JERSEY CITY, NJ May 6, 2004 – On Saturday, May 15^th, New Jersey mystery writer Jeffrey Cohen will be found sleuthing among the stacks of the Main Library (11 a.m.), then skulking around the corners of Five Corners (1 p.m.), and finally finding his last audience at The Heights Branch (3 p.m.) of the Jersey City Free Public Library’s ongoing Meet the Author series.

Newspaper reporter-turned-public relations writer-turned-trade journalist, Jeffrey Cohen hit paydirt as a freelance reporter and writer, being featured in The New York Times, TV Guide, USA Weekend, Premiere, and The Newark Star-Ledger. His work has been developed by Jim Henson Productions, CBS, Gross-Weston Productions, Ken Walz Productions, and others.

But it was Jeffrey Cohen’s For Whom the Minivan Rolls: An Aaron Tucker Mystery that veered him off into the trajectory of Well-Known Author. Now with a second Aaron Tucker mystery in tow, A Farewell to Legs, Cohen has fashioned himself as an author that writes with insightful humor on the mysteries of life as the ‘anti-sleuth’, and as the parent of a child with Asperger Syndrome (AS), a neurological condition similar to a higher-functioning form of autism.

Bringing his real-life situation into a fictional one was purposeful according to Cohen. “If someone picks up the book because it’s funny, or because they love mysteries, and they get a feel for what AS is like, maybe when they meet my son, they’ll treat him with a little extra understanding. That’s my motivation, and it’s completely selfish on my part – I want the world to treat my son better.”

In Asperger Syndrome, one thinks, acts and speaks in very literal ways, thus opening the door to social confusion on the part of others, and especially for the person with AS. “They don’t understand body language, they don’t understand tone of voice, or facial expression,” Cohen says. “They tend not to understand idioms, or sarcasm.”

Jeffrey Cohen also is the author of the non-fiction work, The Asperger Parent: How to Raise a Child with Asperger Syndrome and Maintain Your Sense of Humor.

For further information, please contact: Main Library, 201-547-4526, 472 Jersey Avenue; the Five Corners Branch, 201-547-4543, 678 Newark Avenue; and The Heights Branch, 201-547-4556,
14 Zabriskie Street.

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