Emily Hanson, a geologist and amateur sleuth, reluctantly agrees to go undercover in her own profession to investigate what at first seems like a straightforward case but soon turns into a confusing mix of danger and lies

Mother Nature: An Em Hansen Mystery

Literature & Fiction

Andrews, Sarah

United States

St Martins Pr

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?

Only Flesh and Bones (Em Hansen Mysteries)

Minotaur Books

Bone Hunter (Em Hansen Mysteries)

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.

St. Martin's Minotaur

An Eye for Gold (Em Hansen Mysteries)

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.

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

Fault Line (Em Hansen Mysteries)

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 emergency gets even the governor's attention. Em must use all the investigatory tools in her arsenal to uncover what in the dead geologist's life-earthquake related or not, professional or personal-could have made her the target of a killer. Action-packed and tensely written, Fault Line is as much about the very real effects of an earthquake on our modern lives as it is about the science of finding a killer.

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. With its suspenseful story that begins in a cloud of dust and leads all the way to NASA, Killer Dust is another top-notch mystery full of the impeccably researched popular science and the complex, engaging characters Sarah Andrews’s many fans have come to expect from her award-winning series.

Killer Dust: A Mystery Featuring Forensic Geologist Em Hansen

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.

Earth Colors

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.

Dead Dry (Em Hansen Mysteries)

In Cold Pursuit

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.

Contemporary

Rivers, oceans, streams, lakes―it doesn't matter what shape it takes, Em Hansen is terrified of the water. She hasn't shared her phobia with her new husband, Fritz, and when his best friend, Tiny, organizes a month-long, private, white-water rafting trip through the Grand Canyon as a wedding gift, she can't tell him how awful the trip sounds. Fritz and Tiny cobble together a party of fourteen people for the trip, but at the last minute, Tiny finds himself in the hospital and has to miss the trip. He fills his spot with George "Wink" Oberley, ostensibly a geology Ph.D. candidate at Princeton and expert river rafter, but Em immediately suspects there's more to his story.
Then the rafting trip Em had been trying so hard to enjoy veers further off course than she had ever expected: Someone disappears from their party, and a dead body washes up downstream. Now it's up to Em to figure out what happened―and whether she and her husband and stepson are sharing rafts, food supplies, and tents with a murderer.
Rock Bottom, the latest in Sarah Andrews's beloved Em Hansen series, will delight readers with its breathtaking scenery and riveting mystery.

Rock Bottom: A Mystery Featuring Forensic Geologist Em Hansen (Em Hansen Mysteries)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Andrews, Sarah. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Andrews, Sarah