Tensleep

Em Hansen Mystery #1

by Sarah Andrews

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. Reprint.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Geology, Mystery Thriller, Cozy, Crime, Westerns

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Sarah 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.

Reviews

[Almeta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tensleep offers an element that I like in a mystery; it teaches something as I read along. I learned quite a bit about the process of drilling for oil in Wyoming, on which the mystery and characters were dependent. The heroine’s self-deprecating account of her femininity is amusing as is her sarcastic view of the world around her. I think this is a good first book, and hope that I get a more in-depth sense of the players as the series develops.

[Ami Morrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Em Hanson is stuck on an oil rig, working as a mud logger. First, the rigs geologist has a fatal car accident. Then a young well worker is killed out in the field. The investigation is going slow and Em is wondering if there is more to these deaths then what it appears.

Not bad. A little different setting then your typical cozy mystery. Lots of geology / oil rig terms, but it was all easy to understand. Fun characters. Fun twist at the end.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Stuck on an oil-drilling rig in the Wyoming badlands with a bunch of roughnecks is a tough place for a woman. But feisty, sharp-edged Emily 'Em' Hansen, working as a mudlogger, calls this patch of Tensleep Sandstone home. She is about to call it deadly.

"First the rig's geologist has a fatal accident. Then a young well-worker is killed out in the wilds. The investigation is moving slower than sludge, and Em wonders if something blacker than oil is being covered up. Soon she is mining for gossip and assaying the true colors of the oil field owner's sexy son, the greasy company supervisor, and the replacement geologist, a six-foot-tall Ivy League debutante. Now smart, sassy Em is finding friends among the macho men of crude oil -- and a murderous equal-opportunity enemy ..."
~~back cover

A very enjoyable mystery! Great characters, and great plot -- those not intimate with how oil drilling works will know something is amiss but won't be able to figure it out until the clues are revealed, one by one, as the story draws to a close. I was pleased to discover there really is a Tensleep Sandstone: "The Tensleep Sandstone is a geological formation of Pennsylvanian to very early Permian age in Wyoming" (Wikipedia). I'm always impressed when an author has done their homework and base their plots on facts.

And there's a sweet romance budding near the end ... can't wait to dive into the next book, Fall in Denver: An Em Hansen Mystery!

[Divina · Rating 4 out of 5]

For every female geologist who worked on a oil drilling rig in the 1980s. Andrews gets it exactly right.

[Jeff Dickison · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay murder mystery with a good setting (oil fields of Wyoming) that is inconsistent in its' writing. Parts of this are very good, other parts drag (especially the technical parts of drilling) very slowly. I have read a later book in the series and it is much better.

[susie bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. The technical parts about oil rigging went over my head, but my brother-in-law loves this author and that made it special. My first cozy mystery, too!

[L.A. Starks · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the plot seems to have driven the character development for some of the characters and it is a time warp to read about vertical drilling rather than horizontal drilling, Andrews' book is so true-to-life she was clearly writing from her own experience. Insiders have seen the Ridgid Tool calendar and experienced the "stifle-the-punch" reaction to physical harassment Andrews describes. It's called "need the job ..."

At the same time, she clearly knows and loves geology. Andrews writes her settings in such lyric terms readers will appreciate the poetry she brings to what initially seems an ordinary, industrial environment.

[Ken Schloman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good effort for a first novel.The plot holds together well and the characters are realistic except for the Ed Meyer character. What I liked about the book was Ms. Andrews ability to bring a specialized knowledge into the plot. I like fiction that I can learn something new in reading. Her description of the Wyoming oil patch and drilling meets this test for me. I had read one of her later novels in the series and wanted to go back to her first effort to see how she developed as a wrter.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick, fun summer read. Andrews is a skillful story teller who weaves palpable mystery and suspense into her narrative. In this novel about a Wyoming Oil patch, her words paint a land I know well:
"In winter, the winds dominate the landscape, carving the thin snows into streamlined waves of ice, packing the flying crystals into the fur and flesh of wandering herds of antelope and elk."
Oh yeah. I can feel those crystals on my reddened cheeks!

[Leif Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite Sarah Andrews novel, maybe since I read it while working in Pinedale, Wyoming, which is a town very similar to the town near the oil field where the murder takes place. I really liked it.

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't a bad book: the writing is decent and I liked Em. I simply didn't care enough to slog through all the informative passages on geology and oil wells. If you are into either topic you will love this mystery. If not, skip to the one where she does archaeology instead.

[WyoLady 93 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read, enjoyed the setting (just outside where I live), oil field, geology, and of course murder.

[Pam Bales · Rating 3 out of 5]

Em Hansen works on an oil rig in Wyoming. Murders start happening and she is going to solve them. It was an interesting read. This is the first book in the series.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, as I was interested in the geological aspects of the mystery, but the writing style didn't really appeal to me.

