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Em Hansen Mystery #4
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?
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?
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
4 people are currently reading
131 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Andrews
46 books81 followersSarah Andrews is a geologist who writes mystery novels about a geologist.
She currently lives in northern California and invests her free time on community pursuits and flying, skiing, and sailing with her husband and son.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
She currently lives in northern California and invests her free time on community pursuits and flying, skiing, and sailing with her husband and son.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 23, 2025
Almost, but not quite, a cozy, as it has most of the usual accoutrements, but is just a traditional mystery.
Unemployed geologist with mommy issues needs a job. A guy with jobs asks her to investigate a situation. It seems his wife was killed, and the only witness, his daughter can't remember anything. From there, we get investigation with a healthy dose of judgementalism.
Needs a sense of humor, for sure.
Unemployed geologist with mommy issues needs a job. A guy with jobs asks her to investigate a situation. It seems his wife was killed, and the only witness, his daughter can't remember anything. From there, we get investigation with a healthy dose of judgementalism.
Needs a sense of humor, for sure.
February 24, 2018
"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.'s 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?"
~~back cover
I didn't enjoy this book as much as I did the preceding three: the plot was more convoluted and parts of the denouement completely baffled me. But at least Em was back in Colorado and Wyoming, and happy to be there.
"J.C.'s 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?"
~~back cover
I didn't enjoy this book as much as I did the preceding three: the plot was more convoluted and parts of the denouement completely baffled me. But at least Em was back in Colorado and Wyoming, and happy to be there.
January 23, 2018
Maybe it was that I started with the forth book in the series because my library didn't have the first, but I was very disappointed with this book. Characters are not believable and just highly disappointing and cut-short ending.
October 5, 2019
Em Hansen #4. Em is again "between jobs" as a geologist. She's been living with her mother on the ranch and they're both ready for her to return to work. Along comes her old boss, JC Mencken, hoping she'll investigate the death of his wife. His daughter was present when it happened, but is unable to remember the circumstances. Em agrees, on the condition he help her get a geologist job.
JC introduces Em to some people in his social circle and she gets access to his wife Miriam's journals. Miriam and some of the others in her circle were involved with a shady guy from their college days, Chandler. Hard times have hit the oil patch and one of JC's acquaintances is using his oil business as a cover for drug smuggling. Chandler is involved with the drug smuggling and with getting information out of the various wives he's involved with on the side. Eventually, with help from Denver PD Detective Ortega, Em gets to the bottom of things.
The first 3/4 of the book is good. Em rents a plane and flies herself from Denver to Douglas, WY, and then to Jackson Hole. The descriptions of her flights are particularly good - and poignant because the author, her husband, and her son were killed in a small plane crash in July 2019. Once Em arrives in Jackson, things wrap up perhaps too quickly. Em's behavior doesn't make a lot of sense, even for her. In the earlier books, the author worked a mystery in to situations she had personally encountered in her geology career. I get the feeling that she has no personal knowledge of the drug smuggling subplot in this book, and it shows.
JC introduces Em to some people in his social circle and she gets access to his wife Miriam's journals. Miriam and some of the others in her circle were involved with a shady guy from their college days, Chandler. Hard times have hit the oil patch and one of JC's acquaintances is using his oil business as a cover for drug smuggling. Chandler is involved with the drug smuggling and with getting information out of the various wives he's involved with on the side. Eventually, with help from Denver PD Detective Ortega, Em gets to the bottom of things.
The first 3/4 of the book is good. Em rents a plane and flies herself from Denver to Douglas, WY, and then to Jackson Hole. The descriptions of her flights are particularly good - and poignant because the author, her husband, and her son were killed in a small plane crash in July 2019. Once Em arrives in Jackson, things wrap up perhaps too quickly. Em's behavior doesn't make a lot of sense, even for her. In the earlier books, the author worked a mystery in to situations she had personally encountered in her geology career. I get the feeling that she has no personal knowledge of the drug smuggling subplot in this book, and it shows.
