David Boreanaz

Temperance from Charlottean Reichs’ novels loses years, sophistication on TV For Charlotte author Kathy Reichs, there are two Temperance Brennans.

There’s "Book Tempe," the character in her popular whodunit books based in part on her own career as a forensic anthropologist.

And there’s "TV Tempe," the character played by Emily Deschanel in the drama "Bones," which Fox announced Friday will be picked up for a third season.

Book Tempe is in her 40s, mature, worldly.

TV Tempe is a decade younger, headstrong, socially awkward.

Fans of her novels sometimes complain about the difference.

"The one thing I tell readers is, `Look, it’s different. You have to deal with it. It’s like an earlier stage of her life."

TV Tempe’s back story includes a tangled family drama — her dead mother and her long-lost father, played by Ryan O’Neal.

Reichs says she doesn’t try to reconcile the differences in the two characters in her books. Television does what it has to do.

An adjunct professor of anthropology at UNC Charlotte, Reichs landed on best-seller lists in 1997 with "Deja Dead," her first stab at a novel and the introduction of Temperance Brennan, who coaxes clues from old bones.

Her next novel, "Bones to Ashes," will be released this summer and she’s already writing No. 11 in the series. She’s on a book-a-year schedule with Scribner and is under contract for at least 14.

She serves as a consultant to the series, reviewing scripts and, she says, "keeping the science honest."

Writers come up with plots and seek her expertise on how to get skeletons to speak their secrets — how bones would tell investigators that the person was from a poor, rural area of Europe or had fallen from an airplane.

She flies to California every few months to meet with producers, but mostly monitors the progress of scripts electronically from home. She enjoys working with the actors, including Deschanel and her FBI love interest played by David Boreanaz.

"It’s a delight working with David and Emily. Nobody has any kind of star complex — at least around me."

She even got some acting experience. On the Dec. 13 episode, "Judas on a Pole," she did a cameo as an academic reviewing the doctorate for Zack Addy, played by Eric Millegan. David Duchovny of "X-Files" fame directed the episode.

"It was fun. We also got to crash a car."

"Bones" has been a good performer for Fox, particularly in attracting younger audiences. Nearly 13 million viewers tuned in last week, according to Nielsen Media Services, its highest rating ever without an "American Idol" lead-in.