Elizabeth Cosin

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American journalist, television writer and mystery novelist whose books include "Zen and the Art of Murder" and "Zen and the City of Angels," in which she introduced her hard-boiled female detective, Zen Moses. In 1973, Cosin was among several girls who helped break the sex line in Little League Baseball in the state of New York. She worked more than a decade as an award-winning investigative journalist, sportswriter, reporter and feature writer in Virginia and Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. She has contributed to several publications including Sports Illustrated. In 1994 she was included in a compilation of sports writing by women. On 1/17/1997, she abruptly quit her job in journalism to write and work 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. Her first book 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," came out in early 2001. Cosin has written for several prime time television series including the detective dramas "Buddy Faro" and "Snoops." She is executive story editor of the CBS legal drama "Hopewell," which is scheduled to debut in 2001. In 1990, she lost her right lung to cancer. Elizabeth lives in Los Angeles with her cat, Sassy. She enjoys biking in the Santa Monica Mountains, working on her short game and discovering new microbrews.