May 25, 2018
Em Hansen, an unemployed oil industry geologist mourning the death of her father, is struggling emotionally. Her former boss asks her to help his daughter deal with the violent loss of her mother as Em and the girl were once close.
Em somewhat reluctantly agrees, and gets more -much more - than she bargained for.
This book never came together for me. Em’s character was so inconsistent, and there were so many peripheral characters that I couldn’t keep them straight nor could I figure out why I should care.
In the end, I couldn’t even understand exactly what happened. Did Cecilia mean it, or not?
All in all, a frustrating reading experience for me.
Em somewhat reluctantly agrees, and gets more -much more - than she bargained for.
This book never came together for me. Em’s character was so inconsistent, and there were so many peripheral characters that I couldn’t keep them straight nor could I figure out why I should care.
In the end, I couldn’t even understand exactly what happened. Did Cecilia mean it, or not?
All in all, a frustrating reading experience for me.
Read
November 2, 2020The geology is spot-on (probably because the author is also a geologist). Fascinating slice of life with a fine protagonist and reasonable motivation for murder mystery. Why was this series never optioned for film?
September 8, 2023
2.5 stars. I enjoyed the first portion with some gripes about the writing. The end felt very rushed and characters flat despite trying to delve into their psyche
March 27, 2013
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 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!
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!
February 27, 2016
The first one I read, "Bone Hunter" had promise. Then I started reading them in order. After this one I give up. There is little direction to the stories or to Em's life. She doesn't know what she wants, the plot meanders and she goes through men with no real feeling. I do find her somewhat charming, but with no direction, no real feeling towards characters, I can't find myself caring what happens. I wanted to like this series, but I can't. Not everyone needs to be Sherlock Holmes, but she seems to stumble on clues, gets angry for no apparent reason and I can't follow her thinking. Sorry, I am done.
May 14, 2008
Em Hansen is asked by her former boss, Josiah Carberry Menken, to solve the mystery of his wife’s death while visiting a Wyoming ranch. Em, still distressed over her father’s death, takes the job and immerses herself in the politics of Menken’s oil dealings in Denver and the circumstances that drove his wife to the ranch.
Not very readable—interesting plot and settings, but the writing fails to flow. Characters are a bit too forced.
QUESTION: Was the name Josiah Carberry random, or does the author have some tie to Brown University????
Not very readable—interesting plot and settings, but the writing fails to flow. Characters are a bit too forced.
QUESTION: Was the name Josiah Carberry random, or does the author have some tie to Brown University????
August 18, 2015
This book is mindless, but an alright story. It was somewhat more interesting to me as it's set in the Denver area and lots of local landmarks are scattered though the story. This touts itself as a mystery, but it's not all that mysterious. It gets trite at times, but if you're looking for escapist, I don't want to think about it fiction - this fits the bill!
January 24, 2013
Not my favorite of the "Em" series. Focused on her personal life more than her career skills. I like to feel that I'm a little smarter from having read one of Andrews' novels (easy way to learn a bit o'geology), but this one just felt like a "eh," story.
September 17, 2014
If I could do 3 1/2 stars I would. It definitely reads better than her last book but the outcome is way too predictable. Also, what's up with her turning into jelly and trying to get with a really weird bad guy? On second thought, it only deserves 3 stars flat.
April 16, 2009
'Em' Hansen, unemployed geologist, student pilot, amateur detective, helps former bosses' daughter deal with murder of mother. I never got into this series. Not sure why. Wasn't a bad read.
April 25, 2009
Quite interesting, except there was too much of the romance in it. It is actually the same in all her book, but I like them once in a while.
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June 14, 20094th in the series
December 29, 2010
Em seems so conflicted over everything and makes weird personal choices. The mysteries don't seem to follow a logical pattern - just sitting around until there is another lead in the case.
July 3, 2013
Plot-driven drivel. Avoiding this series in the future.
May 2, 2017
Another great installment in this series. I love learning about different geologic jobs (or lack thereof as Em is scouting for a new job through this book) through fiction. The mystery aspect of this one is really good too. Very creepy, but good.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews