Amazon.com Review
Move over Sue Grafton and Marcia Muller--here comes Elizabeth Cosin with a heroine who's a worthy rival to Kinsey Millhone and Sharon McCone. Zen Moses is a hip, fresh, cigar-smoking PI who's so tough she's beat lung cancer, but she's still vulnerable enough to admit her attraction to Jonathan Brooks, a Santa Monica homicide cop she meets in this first of what will thankfully be a series of mysteries. When Zen (short for Zenaria) finds a dead man wrapped around a beer keg in the walk-in cooler at Father's Office, her favorite L.A. watering hole, she's only a little surprised. When she turns the body over for a closer look, however, she discovers that the victim is her cousin Danny--a man who supposedly died in a mass suicide with other cult victims 15 years earlier. It's enough to make a girl forget she's facing an IRS audit. Danny's father, an uncle from whom she's long been estranged, asks her to investigate, and she's quickly off and running. The plot is strewn with clues that add up to an intriguing solution, but the real star is California craziness as seen through the eyes of the funny, engaging Zen (who manages a wisecrack on every page). With a strong voice and a unique heroine,
Zen and the Art of Murder is a promising debut that's just right for a rainy night.
--Jane Adams
From Publishers Weekly
The mystery genre has a full complement of tough female PIs in Southern California; it also has plenty of ex-jocks (see review of Crossroad Blues, above). Even so, Cosin's newcomer, who fits in both camps, stands out in this worthy debut. Zen Moses, a Santa Monica PI, gave up sports journalism after she lost her temper and decked the World Series MVP. Hard-boiled, wise-cracking Zen also survived a bout with cancer two years ago, which caused her to lose a lung. During the holiday season, her cat having recently died, a distinctly depressed Zen stops in at her neighborhood bar and is on the scene when her cousin, Daniel Moses, is found dead in the bar's walk-in refrigerator. Zen thought Danny had committed suicide 12 years ago, following an argument with her. Looking into his murder now seems the least she can do, even though she's occupied with another case that has her searching for the long-lost father of a TV talk-show host. Cosin is at her best with sharply observed geographical and cultural details as Zen pursues leads from Santa Monica to Beverly Hills, Fresno, Mexico and beyond. Along for the ride are her sidekick and mentor, Bobo La Douceur, some stray friends and family members, hit men and cops (both good and bad). Although the pace is fast and the loose ends are tied up neatly, readers may struggle to like the sardonic and somewhat antisocial Zen, a woman who rarely seems to notice the effects of lung cancer and even treats herself to an occasional cigar.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
