Dawn's Reading Nook: Guest Author Day with Joe Cosentino and all about Drama King (18th Nicky and Noah Mystery)

I'm so excited to have author Joe Cosentino here today to discuss their newest book in their Nicky and Noah mystery series, Drama King. Check out the interview below with Joe Cosentino and the book information.

Interview with Joe Cosentino, author of the novel, Drama King,

the 18^th Nicky and Noah mystery/comedy/romance

Joe Cosentino, thank you for speaking about writing on the release of the eighteenth book in your award-winning and popular Nicky and Noah gay cozy comedy mystery series, Drama King.

Thank you. I’m a writer who should be king (smile).

You’ve written thirty-three novels!

And my husband is still speaking to me!

How did you become a storyteller?

My mother says I tell tall tales—and she’s right! I’ve always had a wild imagination. My parents always feared what I’d make up and tell neighbors about them. And they still do! I appropriately majored in theatre at college. Then I went on to act opposite stars like Rosie O’Donnell (AT&T industrial), Nathan Lane (Roar of the Greasepaint musical onstage), Bruce Willis (A Midsummer Night’s Dream onstage), Charles Keating (NBC’s Another World), Jason Robards (Commercial Credit computer commercial), and Holland Taylor (ABC’s My Mother Was Never a Kid TV movie). Finally, I began writing plays and ultimately writing novels. Since I’m a cozy mystery reading fanatic, and there are so few gay cozy mystery series out there, I was happy to fill the bill—or in this new novel, the nightshirt.

You’re also a college professor/department head. How do you find the time to do all this writing?

I don’t get a lot of sleep.

Where do you write?

My home study is very much like Martin Anderson’s office at Treemeadow College including a fireplace with a cherry wood mantel and a cherry wood desk and bookcase. I also have a window seat beneath a large window/gateway to the woods.

Do you write an outline before each book?

For a mystery, an outline is imperative. It’s important to plot out all the clues and surprise reveals. I generally think of a great idea for a new book at 3 a.m. If I can remember it the next day, or read my notes on my night table, I draft the outline. Since I was an actor, I also write a character biography for each character. Then I close my eyes and let the magic happen. As I see the scenes in front of me like a movie and the characters start talking to each other in my head, I hit the computer. My spouse reads my second draft. After we argue, I write my third draft.

What advice do you have for unpublished writers?

Don’t listen to naysayers. Find the magic within yourself. Get in front of the computer and start writing your unique story. Don’t copy anyone. Write what you know and feel passionate about. Write every day. Don’t be afraid to take chances. When you have a story you think is perfect, ask someone you trust to read it. Then after doing another draft, email it to a publisher who has an open submissions policy and who publishes the kind of story you’ve written, or publish it yourself.

Is it hard to write comedy?

Not for me. I’ve always thought funny. As an actor, I remember directors telling me to stop making my scenes so funny. I didn’t realize I was doing it. I think I get this from my mother. For example, for Christmas one year my mother gave me a jacket and my sister a house. When I complained, she said, “But it’s a nice jacket.” Thanks, Mom!

Why do you write gay fiction?

Why not? LGBT people have many interesting untold stories. Go to a mall and look at the row of movie posters without any LGBT characters in them. Visit a bookstore and see cover after cover of opposite sex love stories. Take a look at so many of our Republican political and so-called religious leaders who raise money and gain power by demonizing LGBT people and trying (and often succeeding) to take away civil rights. I mourn for the young gay kids who consider suicide. So I support organizations like GLSEN (giving them a portion of my book royalties), and I write stories that include LGBT people and themes. However, just as my Jana Lane series with its gay supporting characters has huge crossover appeal for gay people, the Nicky and Noah series with its LGBT leading characters and straight supporting characters has a tremendous amount of crossover appeal for straight people. Most people like a clever mystery, a sweet romance, and a good laugh, regardless of the sexuality of the characters.

In your various series, how do you remember all the elements about the characters and settings over a long time period?

I keep good notes on everything for continuity. Also, the regular characters are like family to me. I know them so well. I love watching them and their relationships grow and develop. It’s equally fun creating new characters in each book. I laugh out loud when writing my novels, and the endings still surprise me—even though I wrote them!

You’re a college theatre professor/department chair like Martin Anderson in your Nicky and Noah mysteries series. Has that influenced that series?

As a past professional actor and current college theatre professor/department chair, I know first-hand the wild and wacky antics, sweet romance, and captivating mystery in the worlds of theatre and academia. The Nicky and Noah mysteries are full of them! I never seem to run out of wild characters to write about. My faculty colleagues and students kid me that if any of them tick me off, I’ll kill them in my next book.

