Author Bio

 

 

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Elizabeth M. Cosin  was born in Ossining, NY at the end of the baby boom
generation. In 1973, she was among several girls who helped break the sex line in Little League Baseball in the state of New York. She spent more than a decade as an award-winning investigative journalist, sportswriter, reporter and feature writer in
Virginia and Washington, D.C. and more recently in Los Angeles. She has contributed to several national and local publications including Sports Illustrated and was included in a compilation of sportswriting by women published in 1994. In 1990, she lost her right lung to cancer.

On the second anniversary of the Northridge earthquake ( January 17, 1997) she abruptly quit her job in journalism to devote time to writing and took a job as a publicist for a local music venue where she met her agent, Dino Carlaftes. He read, "Zen and the Art of Murder" and sold it to St. Martin's Press one month later. It
was published in October 1998 to rave reviews. The Washington Post said, "Zen has seldom been more fun, more violent, and more irreverent than in "Zen and the Art of Murder" a wonderful debut novel from Elizabeth M. Cosin." It was nominated for a Shamus Award and picked as one of the best five new mystery novels of 1998 by Booklist. The sequel to "Zen and the City of Angels," was a Los Angeles Times bestseller. The third Zen Moses novel, "Zen Justice," will be published by St. Martin's mystery imprint Minotaur Press early next year.

Elizabeth has written for several prime time television series including the detective dramas "Buddy Faro" and "Snoops," and "Hopewell" for CBS. Last fall, she served as executive story editor for the Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which airs Sundays on NBC.


Elizabeth lives in Los Angeles with her cat, Sassy, spending what little free time she has biking in the Santa Monica Mountains, working on her short game and discovering new microbrews.

The Author's Fun Links

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Like her character Zen, Elizabeth enjoys a good microbrew (and no, Samuel Adams is not a microbrew, kids). Here are a few links to great brews and other links to fun and entertainment.

SoCal Mountain Biking

 Zen's favorite sport. Great spot to meet riding buddies, get trail information, find equipment bargains and share your love of the sport with like-minded folks.
Magnolia Pub & Brewery On the Haight in San Francisco. Great grub, great hand-crafted brews and a really far-out mural. Jerry woulda dug this place. Stop in and say hey to Jim.
Library Alehouse On Main Street in Santa Monica. Varied, continually changing selection of beers, friendly folks and a menu to please any palate. Rich is the best beertender in the biz and Dee's gumbo is outrageous.
20Tank Brewery Another great San Francisco brewpub in a city filled with great pubs.
Thirsty Bear Brewery Also in S.F. A tapas bar serving their own microbrews. Cool t-shirts.
California Beerpage Links galore on pubs, festivals and happenings around California, including the indispensable California brewery locator.
Bear Republic Brewing Co. Once you try Red Rocket Ale, you'll be hooked.
Portland Pub Review A fun page done by and for microbrew lovers. Plus many great links elsewhere.
Father's Office The place where Zen hangs. 1018 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, CA. Stop in and say hello to Victor, Pete, Lonnie, Ethan, Lou or one of the regulars and mention you saw it here. You might get some nuts or something.
George Washington U. The author paid (very well) for her degree. Go Colonials!
New York Mets The author is a long suffering Mets fan. Have appropriate pity.
San Francisco Giants Zen's favorite team.
This Sucks Actually, it doesn't. Suck has some of the funniest, most pointed essays on life in the 90's on the web. Plus it's one of the best-looking sites, too.
Kapow One of the web's original serial detective stories. Great writing, wonderful graphics and just plain fun. And just because it's Elizabeth's friend Ethan's site doesn't mean a damn thing.
Jennifer Frey The best sportswriter in the country. Read it and weep, sports fans.
The Slot Terrific site for writers who just want to write right.  Among the author's previous vocations was as a copy editor, like the site's creator Bill Walsh.
How Things Work One of the best and most useful sites on the web. Warning: once you go you will not want to come back.   U. of Virginia physics professor answers questions on how things of all kinds actually work.
Shakespeare Complete "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
So get thee to this remarkable site, which includes links to the full texts of the bard's great works and an amazing but true Shakespeare search engine.
Online Literature Library Need a good book fast?  If it's a classic, look no farther. You can actually read some of the great works of literature  online at this site.  But remember: nothing replaces a real book!
NY football Giants One of the author's sisters insisted this site be added.  Jints blue runs deep in the family.
Links Links Golf links, that is. The Virtual Country Club has links to links that get you on the links, if you follow. The author's game has been described as severely handicapped.
American Red Cross Help can't always wait.  Support your local chapter. Here's a link to the one in Santa Monica.