Death Pans Out [Paperback]

Ashna Graves (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2007

While recovering from a double mastectomy, journalist Jeneva Leopold seeks solitude and healing at her uncle's idle gold mine in the sagebrush desert of Eastern Oregon. Hiking the rocky ridges, swimming in the old mining pond, and ignoring the outside world save for occasional letters, Jeneva gains strength and a new will to live.
As her interest in life returns, so do Jeneva's journalistic habits. And though the locals are at first puzzeled by all of her questions, she soon gets to know a young woman rancher, various miners, a quirky old artifact hunter, and an itinerant priest and medieval scholar. These people and other colorful locals give her the inside story on living in the harsh landscape of sagebrush and coyotes and revealing how the old west is changing under new economics and regulation.
But the Oregon desert is also a place of secrets. The more Jeneva talks with the locals, the more she wonders about her uncle's mysterious disappearance. Why did her uncle and her mother stop talking so many years ago? Does she know more than she is acknowledging? The murder of a young miner sends her on a quest for answers, leading her to an elderly woman artist living in a converted chicken house, a tongue-tied funeral home owner, and a swashbuckling sheriff with rule-bending tendencies.
The appalling business she uncovers shocks the region and nearly claims her life, but it also brings closure to an old family misunderstanding and the enigma of her uncle's fate.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Graves's inspirational debut, 45-year-old Jeneva "Neva" Leopold retreats to her Uncle Matthew Burt's abandoned mining cabin in Billie Creek, Ore., for peace and healing after a double mastectomy and the recent loss of her mother. A columnist for the Willamette Current, the resilient, inquisitive Neva also hunts for clues to her uncle's disappearance from his mining claim 15 years earlier. She makes friends in the small desert community with colorful locals, including crusty artifact hunter Skipper Dooley, ex-beauty queen rancher Darla Steadman and miner Reese Cotter. Neva is horrified to discover the corpse of Reese's fellow miner, young Roy DeRoos, and is later skeptical when Reese is accused of murder. Strange events test Neva's courage, leading to a startling resolution that's both macabre and entertaining. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Jeneva "Neva" Leopold, a journalist, is severely depressed after undergoing a double mastectomy. She retreats to the abandoned cabin of her Uncle Matthew in the desert of eastern Oregon. Using exercise, simple living, and isolation to combat her depression, she begins to heal. She avoids the locals until they begin to intrude on her quiet life. Skipper Dooley, an artifact hunter, camps near her cabin, and rancher Darla Steadman takes her riding. As she learns about life in the harsh desert region, she raises questions about her uncle: Why did he disappear years before, and why had he and her mother stopped speaking before that? The murder of a young miner sends her on a quest for more information. As she investigates, she encounters the eccentric inhabitants of the area and learns that the locals are sure that she is searching for her uncle's hidden stash of gold. Fascinating characters, evocative descriptions of a relatively unknown area, and a first-rate plot make this an outstanding debut. This is a definitely a series to watch. Barbara Bibel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590584759
• ISBN-13: 978-1590584750
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,424,246 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars terrific investigative thriller, March 10, 2007

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death Pans Out (Hardcover)

Her mortality hammered at her mental well-being from two fronts. Forty-five years old Willamette Current reporter Jeneva "Neva" Leopold's mother recently died while she battles breast cancer with a double mastectomy. Needing to emotionally recover perhaps more than physical, Neva hides at the cabin of her Uncle Matthew Burt, who went missing fifteen years ago in desert town Billie Creek, Oregon.

Besides healthy outdoor activity, Neva keeps her mind off of the stress of grief and cancer by investigating her uncle's disappearance after he claimed a gold mine and why he and her mom abruptly stopped talking to one another. Neva questions the locals, but soon uncovers the corpse of miner Roy DeRoos. Another miner whom Neva befriended Reese Cotter is accused of the homicide; an allegation that the newcomer refuses to accept as true. However, as she keeps digging, Neva finds strange phenomena while someone wants her to cease and desist or else.

This is a terrific investigative thriller whose setting, the Oregonian desert, adds suspense to the tale. Neva is a fine person who turns to her experience and skill (inquiries) to help her regain a lust for life after taking two emotional blasts. The locals add regional eccentricities to a delightful "cold case" mystery, but Neva is the headline star of Ashna Graves' DEATH PANS OUT.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Winning Mix of Mystery and Spirituality, June 26, 2007

By 

Steven Rigolosi (New York / New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death Pans Out (Paperback)

Many mysteries follow a well-known formula as they spin their plots, but Death Pans Out succeeds not only in telling a superb, well-crafted story but also in exploring its characters' spiritual sides. This is an unhurried mystery, which allows Graves ample time to dig deeply into the life of her protagonist, a depressed woman who is recovering from cancer. Neva's investigation becomes part of her own healing process as she gradually re-emerges into the world and re-connects with other people. While I enjoy many mysteries, Death Pans Out moves beyond a "good mystery" into a book that is truly satisfying.

3.0 out of 5 stars Deliberate Outdoors Suspense, February 13, 2011

By 

carl brookins "Carl Brookins" (St. Paul, Minnesota, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Death Pans Out (Paperback)

Reporter Jeneva Leopold, faced with a life-altering decision, takes a leave of absence from her job to recover from surgery. Breast cancer has claimed part of her body and she wants time to recover in relative peace. Not just from the debilitating effects of the surgery itself, but she wants to be in a place where she can think about her life and her existence. This is a novel about an unusual woman with an unusual plan to rehabilitate herself.

There are great stories surrounding the searches for precious metals from California, South America and the Yukon, as well as the production of gold from less well-known regions, and this one takes its cue from those stories. Fact or fiction, we are never quite sure, but here is a story which may well become a part of that so interesting body of literature.

Jeneva's family has long owned an idle gold mine in the mountains of Southern Oregon, a harsh, vastly rural region of high deserts, mountains, isolated communities, wild animals and, legends. One legend surrounds the mysterious disappearance of Jeneva's uncle, Mathew. Mathew disappeared one night from the cabin at the mine almost twenty years before the story opens, and his mining partner has retreated into a silent years from which he may never emerge.

Jeneva takes a long leave of absence and moved to the cabin at the mine where she intends to spend several months of the summer physically and mentally recovering from her trauma. Almost immediately, a parade of compelling characters begins to invade her peaceful existence, from a weird self-styled "artifact hunter," who insists that he always camps on Bureau of Forestry land and visits the area regularly, to a hearty sheriff who seems at times too good to be true, to a taciturn former model and beauty queen turned rancher, to assorted miners, a tall funeral director and other assorted characters. They all make for some fascinating scenes and while the action is never of a high order, the rising tension and sense of danger to Jeneva and her friends, is well-handled.

I enjoyed the story, learned some things about governmental land management and local attitudes toward government, and found the ending quite a surprise. If there are small problems with this debut novel, they stem from an experienced reporter acting entirely too trusting and naive to serve the story, and a couple of the rants are a little too long. That said, I look forward to another adventure with Jeneva Leopold.