Sarah Andrews (1) (1949–2019)

The geology and water discussions were interesting... but a bit too much information that had nothing to do with the story. I find the idea that the police would even have such a person as a forensic geologist on their staff, let alone want her to get involved in solving a mystery...somewhat unbelievable. Another disturbing thing was the way the men in Em's life talked and speculated about her. This seemed to be sexual harassment and not professional on either her part or theirs. The murder show more was an interesting one in all it's "goriness"...hence the 3 stars. It could have easily been a 4 star, or even a 5 for some, if more time had been spent on the mystery itself. show less

Once I hit my stride in Only Flesh and Bones it was hard for me to stop. I wanted to see what Em was going to uncover next and how she was going to get herself in trouble - something she never fails to disappoint us with. There were elements of this book I found somewhat rare for the genre - the crime was around a year old and the focus of the investigation was a dead woman and the only way we got to know her was through journals. It was an enjoyable change of pace, but didn’t stray too show more far from what I expected.

Generally I really like letting some time pass between reading books in a series. I find most of the time it allows me to enjoy the story more fully because I’m not too in tune with an author’s quirks. There are times when I curse waiting though because sometimes series fall by the wayside as I get distracted by more new series. This is rarely due to a lack in series quality. Such has been the case for the Em Hansen series by Sarah Andrews. It was hastened by the fact that my local library had a hole in their collection and did not have book 4 on the shelves so I had to do an interlibrary loan to get my hands on it. While I often hesitate to ILL a fiction book I am glad I did.

It was very enjoyable to be reminded how Em is a non-traditional amateur sleuth. She is a geologist by training and a good bit of her experience. This background of scientific analysis and training influences her detecting greatly. Being a scientist by training myself I really enjoy how well Andrews has nailed most of the women scientist/engineers I know in her development of Em. She slips into my mind like a good friend from college, no matter how much time has passed. I will confess that it took me a bit to get sucked into this book, though I think that was mostly because I couldn’t readily recall everything that had gone down in the third book.

I very much enjoyed this read and will do my best to not let so much time lapse before I dive into book 5! show less

While there is a mystery, the main thrust of this novel is split between geological explanations of plate tectonics and the personal life of Em Hansen. The on-going friendships she is developing with Faye and Tom are interesting and the characters are likable. What really ruined my enjoyment of the novel were the on-going inaccuracies in the way Ms. Andrews portrayed Mormons. Just a few examples: Mormon missions last two years, not one. Any Mormon who is as straight-arrow as Ray is portrayed show more would not have gotten married at 19 - he'd be on one of those two year missions. And you'd be hard pressed to find a place to rent in Salt Lake City where anyone would care if you had a member of the opposite sex in your space. Finally - I don't really know any Mormon women (myself included) that figure our role in life is to be subservient to our spouses and to get busy making babies. After three novels set in this environment, it seems to me that Ms. Andrews would have invested a little more time in making the setting realistic instead of just using stereotypes. It made the mystery less believable because much of it rested on these faulty assumptions. show less

If you’re going to write mystery novels of the “special expert” subgenre - when the detective is a geologist or an anthropologist or an authority on automobile hood ornaments - the conventions demand that:


*the reader must have all the information the special expert has; you’re not allowed to have the murderer’s identity hinge on the fact that a 1947 Pontiac hood ornament has 11 feathers on the headdress instead of 12 unless your hood ornament special expert has dropped this fact show more into casual conversation a couple of hundred pages earlier, and


*all, or at least the major percentage, of the information your special expert drops should have some relationship to the mystery; if there’s a four page digression on The Spirit Of Ecstasy on a Rolls-Royce hood, that better be important later on.


Sarah Andrews is pretty popular in geologic circles. She appears at book signings at every GSA convention and conducts a charity auction for the chance to appear as a character in her next novel. The books are pleasant enough reads, but the geologist heroine, Em Hansen, is getting a little frustrating. For one thing, Ms. Andrews approach to convention (1) is to have Em Hansen be startlingly ignorant of basic geology, despite being a 40-year-old graduate student. That way, more experienced geologists can explain things to her (and the reader) that should be obvious to anybody who’s sat through Geology for Poets in college. Admittedly, Dead Dry is slightly better than some of the previous ones, in that Em gets to do a little of the explaining herself, but it’s still done awkwardly. Convention (2) is even more of a problem; there’s quite a bit of geological explanation scattered through the book, including alluvial deposition mechanics, synorogenous deposition and groundwater hydrology, that has very little bearing on the mystery. Too many red herrings.


Finally, Em’s personal life is described at length, to the extent that these could just as easily be classified as romance novels as mysteries. (There’s room for a whole new subgenre there, I suppose: The Special Expert Romance Novel, in which the heroine’s love life revolves around her being a hood ornament specialist). I suppose this is OK if you are in the mood for it; I’m fond of the Laurel Hamilton novels that combine action/adventure, mystery, romance, and supernatural - but Em Hansen just doesn’t pull it off as well as Anita Blake.


Just barely three stars - and only if you’re interested in geology, show less