Zen und die Kunst des Mordens.

P.I. Zen Moses #1

by Elizabeth M. Cosin

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.

Genres: Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Fiction

Paperback

First published September 30, 1998

Reviews

[LORI CASWELL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Private Investigator Zenaria (Zen) Moses has been through a lot in her 33 years, including surviving lung cancer, several bad decisions, and many terrible relationships. The former sportswriter, now PI, is eager to return to work, but her day got off to a very rocky start. Her cat died, and in a crazy event, she dropped his urn while walking in a rainstorm and watched his ashes float away in the rainwater. The IRS has her set for an audit. And a trip to Father’s Office, her favorite neighborhood pub, serves up a dead body on the floor of the walk-in cooler with its arms and legs wrapped around a keg. Zen was shaken to her core when she realized the body was her cousin, who she thought had died 12 years ago.

Of course, she wants to investigate her cousin’s past 12 years and his death, but she has been offered well above her usual rates to locate the father of a celebrity talk show host. Hoping that a quick resolution to the missing person case will enable her to take on her cousin’s, she gets right to work. She soon learns that both cases are connected and have ties to the mob. With danger abounding every turn, Zen may have bit off more than she can chew. Will she survive to tell the story? Or will her body be found next door in the pet cemetery?

Zen Moses is a complex protagonist. She is a loner, cynical, but smart, tough, and honest. She trusts very few people: her best friend, Nat, who owns Father’s Office, and her sometime partner, soulmate, ex-army cop, Bobo, who trained her under his PI license, and has come to her rescue many times as only he can. She reconnects with her Uncle Sam after a long time, but that relationship is in flux. Her “best buddy” on the police force has moved away. Detective Jonathan Brooks takes his place, and trust and more slowly builds between them. Ms. Cosin does an excellent job of introducing these characters while allowing them to reveal their pasts and to develop throughout the story.

The author puts forth an elaborate mystery with many twists and turns. Zen finds herself in the wrong places at the wrong time a lot, and I was entertained following along with her every step of the way, from one end of California to the other. Written before cell phones were the norm, I had to adjust my thinking a time or two. I was a little disappointed with the ending. It was full of drama, but it didn’t feel right to me.

Zen and the Art of Murder stars a genuine protagonist who intrigued me immediately. She makes some life choices I wouldn’t have after surviving cancer, but it’s not my place to judge. The other core characters held my interest, as well. So, while the ending wasn’t what I wanted, I would be open to visiting these characters again. There is only one more book in this series, though, Zen and the City of Angels, so maybe that is telling.

Note- this book does include explicit language, as is common in this genre.

*This book is from my private collection. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

RATING: 3.5
SERIES: #1 of 3
Zen Moses is a PI who is working on 2 cases. One involves the murder of her estranged cousin; the other features a popular talk show host who wants Zen to find her father. The plot is a bit flimsy, but the character of Zen shows a lot of potential. The blurbs make her sound rather flighty, but she is anything but.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started enjoying this book but as always I am terrible at guessing the ending of mystery books. I appreciated the twists at the end, not my favorite mystery but I enjoyed the change of reading a mystery book, I haven't read one in a long time.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I'd found this book 20 years ago. Similar to Kinsey Millhone and Sharon McCone novels, both of which I loved. Zen is a good character, smart, tough, and honest. The secondary characters were mostly developed well also, Bobo, Brooks, and Sam. Plot was complicated and interesting, though the reveal at the end was too simple. Latisha, the talk show host, wouldn't hire Zen to find her father so she could kill him, only to then confess to it on her live television show. Latisha also never explained why now and what happened to her sister/daughter. Also, it's funny to read books written before cell phones were commonplace, when it was more difficult to track people. Overall, an interesting book. It looks like the author only wrote one more in the series, unfortunately. I'll read it sometime.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very luck enough to win this eBook in a giveaway [Not a Goodreads giveaway] and me usually loving murder mysteries I read this eBook right away and I must say it was very good but I think if I would read the book in print format it would get a higher rating.
I really enjoyed this book and hope to get a chance to read book in print format so I can review the print copy too
I highly recommend this book and I will eventually read again in the future hopefully in print format

[Lost and confused · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would give it a 2.5 stars

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zen and The Art of Murder by Elizabeth M Cosin is one of two books in a series about private investigator, Zenaria Moses, a tough Jewish girl recovering from cancer and a history of bad relationships. When she stumbles across the body of her long-lost-and believed dead-cousin Danny, she discovers that her troubles are just beginning.

If this sounds a bit predictable, it is. If the Zen's character sounds predictable but with the possibility of some interesting twists, it is. I enjoyed this book, although the pacing was uneven and the plot sometimes way too predictable. But I liked Zen and her family. I also generally enjoyed Cosin's writing style.

I don't think I'll read Cosin's other Zen mystery, Zen and the City of Angels. But I might. There's something about Zen - and Cosin - that kept me coming back even with my complaints.

[Linda C · Rating 3 out of 5]

PI Zen Moses, cancer survivor, is just getting back to work, when her cat is killed. The day she gets his ashes she stops off at a friend's bar for a drink with sympathizers. But a problem with the beer taps and a look in the walk in refrigerator finds a body and that body is Zen's cousin who died 12 years earlier. As Zen is trying to find out what happened she is also contacted by a day time TV talk show hostess who wants Zen to locate her father. In the process of working on these cases lots of personal background comes out. Trying to keep her life off the radar does not endear her to the cops investigating the case. Then both cases heat up and we're not sure who is behind all the violence although someone wants people to think its Zen.

Interesting character but not a totally sympathetic one. I have trouble with a person who has lost a lung to cancer and still drinks at the drop of a hat to relieve her tension and is still smoking 'cigars'. Probably will not read another in this series.

[Sherrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had me at the first page when private investigator, Zen Moses, tells us she is very depressed because it’s the holidays and her cat just died. “It rained the day I said goodbye to my best friend.” Okay, that hooked me. A sad Zen stops in at her neighborhood bar and the story begins. At the bar, 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. While looking into his murder, she's occupied with another case that has her searching for the long-lost father of a TV talk-show host. Zen is antisocial, smokes an occasional cigar even though she has fought and won her fight against lung cancer. A fun mystery, with a strong female lead, that travels all over the state of California. I hope this series continues. If they make the movie, Lily Taylor would be a PERFECT Zen. Book #22 of my 2006 Book List, finished reading it on 4-9-06.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/B+ Zenaria Moses is a young female PI in LA. She was a former sportswriter & after leaving that profession found her niche as a private investigator. She blends 2 stories nicely: finding the body of her cousin in the beer cooler of her local tarern, Father's Office, she is soemwhat stunned. She had thought him dead for the past 10 yrs. Meanwhile, she is hired by an up-&-coming talk show host to find her estranged father. Liked her writing
style & will look for the next one in the series -- Zen & The City of Angels.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very much like an entry in the Stephanie Plum series, the pace of the book was quick and lively and the character was inquisitive and humorous. Only negatives were passages where Zen, the title character, jumped on a soapbox and dragged the pacing. Not enough clues, yet it was no surprise the mysteries were intertwined.

[Melissa Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book several years ago but it still stands out as one of the best mystery books I have ever read. It's a gripping, edge of your seat, unpredictable mystery ride from beginning to end.

[Katherine]

Not as good as the second in the series.

[ajoyim · Rating 5 out of 5]

love the first book in this series