Fox plans BONES spin-off, based on different books

From DHD – Fox is developing a spin-off of the hit series Bones, only calling it a spin-off is a tad misleading. The new series won’t have any of the characters from Bones, Kathy Reichs as a producer, or anything to do with forensic anthropology – instead it will be based on a different set of books, Richard Greener’s The Locator series. How is this a spin-off again?

The Locator series centers on Walter Sherman aka “the Locator.” Walter is described as an eccentric, obstreperous and amusing reclusive man in his late 20s-30s with highly sought after abilities to find anything. He is skeptical of every statement and often asks offensive, seemingly irrelevant questions which oddly enough turn out to be extremely relevant.

Hart Hanson, the creator/producer of Bones, will sheppard the new series, and here is where Bones does come in – if Fox finds an actor they believe can carry a series, they will debut the new character, Walter Sherman, in an episode of Bones that will air in 2011.They’ll work him in as a former military policeman who knows Agent Booth (David Boreanaz) from their time serving in Iraq together, and the two dislike each other very much. Meanwhile, Dr. Brennan (Emily Deschanel) finds him very intriguing. Walter was injured overseas and suffered brain damage which lead to his honorable discharge, as well as his ever present state of paranoia.

This still sounds more like a cross-over/marketing exercise than “spin-off” to me…

Book Jacket:

With tainted meat the weapon and corporate greed the motive, The Knowland Retribution is an extremely topical suspense-revenge thriller. Walter Sherman, aka the Locator, is a tracker who honed his skills in Vietnam. The colorful cast of characters also includes Sherman’s two friends–a bartender with a mysterious past and an old black man who smokes like a chimney; a feisty young woman who writes obituaries for the New York Times; a southern lawyer who has lost everything and has only one thing to live for; and a group of Wall Street investment bankers who make a deadly decision.

The action takes the reader from a tiny Caribbean bar on the island of St. John to the editorial boardroom of the New York Times, from the gleaming skyline of Atlanta to the isolation of northern New Mexico, from Adirondack hideouts to Manhattan suites to Mississippi backwoods.

This complex and compelling mystery thriller is the first in a series featuring Walter Sherman as the Locator.