Sarah Andrews Books In Order

Em Hansen Mystery Books In Publication Order

Tensleep (1994)
A Fall in Denver (1995)
Mother Nature (1997)
Only Flesh and Bones (1998)
Bone Hunter (1999)
An Eye for Gold (2000)
Fault Line (2002)
Killer Dust (2003)
Earth Colors (2004)
Dead Dry (2005)
Rock Bottom (2011)

Valena Walker Books In Publication Order

In Cold Pursuit (2007)

Em Hansen Mystery Book Covers

Valena Walker Book Covers

In Cold Pursuit
(2007)

Sarah Andrews Books Overview

Tensleep

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. AB. K.

Mother Nature

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.

Only Flesh and Bones

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?

Bone Hunter

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.

An Eye for Gold

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 hero*ine, 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.

Fault Line

Killer Dust

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.

Earth Colors

Unemployed professional geologist and sometime FBI consultant, Em Hansen desperately needs work. So when her best friend Faye tells her that she knows someone who could use Em’s expertise as a geologist to authenticate a painting, she jumps at the prospect. The painting is by the famous painter of the American West, Frederic Remington, and Em’s client has had it in his family for years. But he believes it’s a fake and wants Em to use her forensic skills to analyze the pigments to prove it. Since pigments are just ground up minerals, it’s a perfect task for a geologist like Em. Although Em doesn’t quite trust Faye’s friend, she sets aside her doubts and takes the case. Following the painting’s trail takes her from Wyoming to Utah to Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, and then it takes an unexpected sinister twist, putting Em on the trail of a murderer too. Suddenly she’s the only one who can find out what’s going on in time to save several lives, including her own.

Dead Dry

AUTHOR PHOTO ON BACK COVERYOU NEVER MISS YOUR WATER TILL YOUR TIME RUNS OUT…
For Em Hansen, things couldn’t be better professionally and personally. She’s got a full time gig with the Utah Geological Survey; she’s the go to forensic geologist for state law enforcement and a long simmering acquaintance with a handsome pilot is turning into more than friendship. But when she’s called in to investigate how a massive quarry wall collapsed, she’s shocked to discover that the viciously mutilated body that was trapped beneath belongs to none other than Em’s old colleague, Afton McWain, an oil tycoon turned controversial geological consultant. It doesn’t take much digging for Em to uncover a deluge of motives for Afton’s murder from his scandalous ‘three’s company’ private life…
to his one man investigation into a mysterious water shortage and a billion dollar real estate fraud. And with adversaries as treacherous as a sudden canyon flood, Em also must employ her cutting edge skills to explore the dark territory of the heart, where love and loyalty are the most deadly mirages of all…
‘Compelling.’ Dallas Morning News’Another engaging chapter in a rock solid series.’ Booklist

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.