SHARING MY LOVE FOR THE ROARING TWENTIES
THE PLAYER, PLAYER PIANO MYSTERIES BOOK 1
by Joe Cosentino
Don’t you love the 1920s and 1930s with the long champagne flouts, pinstriped suits and spats, beaded dresses, the Charleston, silver Art Deco molding and wide furniture, handcrafted player pianos, expressions like “the bees knees,” and the glorious tunes of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and George Gershwin. So do I! My first thought was to set one of my books in that era. I soon came up with an even more interesting idea—to write a story about a character from that era who is transported to our time! To make it even more interested, I decided the character would be ghost!
My character is a player and a socialite from a family who made their fortune in the railroad industry. Freddy Birtwistle is tall and lean with slicked-back jet-black hair, violet eyes, high cheekbones, a thin nose, and rosy cheeks. True to the period I love, he is meticulously dressed in a pinstriped black suit and vest, white silk shirt, and gray suspenders with matching bowtie and silk pocket handkerchief. His shoes are shiny black patent leather with white spats. Even more interesting than my creation’s looks and wardrobe are his alluring and joyous bon vivant personality. Freddy socialized with the rich and famous of his time, and at thirty years old, he was shot by a misinformed jealous husband. An eternal partier, poor Freddy had died having never found true love.
Enter another new character creation Andre Beaufort, a young, gay, grade school music teacher who finds a player piano in the basement of his apartment building, and by playing he brings back the spirit of Freddy Birtwistle, the original owner of the house. As in classics like Blythe Spirit and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, the two men get off to a rocky start, but eventually they become lovers? To add even more spice to the mix, Freddy and Andre, a la a ghostly gay Holmes and earthbound gay Watson, become involved in a murder mystery.
Since my readers are so loyal and wonderful, I decided to offer them a special gift with The Player. It is actually two books for the price of one! Part I: The City House takes place in Hoboken, New Jersey as Andre discovers the player piano in Freddy’s Art Deco-style city mansion (now an apartment building) and ultimately falls in love with Freddy. When Andre’s neighbor is murdered in the building, Andre must protect his aunt, his best buddy, and himself by joining with Freddy (who only Andre can see) to catch the murderer. In Part II: The Country House, Andre travels to Freddy’s Art Deco-style country home in Cold Spring, New York, which has become a bed and breakfast. Andre discovers a player piano there as well, which joyously brings Freddy to him there. When the owner of the inn is murdered, Andre and Freddy are back at the game of solving another murder mystery as they continue to fall deeper in love.
The mysteries include lots of sexy characters, cozy settings from the Art Deco period, humor, surprising plot twists and turns, fun red herrings, a touch of drama, a shocking yet justifiable ending, and of course lots of sweet romance.
I hope everyone will give The Player a play. I’m sure, like Andre, you will fall in love with Freddy and have a great deal of fun trying to solve these cozy mysteries. As Freddy would say, “You’re a lalapazaza!” And I love to hear from readers. So drop me a line at http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com.
THE PLAYER
Player Piano Mysteries Book 1, published by Dreamspinner Press
a paranormal romantic mystery novel by JOE COSENTINO
https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/the-player-by-joe-cosentino-11745-b
http://mybook.to/ThePlayerMystery
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-player-joe-cosentino/1137379399?ean=9781644057254
When young music teacher Andre Beaufort discovers an antique player piano in the basement of his apartment building, he is visited by the ghost of the original owner: a dapper and charismatic playboy from the Roaring Twenties, Freddy Birtwistle.
Andre has never seen a ghost and Freddy has never been one, so they get off to a rocky start. But when Andre finds his neighbor murdered on his doorstep, he and Freddy join forces to narrow the pool of suspects.
Soon Andre and Freddy discover that opposites attract, even if one’s alive and the other dead. Together these amateur detectives make an enticing team, and it’s a good thing too, because the first murder they solve together won’t be their last. But the real mystery isn’t just whodunit—it’s how a romance between a man and a ghost can have a happily ever after ending.
The Player contains two stand-alone cozy murder mysteries, The City House and The Country House.
Excerpt of The Player, Player Piano Mysteries Book 1, by Joe Cosentino, published by Dreamspinner Press:
THE PLAYER piano stood upright, demanding my attention and beckoning me toward it. Having an MA in Music, specializing in the Roaring Twenties era, I could tell it was a genuine pianola authentic to the period. It was handcrafted from maple, mahogany, and spruce with an elaborate leaf-pattern molding. Aunt Nia stood next to me in the corner of the basement with her hand planted firmly on her ample hip. Her familiar scent of coconut soap permeated my senses.
“Andre Beaufort, are you going to stare at that dusty old piano while the entire apartment building floats into the Hudson River?” My aunt missed her calling as an actress.
“How long has this pianola been here?” I asked.
