Join me in welcoming Joe Cosentino to my blog with his newest novel, Drama Detective, Book 5 in the Nicky and Noah Mystery Series, and an informative article!
Drama Detective is only
$3.99 from
September 29th - October 27th!
Out October 28!
Pre-order now at:
September 29th - October 27th!
Out October 28!
Pre-order now at:
DRAMA DETECTIVE, the fifth Nicky and Noah mystery
by JOE COSENTINO
Hi, Nicky and Noah mystery fans! I have some
good news. We are offering a special $3.99 pre-order sale from September
29-October 27 (prior to the October 28 general release on e-book and paperback)
for the e-book of Drama Detective,
the fifth novel in my award-winning, popular Nicky and Noah mystery series! As
Nicky would say, “I’m more excited than a priest at altar boy orientation!”
For those of you who haven’t yet read the first
three novels in the Nicky and Noah mystery series (and you should!), it is a
gay cozy mystery comedy series, meaning the setting is warm and cozy, the clues
and murders (and laughs) come fast and furious, and there are enough plot
twists and turns and a surprise ending to keep the pages turning. At the center
is a touching gay romance between Associate Professor of Directing Nicky
Abbondanza and Assistant Professor of Acting Noah Oliver.
In Drama
Queen (Divine Magazine’s Readers’ Choice Award for Favorite LGBT Mystery,
Humorous, and Contemporary Novel of 2015) college theatre professors are
dropping like stage curtains at Treemeadow College, and amateur sleuths/college
theatre professors Nicky and Noah have to use their theatre skills, including
impersonating other people, to figure out whodunit. Reviewers called Drama Queen hysterically funny farce, Murder She Wrote meets Hart to Hart meets The Hardy Boys, and a captivating whodunit. Who am I to argue? One
reviewer wrote Drama Queen was the
funniest books she’d ever read! In Drama
Muscle (Rainbow Award Honorable Mention 2016) Nicky and Noah don their gay
Holmes and Watson personas again to find out why bodybuilding students and
professors at Treemeadow are dropping faster than barbells. Also, Nicky and
Noah’s relationship reaches a milestone by the end of the novel. In Drama Cruise it is summer on a ten-day
cruise from San Francisco to Alaska and back (which my spouse and I also did).
Nicky and Noah must figure out why college theatre professors are dropping like
life rafts as Nicky directs a murder mystery dinner theatre show onboard ship
starring Noah and other college theatre professors from across the US.
Complicating matters are their both sets of wacky parents who want to embark on
all the activities on and off the boat with the handsome couple. In Drama Luau, Nicky is directing the luau
show at the Maui Mist Resort and he and Noah need to figure out why muscular
Hawaiian hula dancers are dropping like grass skirts. Their department head and
his husband, Martin and Ruben, are along for the bumpy tropical ride.
Now in book five, I combine my
infatuation with Sherlock Holmes and musical theatre (since I was a
professional actor playing opposite stars like Nathan Lane and Rosie O’Donnell)
for the fifth Nicky and Noah mystery novel, where Nicky is directing and ultimately
co-starring with his husband Noah as Holmes and Watson in a new musical
Sherlock Holmes play at Treemeadow College prior to Broadway. Martin Anderson
(who like me is the theatre department head), Martin’s husband Ruben, their
office assistant Shayla, Nicky’s brother Tony, and Nicky and Noah’s son Taavi
are also in the cast. Of course dead bodies begin falling over like hammy
actors at a curtain call. Once again Nicky and Noah use their drama skills to
figure out who is lowering the street lamps on the actors before the handsome
couple get half-baked on Baker Street.
It is my joy and pleasure to share these stories
with you. So put on your Sherlock Holmes hat and coat, grab your pipe and
program, and take your front row seat for the musical. The game is afoot in Drama Detective!
Drama Detective is only $3.99 from
September 29th - October 27th!
Out October 28!
Pre-order now at:
September 29th - October 27th!
Out October 28!
Pre-order now at:
The Victorian, lamppost-lined
London street was forebodingly dark. Prostitutes in low-cut, shabby dresses dug
their heels into the dirty gray pavement. A heavy-set man in an expensive suit
signaled to an older, small man with a knowing grin. The
jeweler locked up his shop and hurried down the street. One of the prostitutes
raised a dagger to the jeweler’s throat, grabbed his bag, and disappeared into
a smoky alley, as the prostitute transformed into a well-dressed man with a
long nose and beady eyes. Another prostitute screamed. The inspector and his
men hurried onto the street.
