Lauren Cassel Brownell is an award-winning author and playwright. She is best known for her book Zen and the Art of Housekeeping, a guide for the domestically challenged, and Dying to Donate, the first in her "Murder U Mystery" series, where cozy mystery and dark academia collide. Book 2 of the series, Sigma Delta Die, is currently in development. 

Her essays and articles on a wide variety of topics have appeared in newspapers and magazines across the country, and two of her plays, Leave it to Me and Swimming the Witch, have been produced by area theaters. 

Lauren lives in Lubbock with her family.