“I’d say since the year of the flood, but with this leaky pipe, I don’t want to tempt the fates.” She handed me a roll of Teflon duct tape, led me to the ladder, and pushed me by my behind up to the top. “You get that bubble butt from my side.” She giggled.
My father, French Canadian, and my mother, African American, had died with my baby brother in a car crash when I was four years old. My mom’s sister had raised me ever since in the building she managed, an Art Deco mansion converted into an apartment building. I had lived in apartment 1B with Aunt Nia until my twenty-first birthday. For the last four years, I’ve exerted my independence and lived on my own—in apartment 3A—a walk-up that keeps my legs toned and my inherited butt firm. As I ripped a piece of thick tape off the roll, I asked Aunt Nia, “Shouldn’t you call a plumber?”
“I did, but he’s booked until the end of July.” Looking authoritarian in her peach ankara maxi dress and matching bib collar necklace, Aunt Nia announced, “The tape should hold for a month.”
“Is that all right with the owner of the building?”
“Who knows?”
“How can you work for someone you’ve never met?”
Still beautiful at fifty-five, Aunt Nia shook her head, and long dreads formed a halo around her smooth face. “I get my monthly check, and the bills are paid. So Florida’s Tzar Me In Corporation is all good by me.”
“But shouldn’t they know about this?”
“What the owner doesn’t know won’t hurt him—or me. I’ll email ‘office’ about it.”
I wrapped the tape around the pipe and the leak stopped. “Maybe I should have been a plumber.”
She snickered. “You’d make more money.”
“True, but you know I love teaching.” I grinned. “Now that it’s the end of June.”
“I hear that.” Aunt Nia, who was a high school guidance counselor, chuckled as she helped me down the ladder.
As a grade school music teacher, it was fulfilling to share my love for music with children, teaching them about history, culture, self-expression, emotion, and different sounds to calm and delight. However, with so much state-required administrative work thrust upon me lately, fewer children labeled “gifted and talented,” and pushy parents demanding their tone-deaf and entitled children have solos in the school’s spring concert, I was in dire need of my summer break.
After handing my aunt the roll of tape, I was drawn back to the player piano. Sitting on the dusty bench, I sneezed and then placed my feet on the pedals. The center section at my eye level was open, so I could see the roll of preprogrammed music on perforated paper. It was a George Gershwin song from 1926: “Someone to Watch Over Me.” As I pressed the pedals, a few familiar notes played. “It still works!” I rose and lifted the top of the bench. “Aunt Nia, there are nine more rolls of music in here! Who owns this?”
“It must have been left here by the original owner in the 1930s. The building has changed ownership a few times since then. I guess nobody wanted it. I can’t say that I blame them.”
“Can I have it?”
Giveaway Offer:
Post a comment here on what you love about a ghostly romantic mystery. Freddy and Andre’s favorite will win a Dreamspinner Press backlist e-copy by Joe Cosentino of your choice! https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/searchresults?q=Joe+Cosentino
About the Author and Online Links
Joe
Cosentino was voted Favorite LGBT Mystery, Humorous, and Contemporary Author of
the Year by the readers of Divine
Magazine for Drama Queen. He also
wrote the other novels in the Nicky and Noah mystery series: Drama Muscle, Drama Cruise, Drama Luau,
Drama Detective, Drama Fraternity, Drama
Castle, Drama Dance, Drama Faerie, Drama Runway, Drama Christmas; the
Dreamspinner Press stories: In My Heart/An Infatuation & A Shooting Star, the Bobby and Paolo
Holiday Stories: A Home for the
Holidays/The Perfect Gift/The First Noel, The Naked Prince and Other Tales from Fairyland/Holiday Tales from
Fairyland, Found At Last: Finding Giorgio/Finding Armando, The Player Piano
Mysteries: The Player/The Player’s Encore; the Cozzi Cove series (NineStar
Press): Cozzi Cove: Bouncing Back, Cozzi Cove: Moving Forward, Cozzi Cove:
Stepping Out, Cozzi Cove: New
Beginnings, Cozzi Cove: Happy Endings; and
the Jana Lane mysteries: Paper Doll,
Porcelain Doll, Satin Doll, China Doll, Rag Doll (The Wild Rose Press). He has
appeared in principal acting roles in film, television, and theatre, opposite
stars such as Bruce Willis, Rosie O’Donnell, Nathan Lane, Holland Taylor, and
Jason Robards. Joe is currently Chair of the Department/Professor at a college
in upstate New York, and he is happily married. Joe was voted 2nd
Place Favorite LGBT Author of the Year in Divine Magazine’s Readers’ Choice
Awards, and his books have received numerous Favorite Book of the Month Awards
and Rainbow Award Honorable Mentions.
Web site: http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/JoeCosentinoauthor
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/JoeCosen
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4071647.Joe_Cosentino
Amazon: Author.to/JoeCosentino
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