Suddenly, a honky-tonk piano
introduction led each of them to face front and belt out, “Acting Butch on
Baker Street,” a rousing opening number featuring spinning members of the
underworld and a Scotland Yard kick line. At the conclusion of the number,
everyone ended with a frozen smile, looking like a pack of right wing
politicians entering a ghetto.
“Good energy, everyone! Let’s take
a ten-minute break,” I called out from my front row center seat in the
audience.
I’m Nicky Abbondonza, Associate
Professor of Directing at Treemeadow College, a quaint college in Vermont named
after its benefactors, couple Harold Tree and Jacob Meadow. Or as we call them,
Treemeadow’s Adam and Steve. Since you can’t see me, I’ll tell you I’m tall,
pretty muscular, courtesy of Treemeadow’s gym and my insomnia, with dark hair,
green eyes, and a Roman nose. If you’ve read my other four stories, you know I
generally wear a dress shirt, blazer, and slacks. You’ll also know that murder
is on the menu as are an assortment of characters (and I mean
characters)—suspects and victims—as I try to figure out whodunit. So let’s get
the game afoot. Ah, speaking of a foot, you newcomers should know another
little tidbit of information. Well, not so little actually. I’m referring to my
penis. It would make a porn star blush. My nickname in the gym locker room back
home in Kansas was “Donkey Donza.” Yes, I’m from Kansas, a true friend of
Dorothy’s.
Back to the story. Since it’s
summertime, our cozy New England campus is full of multicolored flowers,
babbling brooks, warm sunshine, and peace and quiet. So quiet that my
department head and best friend, Martin Anderson, Professor of Theatre
Management, decided to transform our college theatre into a professional summer
stock venue for the tryout of a new Sherlock Holmes Broadway bound musical.
True to Martin’s nature, he also took on a role in the play, Langdale Pike
(society informer).
Martin, short, thin, bald, and
somewhere between seventy and six-feet-under, stood downstage center (meaning
closest to the audience for you non-thespians) in his Victorian gray suit.
“Nicky, do you think I should act more like a gossip in the opening number?”
“You couldn’t act more like a
gossip if twenty closet-gay actors from Hollywood left their beards and asked
you for advice on whom to date,” Martin’s husband said sitting third row house
left.
I’ll explain. Though Martin is a
terrific department head and professor, his brainstorms generally end up as
headaches for Martin’s long suffering spouse, Ruben Markinson, who Martin
convinced to be our show’s producer. To raise needed funds for this venture,
Ruben, the CEO of a gay rights organization, interviewed Broadway chorus boys
about their peccadilloes, and then hit up anti-gay Republican legislators to
buy shares of the show (and their silence). Next, we held auditions in New York
City and found our cast. When our budget had been spent, Ruben (having been
bitten by the acting bug in our previous capers) agreed to be understudy for
one of the characters in the show, Porky Johnson (agent in the criminal
underworld). The rest of the understudies (including yours truly understudying
Sherlock Holmes), as well as the ensemble, designers, and technical crews, all
came from our college population (including the kids whose parents didn’t want
them loafing around at home over the summer).
Like all of us who love Martin,
Ruben is well aware of Martin’s “inquisitive” nature. Ruben called out to his
husband, “Martin, you and gossip go together like an HMO customer service
representative and the words, ‘not covered.’”
“No comments from the peanut gallery,”
Martin replied from the stage.
Ruben glared over the laptop on
his knees. “Don’t make me fire you, Martin.”
“You try and I’ll bring you up on
charges with Equity.”
“Touché, Martin.” Ruben blew him a
mime kiss.
Martin caught it and placed it against
his heart.
The true
sanctity of marriage.
“Joe Cosentino has a unique and fabulous gift. His writing is flawless, and his use of farce, along with his convoluted plot-lines, will have you guessing until the very last page, which makes his books a joy to read. His books are worth their weight in gold, and if you haven't discovered them yet you are in for a rare treat.” Divine Magazine
“a combination of Laurel and Hardy mixed with Hitchcock and Murder She Wrote…
Loaded with puns and one-liners…Right to the end, you are kept guessing, and the conclusion still has a surprise in store for you.” Optimumm Book Reviews
“adventure, mystery, and romance with every page….Funny, clever, and sweet….I can’t find anything not to love about this series….This read had me laughing and falling in love….Nicky and Noah are my favorite gay couple.” Urban Book Reviews
Drama Detective is only $3.99 from
September 29th - October 27th!
Out October 28!
Pre-order now at:is available now at
September 29th - October 27th!
Out October 28!
Pre-order now at:is available now at
About Joe Cosentino
Goodreads, and on his Amazon Author Page!
No comments:
Post a Comment