[Janet Mahlum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having lived in Wyoming for most of my life, I really enjoyed reading a book with familiar places. The writer has a way with words and I loved reading her writing, e.g., she talked about the mountains shedding their winter cloaks in the summer and wearing just their white hats. A beautiful description of our mountains. Oh, and there was a mystery. I ruled out several characters as definitely nots and several more as probably nots. I had several in the remaining who were definite possibilities. One of my definites just didn't a motive, but as soon as he had a motive, I said, "He's the one." (I can use the masculine here because there just weren't enough female characters.) But, turns out there were two baddies. But as soon as I had my definite, I stopped looking at the other possibles so missed the second guy till he revealed himself. There was a little too much romance for me, not my favorite genre by a long shot, and I don't like a lot of silly fussing getting in the way of a good mystery.

[Leah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read a later book in the series first and found this one to pale in comparison. I thought it was really boring, took a long time until we got to the mystery part, and present people from Wyoming in a strange way (I've been there and in that area so what she said didn't match up and at times was very rude). The end was alright, although after so many dead ends everything falls into place too nicely.

[Judith Trail · Rating 4 out of 5]

A female geologist on an oil rig. This was sort of groundbreaking stuff in the early 90's. A tough, smart woman in a job and environment that is hostile to people in general. A good, solid mystery. Worth your time to see early feminism without the rhetoric in action.

[Steph (loves water) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of lame. Two and a half stars, really. I won't be reading the rest of the series.

[Johnna · Rating 4 out of 5]

good author

[Dantegideon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t enjoy the style of writing or the characters. Or the setting really. Just wasn’t for me.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the location and its description, the oil rig background and the geology of the protaginist.

[Wendy Beckman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great mystery for rock nerds!

Can't wait to read the next one! Needs a little proofing, but otherwise a great read. Lots of geology, lots of suspense, little bit of romance.

[Zora · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5/5

[Hilary]

I am deeply enjoying the Em Hansen series (I picked up a later volume, first). Geologist and sometimes detective Em Hansen is an engaging character.

[Henry Kline · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good back ground but the solving a case by some times random acts and then a little work is just to common and makes it a adventure story instead of a mystery.

[Diane McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting information about mining; however, mystery slow to start and then POW the pieces of the two murders fell into place with a good ending.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spunky geologist heroine, shifty colleagues. This is a long-delayed re-read of the Em Hansen mysteries, and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time read it, decades ago.

[Shayla Barrera · Rating 4 out of 5]

classic mystery involving a geologist.. i am a fan!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book does an excellent job of portraying the Wyoming oil industry and what it was like to be a woman in that industry during the difficult times of the mid 1980s. I know because I was one of the few women in the industry at that time.
The fear of loosing your job, the desperation of everyone, not only women, was well shown but also the wonder of the landscape, the complexity of the operations and the fascination of the geology kept pulling you back in.
The characters were authentic albeit amplified.
The plot kept me engaged and there was a clever twist at the end.
As others have noted the writing is a bit uneven and I can see where someone who was unfamiliar with the oil industry might feel that the descriptions of the rig operations and the geology were tedious.
So much has changed since this book was written. Though not intended to be nostalgic, that’s how I felt at the close of it.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot was decent. She does a solid job of forcing one's attention to a red herring character and doing just enough to cover up the real killer (or maybe I'm just really bad at guessing perps in mystery novels). Obviously I love the setting, because my first novel is also set in bumblefuck Wyoming. I sympathize with the protagonist, more so when I realized (or fooled myself into thinking) that the book was set in the early 80s rather than the mid 90s; Em seemed pretty feministly whiny when I thought the story was supposed to be contemporary with its date of publication.

[Important aside. You will understand nothing of me and less than nothing of my attitude toward the opposite sex if you cannot at least process this--by no means do I expect you to agree, merely comprehend the meaning of the words:

Women, quit bitching. You have all the power in contemporary American society vis-a-vis men your own age. ALL OF IT. If you have a relationship with a jackass who takes you for granted, DUMP HIS SORRY ASS. RIGHT FUCKING NOW. Find one of the legion of inoffensive men who share interests with you. Problem solved. It's not that fucking hard.

Like I said, I don't expect you to agree. I'm not sure *I* agree. But it's what I've thought for almost twenty years and it dominates my mental landscape.]

[And seriously, if this were the mid 90s, Ed would be on the receiving end of a sexual harassment lawsuit in between that. Early 80s, yeah I can see that.]

Anyway. On with our story. Yes, I'm luxuriating in the ability to be incoherent. I have three years' experience in environmental geology, and the explanation of oil rig and its workings was only somewhat more than I needed, so I can see it being a bit of a hard slog for a non-geologist. Not everyone shares my fascination with listening to conversations or monologues about unfamiliar subjects and trying to piece together what they're talking about.

My biggest problem with the book is that the woman lays out character and settings with the writing style of, well, a geological consultant, which when I checked the back flap, I found out was exactly what she was. She tells you about the setting, the oil industry, what particular characters do, with all the self-important flair of a consultant selling a layman her services. I read that shit for three years at the state, and let me tell you it wears thin when a peer reads it over and over again.