Zen and the Art of Murder - Softcover

Cosin, Elizabeth M.

3.48

120 ratings by Goodreads

9780312969486: Zen and the Art of Murder

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312969481 ISBN 13: 9780312969486

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 1999

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To live and die in L.A.

Zen Moses is either having a bad day or bad karma. Her cat is dead. The IRS wants to talk to her. And she just found her long-lost cousin's body bound to a beer keg at her favorite neighborhood bar. It's enough to drive even a tough private investigator to drink, smoke a good cigar, and find a firm male shoulder to cry on.

But cynical, wise-cracking Zen is both a loner and survivor. At thirty-three she's already beat a bout with cancer-- and soon she's being offered big bucks to find a talk-show celebrity's missing father. It seems like an easy job until Zen finds out she's just one step ahead of a hit man. Now Zen's professional and private lives are converging into a world of murder and gunplay...and the sound of one hand clapping may end up being bang bang.

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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 the Publisher:

"Zen Moses is as cool, tough, and hip as they come." --Janet Evanovich, author of Four to Score and High Five

"A fine, funny, and suspenseful first novel." -James W. Hall, author of Gone Wild and Body Language

"Here's the deal with Elizabeth Cosin's Zen and the Art of Murder. It will knock your socks off." --Robert Crais, author of Devil's Cantina and Indigo Slam

"A lark from top to bottom, the writing juicy and tight all through...Zen has seldom been more fun, more violent, and more irreverent." --Washington Post Book World

"An engaging first effort." --USA Today

"Well-paced, crisply written and satisfyingly wry, Cosin's book is a gracefully hard-bitten debut." --San Francisco Chronicle

"From the very first page, Los Angeles writer Elizabeth M. Cosin sets up a Chandleresque setting--a dark, rainy day in California, the death of a best friend, a funeral. But Cosin brings a sense of humor to her debut." --Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

"Elizabeth Cosin brings a fresh and welcome voice to crime fiction." -Michael Connelly, author of Angel's Flight

"Zen Moses...is witty, tough, frequently profound, and through her eyes, Los Angeles comes alive in all its eccentricity and grittiness." --Marcia Muller, author of While Other People Sleep

"As good a first novel as I've ever read...If you don't break all the speed laws rushing to the bookstores to get it, you have only yourselves to blame." --Les Roberts

"A perfect blend of humor and suspense. Sue Grafton fans will appreciate Zen as much as I do and will look forward to her next adventure." --MLB News

"To the pantheon of hard-boiled female private investigators add the cigar-smoking, wise-cracking Zen...Fans of Marcia Muller, Sara Paretsky, and Sue Grafton will enjoy this new mystery." --Library Journal

"Cosin's newcomer [Zen Moses] stands out in this worthy debut." --Publishers Weekly

" A soul-searching mystery...The bustling plot has more surprises in store, but you'd never know it from watching Zen, who struts her way through every conversation tossing off wisecracks." --Kirkus Reviews

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