Earth Colors [Mass Market Paperback]

Sarah Andrews (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 28, 2004

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Andrews's ninth intriguing mystery to feature forensic geologist Em Hansen (after 2003's Killer Dust), Em explores a whole new aspect of her discipline after reluctantly agreeing to try to authenticate a Frederick Remington painting through pigment analysis for a client she dislikes. As she travels through such vividly depicted locales as Cody, Wyo., and the Amish and Mennonite areas of Pennsylvania, Em gathers a history of pigment as well as information to fuel her growing suspicion that something is terribly wrong. She encounters the seedier side of the art world, a renowned Pennsylvania family's horrific secrets and murder. Thanks to clear logical thinking, Em ultimately reaches all the right conclusions. If there's a fault line beneath the surface, it lies in the surfeit of technical terminology, though more scientifically inclined readers may consider this a virtue.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

With a fascinating blend of art and science, geologist Em Hansen solves her ninth case. Em is attending graduate school to become a forensic geologist while helping her best friend, single-mom Faye Carter Latimer, take care of her infant daughter. Faye finds Em a job analyzing paint pigments to discover if a painting by western artist Frederic Remington is a forgery. When the client promises she may analyze other rare paintings his family owns for her master's thesis, Em heads east to talk with experts in the field and to see the other paintings, combining her investigative work with research for her thesis. The story becomes more complex when Em realizes that someone is slowly poisoning her client's family. An appealing main character and a wealth of fascinating details involving land preservation, forensic geology, western art, and the science of paint pigment add depth to the latest entry in a solid series. Sue O'Brien
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (December 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312997701
• ISBN-13: 978-0312997700
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,238,752 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful and intelligent mystery with a twist, March 28, 2004

By 

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

This review is from: Earth Colors (Em Hansen Mysteries) (Hardcover)

For geologist Em Hansen her latest assignment is odd in terms of how she got the job while babysitting the infant daughter of her friend Faye Carter "don't call me" Latimer and what her client Tert Krehbeil who's affiliated with a museum hires her to investigate. Tert wants to know whether a painting allegedly done by renowned western artist Frederick Remington is genuine especially since the coloring is a bit different than the painter's usual works.

Em begins tracking the history of the painting, taking her from Cody, Wyoming where she had been visiting museums with baby Sloane when she got the job to Utah, Washington DC and Pennsylvania. However, the complex investigation turns ugly when someone begins poisoning the family members of Em's client. Soon Em realizes she may be on the short list of a killer whose motive is murky, but whose means and opportunities have been on target.

Though this tale starts differently than the fabulous previous treasures as Em is hired for her sleuthing reputation more than her bone hunting geological skills, EARTH COLORS is a wonderful and intelligent mystery. The story line combines two subplots that of the masterpiece investigation with a series of murders in which Em is the point of convergence. Though the art inquiries could have sustained the plot without the homicide fault line that feel more by the numbers than usual for this unique series, fans will enjoy Sarah Andrews' latest gold dust entry in what remains one of the most refreshing sleuths of the past few years.

Harriet Klausner

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love Rocks & a Little Mystery? This book is for You, March 15, 2005

By 

Abbey Grace (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Earth Colors (Em Hansen Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I love detective stories and this one looked good. This was the first of the Sarah Andrews books I have read. I was not disappointed! As an amateur rock hound who enjoys collecting agates and fossils, I loved the geological aspects of this book. I learned a lot about paint pigments, the historical origins of paint, and how artists through the years used the various tinctures to create works of beauty.

As a detective novel, the book had lots of twists and turns and keeps you guessing right up to the end. The relationships between Em and characters in the book were well developed. You empathize with her and her struggles at this point in her life. I will definitely read more books by this author!

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Weakened by unsympathetic heroine, unlikely motivation, May 9, 2004

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Earth Colors (Em Hansen Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Em Hansen is waiting out her life--waiting for her boyfriend to return from whatever overseas operation the military sent him on, waiting for her friend's baby to grow older, waiting while she struggles with ideas for her Master's thesis in geology. In the meantime, she sponges off of her mother, lives rent-free with her equally impoverished friend Faye Carter, and visits western art museums to check out the fabulous paintings by Remington. When Faye meets up with an old school friend, she offers Em a way to solve all of her problems. Tert Krehbeil has a possible Remington he'd like tested for authenticity and he's willing to pay Em to use her geological skills to identify the pigments used in painting. It's an opportunity to make some money and pick up a thesis topic. And Faye gets some dates out of it with the handsome Tert.

Em's detective instincts warn her that something is wrong with the deal--and with Tert, but she can't turn down money. She soon finds herself investigating--and stepping on toes in the FBI who has their own investigation going on. But if Em's fears are right, she's stumbled into something even more serious than paint forging--something very much like murder.

Author Sara Andrews offers interesting information about the pigments used in 19th century painting (most of them poisons) and in the dangers of suburbinization. Despite these strong points, I found Em to be unsympathetic--too concerned with her own pathetic life, bitter with her mother for not taking better care of Em's prospective inheritance, and angry with Faye for not getting on with her life--as if Em was doing better with her own. I also had a hard time understanding why Terc would ask for Em's advice (let alone pay for it) in the first place. As an art dealer, surely he had plenty of contacts he could use and trust without opening up to a complete stranger.

EARTH COLORS isn't a bad mystery--it certainly kept me reading. But the unsympathetic protagonist dragged me out of the complete involvement a reader has a right to expect in a first-class mystery.