hide the evidence. The murder echoes an instance in Reichs’ book Devil Bones, which the killer was said to be obsessed with – he renewed his library hire of the novel just hours after the attack. However, Reichs believes the attack was fuelled by a desire for financial gain rather than Satanism, as is the case in the book’s killing.
She added: “Who knows what link there was between reading my book and actually perpetrating the crime?
“He was already doing other internet research on the topic. I don’t think my book made him a better criminal or caused him to cross that line: he was already moving there.”
As well as being a bestselling writer of books such as 206 Bones and Bones to Ashes, Reichs is also a forensic anthropologist.
by George McGaffin
http://www.lovereading.co.uk/news/19562293/devil-bones-linked-to-uk-murder.html