Love Her Madly: Jim Morrison, Mary, and Me

Debut author Cosgrave offers a glimpse into a period when his life intersected with that of Doors singer Jim Morrison. In 1963, Cosgrave left Canada at 16 for Florida, where he met Mary Werbelow and her boyfriend, the then unknown Morrison. Later, Cosgrave hooked up with them again, this time in L.A., and when Werbelow and Morrison broke up, Cosgrave and Morrison spent countless hours together, hanging out in Venice Beach and smoking marijuana, with Morrison writing the poetry that two years later would find its way into the Doors’ songs. After Cosgrave left L.A., he lost track of Morrison until the two briefly connected again, but two years later, Morrison was dead. And what happened to Werbelow? Fast-forward 43 years, and Cosgrave finally tracked her down and was stunned by what he discovered. Though the author offers a look at 1960s L.A., his story is more about him and his obsession with Werbelow than it is about Morrison. It’s a moment in time when a regular guy crossed paths with a soon-to-be famous person, but there isn’t enough about Morrison for music fans and Cosgrave’s narrative isn’t compelling enough for memoir enthusiasts.