Working on an oil-drilling rig in the Wyoming badlands, Em Hansen suspects foul play when a geologist and a well-worker fall prey to fatal accidents, and the feisty mudlogger learns the truths about her supervisors. A first novel. Reprint. AB. K. From Publishers WeeklyThis debut, set at a Wyoming oil-drilling site, introduces a refreshing and less-than-voluptuous heroine ("plain" and "lumpy" she calls herself), but the narrative stumbles irretrievably over dropped bits of inadequately explained drilling lore. Em Hansen works as a mudlogger among a mostly coarse crew of working men. Though she suffers the ill will of the majority, Em is doggedly attached to her work, which apparently involves recording data about mud samples, even as the arrival of a coolly elegant woman geologist increases the sexism quotient. The first death claims Em's mentor Bill, a careful man whose car skids out of control; next to go is young Willie, apparently crushed to death by wild horses. Although remaining an outsider among the crew, Em sets out to investigate the cause of the deaths, which may be linked to the oil field's profitability. The surfeit of oil-drilling lingo, the men's hostility and Em's continuing emphasis of both her unattractiveness and her excluded status combine to sabotage the novel's promise. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalAs one of only two women connected with an oil-drilling rig, "mudlogger" Emily ("Em") Hansen endures sexual innuendo, a drunken trailer-mate, and long hours. But then two suspicious deaths within a week make her even more leery of her surroundings. Afraid at first to articulate her misgivings, Em limits her actions to visiting the "crime" scenes, then taking notes, and finally sharing her concerns with a trusted co-worker. This first novel features steady, thoughtful prose; increasing violence; and a Wyoming landscape. For larger collections.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In her second mystery, the cantankerous geologist and sleuth Em Hansen travels from the oil fields of Wyoming to the corporate boardrooms of Blackfeet Oil in Denver, where something deadly is on the rise. From Publishers WeeklyGeologist/amateur detective Em Hansen, a lowly mudlogger in Tensleep, is struggling up the professional ladder in her second appearance. On her first day at Denver's Blackfeet Oil, where she's just been hired as a geologist, a body falls past the 12th-floor office window of CEO Josiah Carberry Menken?who's only momentarily distracted from the saccharine welcome spiel he's flinging at Em. For Em, who's more comfortable on a horse than at a desk, this is a fitting introduction to corporate culture, which continues to baffle her. She wonders why she's been assigned to evaluate the pros and cons of drilling a particular field when colleague Pete Tutaraitis is clearly more qualified; and she wonders what drove Gerald Luftweiller to throw himself through some very thick glass on the 16th floor. Then, after awkwardly trying to alert Em to some danger, a co-worker hurtles to his death from the same building. The author's scientific explanations make geology come to life; Em's first-person narrative gives the prose added punch. With this cliche-free plot and memorable supporting players?notably foul-tongued colleague Maddy McNutt; gnomic detective Ortega; and the wily Mencken?Andrews solidly establishes her series. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalEmily "Em" Hansen, Tensleep's (LJ 5/1/94) Wyoming oil-rig "mudlogger," goes to work in the main office of Blackfeet Oil in Denver. Strange things begin to happen immediately: at least two men leap to "suicidal" deaths from her high-rise office building; most of Em's co-workers ignore her; and a particularly successful oil field is shrouded in mystery. Em gathers information, falls for a hunky but secretive senior geologist, and yearns for the tomboy life of Wyoming. Andrews has honed her narrative skills to concoct a nicely complicated plot with an appealing heroine. Recommended.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Sarah Andrews is well known for her popular mystery series featuring forensic geologist Em Hansen. With In Cold Pursuit, she builds on that foundation and introduces a new lead character in this compelling mystery from the last continent. Valena Walker is a dedicated master's student in geology headed to Antarctica to study glaciology with the venerable Dr. Emmett Vanderzee. Being on the ice is something she's dreamed about since she was a little girl. But when she finally arrives at McMurdo, she discovers that her professor has been arrested for murder, and what's more, that the incident happened a year ago. A newspaper reporter who'd visited Antarctica the previous winter had died from exposure, and though no one was a fan of the guy---he was attempting to contradict Vanderzee's research---by all accounts, everyone was devastated to lose someone on the ice. Valena quickly realizes that in order to avoid being shipped north immediately and having...

