A traumatized corpse is found in a ravine on the wrong side of town. I sense foul play, but Maddie and I are on the case. “Altered lives. Baffling medical mysteries. Shocking revelations. These are the everyday cases of Dr. G, Medical Examiner!”


 


A lot of my friends have to change the channel on all that blood and guts, but I can’t help myself; I love it. On a rare night off, you’ll find me curled up with my little Maltese, wearing flannel PJs my mom bought at Target, chain-chewing Super Bubble, completely engrossed in crime-solving. Nothing slick or scripted. I don’t go for the CSI-type dramas; I want the real live science nerds and procedure buffs: American Justice, First 48, Cold Case. If it’s got a handheld camera in a coroner’s lab, I am so there.


 


Part of it is my latent Nancy Drew tendencies. If I hadn’t ended up floating around in magic bubbles, I would have been a detective. I love unraveling the mysteries of human relationships, the way people come together and fall apart, driven by love, anger, greed, and the unpredictable plot twists of life. Gluing me to these stories is the same curiosity that leads me into the heart of a character on stage or film. Acting is really a study of human behavior.


 


Beyond that is the crazy cool mechanics of the human body. A dead body tells the story of a person’s life. As science turns that story into evidence, you can see the will to survive built in from our skin cells to our bone marrow. Like the Bible says, “We are fearfully and wonderfully made!”



Get more on Kristin Chenoweth at SimonandSchuster.com