In Fault Line, Sarah Andrews' seventh absorbing mystery, forensic geologist Emily Hansen finds herself in a heavenly situation-for a geologist, anyway. Here, Salt Lake City, on the verge of hosting the Olympics, is hit with a major earthquake, Em's first; she's delighted to see her science at work live and in color instead of in a lab like usual. Not that it's all fun and games-the quake is minor in terms of damage, but the specter of the possibility of a much larger disaster looms. And the geological event brings her a job. For the past few months while trying to move forward in her relationship with her boyfriend, Ray, a cop in Salt Lake, Em has been consulting for and training with the FBI as an unofficial investigator; when a state-employed geologist is murdered hours after the quake, the Feds ask Em to put her special brand of detection skills to work on the case. The disaster already has the local government types edgy, and a murder at the height of the...

Still recuperating from her father's death and her mother's recovery from alcohol addiction, geologist and amateur sleuth Emily "Em" Hansen is out of work and unhappily whiling away her time on her family's Wyoming ranch. So when her former boss, oil millionaire J.C. Menken, asks Em for help—and offers to find her a job if she does—she has no choice but to accept.J.C. wife Miriam died a mysterious death—and his teenaged daughter Cecelia was the only witness. But a traumatized Cecelia can't remember anything about the incident, and can't seem to get on with her life. J.C. wants Em to help his daughter get back on track—but will he want to hear the shocking truths that Em uncovers about his deceased wife and the real reason for her untimely death?

Forensic geologist Em Hansen has barely survived a series of life-altering events that have forced her to get to know herself all over again. Her longtime boyfriend is now a few months in her past, the future she had laid out for herself has evaporated into thin air, and her new man, Jack Sampler, has run away. Well, not run away exactly, but has set off on a secret operation, possibly related to his job as an FBI agent, without telling Em where he is going or when he'll be back.It soon becomes clear that he's in Florida, perhaps as part of an investigation the FBI has been running on a cloud of dust moving into the atmosphere, ostensibly borne on winds from Africa, and the implications it has for global politics. But Em suspects something more sinister may be at work. Will Jack ever forgive her for following him to the southeast and butting in on his case? That is if they get out of this situation with their relationship, not to mention their bodies, intact....

Sarah Andrews' newest geological mystery finds geologist and investigator Em Hansen helping out the Salt Lake City police on the murder of a fellow geologist. Dumped in a gravel quarry, his arms and legs removed and his face bashed in so he'll be unrecognizable, Em IDs him anyway because of a strange tattoo--a geological map of the world--she spots on his body: It's Afton McWain, a controversial figure who worked in big oil in Colorado but who now works in the field of water and droughts.In Andrews' universe, things are never what they seem, and the murder may have as much to do with McWain's personal life (his ex or his common-law wife?) or his overzealous dedication to the "green" lifestyle (the traditional neighbors of his liberal ranch)? as it does with his job. Either way, the combination of suspense and science makes this novel another winner.

Packed with suspense, science and lots of gold, Sarah Andrews' sixth novel takes us from the eagles' domain high over the American West right down into the depths of the earth itself. Like a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, Andrews' engaging heroine, forensic geologist Emily Hansen, uses geological clues to solve crimes. Now, fresh from extricating herself-just barely-from suspicion in the investigation of the murder of a dinosaur paleontologist in Salt Lake City, Em allows a wily FBI agent to talk her into assisting the Bureau on another case. Em and the agent head into the deserts of Nevada: gambling and gold mining country, where fortunes-and lives-are won and lost. Their task is to investigate the high stakes behind conflicting reports about an endangered species on federal land, land the government has leased to a proposed billion-dollar gold-mining operation. But when they arrive, they discover the case has taken an alarming and lethal turn. The biologist they have flown five hundred miles to interrogate lies dead in her pickup truck at the edge of a lonesome road, and a key mining geologist has gone missing. What started as a simple fraud investigation quickly develops into an intricate murder case in which Em must unravel the secrets of gold, the desert, and an Indian tribe struggling to maintain its secrets. The wide-open spaces harbor a deadly enigma that is all too human-and what's at stake is not just Em's life. Andrews has updated observations into the dirt on dead men's shoes for the golden age of high-tech forensic analysis. An Eye for Gold is an enthralling, nail-biting adventure in the air and underground-her best book yet. Amazon.com ReviewForensic geologist Emily Hansen has come to Salt Lake City to see her lover and perhaps to marry him. But before she makes the decision, she is manipulated by FBI agent Tom Latimer into investigating a possibly fraudulent gold-mining operation on federal land. Another geologist is missing, and a scientist charged with assessing the environmental impact of proposed new drilling operations is dead in what appears to Em to be murder rather than an accident.Author Sarah Andrews's strength is her feeling for the arid landscape of Utah and Nevada. She is somewhat shakier in describing her heroine's conflicted emotions about her problematic romantic attachment and the strong sense of autonomy that leads her to take Latimer's bait and get involved in the case. The physical landscape is brilliantly evoked, while the territory of the heart has more subtle boundaries that draw the reader in to a rather convoluted plot. This is the sixth outing for Em, and Andrews's fans will follow her anywhere, even through the detailed and somewhat tedious scientific and geological explanations about mining and a barely more compelling explication of gold's timeless allure. The minor characters are more interesting than many of the central figures: a Paiute shaman, a wealthy woman who pilots her own plane, and the upright Mormon policeman whose proposal provokes Em's exploration into her own inner world. Readers can expect to find out more about him in Em's next outing. --Jane AdamsFrom Publishers WeeklyFollowing on the heels of the successful Bone Hunter (1999), this new mystery featuring forensic geologist Em Hansen is a disappointment, with too little plot and too much discourse on hard-rock mining. A scattershot beginning introduces an overabundance of characters. Then, instead of getting to the meat of the story, the author focuses on Hansen hemming and hawing about whether she should help FBI agent Tom Latimer on a case concerning Granville Resources, a gold-mining company, or hang out with her handsome Mormon boyfriend, Ray. This dithering seems pretty coy once she's fully involved in Tom's investigation. Hansen spends an awful lot of time crisscrossing deserts in planes and in her truck, looking into potential irregularities about permits, claims and other dealings between the suspect Granville Resources and the federal Bureau of Land Management. During most of this period, she's kept in the dark about the nature of the case, as is the reader. After 300 pages of random speculations and false starts, the plot finally begins to heat up, but at this point it's too late. Much of the information about the gold market, the history of mining and refining techniques is fascinating, but taken all together, it's oppressive and overwhelms the scrap of story line underneath. In a closing author's note, Andrews discusses some of the moral issues raised by mining and the depletion of our natural resources. Agent, Deborah Schneider. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Em Hansen, the popular heroine at the center of Sarah Andrews's unique geology mystery series, has landed a new job, although an unusual one: a client affiliated with a museum wants Em to investigate a painting by the famed western painter Frederick Remington. The client believes it's a fake, but Em must explore the painting's provenance to find out. The project takes her through Wyoming, Utah, Washington DC and Pennsylvania, and halfway through the trip Em finds she's also chasing a murderer: someone seems to be slowly poisoning her client's family. Before long, her innocent research project has taken a sinister twist, and it's up to Em to find out what's going on in time to save her own skin. All in all, Earth Colors is another smart, inventive mystery from Sarah Andrews, a fan favorite.

Sarah Andrews is well known for her popular mystery series featuring forensic geologist Em Hansen. With In Cold Pursuit , she builds on that foundation and introduces a new lead character in this compelling mystery from the last continent. Valena Walker is a dedicated master’s student in geology headed to Antarctica to study glaciology with the venerable Dr. Emmett Vanderzee. Being on the ice is something she’s dreamed about since she was a little girl. But when she finally arrives at McMurdo, she discovers that her professor has been arrested for murder, and what’s more, that the incident happened a year ago. A newspaper reporter who’d visited Antarctica the previous winter had died from exposure, and though no one was a fan of the guy—he was attempting to contradict Vanderzee’s research—by all accounts, everyone was devastated to lose someone on the ice. Valena quickly realizes that in order to avoid being shipped north immediately and having her grant canceled, she must embrace the role of detective and work to clear his name—and save herself in the process. Sarah Andrews received a prestigious grant from the National Science Foundation to spend two months on Antarctica to research In Cold Pursuit, and the authenticity of her portrait of this unforgiving land is breathtaking, making for her most compelling novel to date.

Time and again, Emily-- Em-- Hansen uses her geological training and her unflinching scientist's eye to sniff out a killer. Now in her newest case, Em heads to Utah for a paleontology conference and ends up embroiled in murder when her host, a notorious dinosaur expert, ends up dead, stabbed with a dinosaur bone. The high-stakes world of dinosaur study and research, coupled with the secrets of a conservative sect of Mormonism, provide the suspects and Em, if she isn't buried like so many fossils by a determined killer, is forced to provide the solution.

Geologist Em Hansen digs into greed, deception, murder...and other natural disasters.Looking to distract herself from the grief she feels over her father's recent death, geologist Em Hansen agrees to investigate the rocky murder of fellow geologist Janet Pinchon.Asked to step in by Janet's father, a powerful senator, Em travels to Northern California where Janet's body was found in a roadside ditch.Soon hired by the environmental firm where Janet worked, Em steps into her life to find some answers. But shadowed by the darkness of her own past, Em must face more than shady politicians, greedy land developers, and an endangered ecosystem. This spunky geologist must grapple with her deepest fears to survive an assault be a vengeful Mother Nature...and a killer with a hear of stone.