Are you Martin Anderson, the theatre department head, in the novels?

My colleagues say my sense of humor is Nicky’s but I look like Martin Anderson. I love how Martin is so loyal and supportive of Nicky and Noah. His one up-man-ship with his office assistant Shayla is a riot. I’ll admit that like me Martin is a bit of a gossip. His spouse, Ruben, is based on mine. It’s great when Ruben keeps Martin’s theatricality in line with hysterical barbs. The older couple stay sharp by engaging in their verbal warfare, but it’s all done in deep admiration and respect. Finally, it’s wonderful to see an elderly couple so much in love (uncommon in the entertainment field), and how they can read each other like a book—no pun intended.

Are college theatre professors/amateur sleuths/adorable couple Nicky and Noah based on any of your younger colleagues?

Like most of the characters in my books, Nicky is a combination of a few people I’ve known. He’s handsome, muscular, smart, charming, and he has an enormous manhood, which doesn’t hurt (or maybe it does). However, what I admire most about Nicky is his never give up attitude and sense of humor in the face of adversity. He is genuinely concerned for others, and he’ll do anything to solve a murder mystery. Finally, he is a one-man man, and Nicky is proud to admit that man is Noah Oliver. Nicky is also incredibly devoted to his family and friends. Noah is blond, blue-eyed, lean, handsome, smart, and devoted. He makes the perfect Watson to Nicky’s Holmes. (I always thought Holmes and Watson were a gay couple.) Noah also has a large heart and soft spot (no pun intended) for others. Finally, like Nicky, Noah is quite gifted at improvisation, and creates wild and wonderful characters for their role plays to catch the murderer.

Since both you and Nicky are of Italian-American decent, are Nicky’s parents like yours? Are Noah’s parents like your spouse’s parents?

Both Nicky’s parents and Noah’s parents have many of the traits of my parents. They’re absolutely hilarious. I love Noah’s mother’s fixation with taking pictures of everything, and his father’s fascination with seeing movies. I also love how Noah’s father is an amateur sleuth like Nicky. As they say, men marry their fathers. Nicky’s mother’s obsession with Bingo at her church is a riot. Both sets of parents fully embrace their sons and their sons’ family, which is refreshing.

For anyone unfortunate enough not to have read them, tell us the titles of the Nicky and Noah mysteries.

Drama Queen, Drama Muscle, Drama Cruise, Drama Luau, Drama Detective, Drama Fraternity, Drama Castle, Drama Dance, Drama Faerie, Drama Runway, Drama Christmas, Drama Pan, Drama TV, Drama Oz, Drama Prince, Drama Merry, Drama Daddy (novelette), and now Drama King.

Why Drama King as the eighteenth mystery?

As a kid, I loved reading the King Arthur Legends. I also listened to Broadway show albums around the clock. (That should have been a clue to my parents.) Not surprisingly, one of my favorites was Camelot, the story of Merlin the magician’s student King Arthur, Arthur’s favorite knight Lancelot, and Guinevere, the woman who came between them. While I loved the music, colorful period costumes, royal sets, and chorus of knights, I didn’t buy the story. To me it seemed like King Arthur and his stud knight Lancelot should be the couple, and the Knights of the Round Table should be sharing more than their goodness.

I notice this novel is set back at Treemeadow College.

Many of the novels, like this one, take place in Vermont, a cozy state with green pastures, white church steeples, glowing lakes, and friendly and accepting people. Fictitious Treemeadow College (named after its gay founders, couple Tree and Meadow) is the perfect setting for a cozy mystery with its white Edwardian buildings, low white stone fences, lake and mountain views, and cherry wood offices with tall leather chairs and fireplaces.

Tell us a bit about the plot—no spoilers.

In the novel, Nicky, Noah, and their theatrical troupe at Treemeadow College stage an original musical production of the King Arthur legends entitled, Knights in Tights.

It's great to see our favorite characters back.

Of course! In the show within the novel, King Arthur (Nicky) and the gorgeous knight Lancelot (Noah) are star-crossed lovers due to Arthur’s mail-order bride Guinevere (played by their best friend and department chair Martin). Martin’s long-suffering husband, Ruben, is Merlin who in the final moments of the show sets all right (or left), and King Arthur marries his beloved Lancelot. Nicky and Noah’s son, Taavi, is cast as Young Arthur. His wife Sloane, a transexual, plays the mysterious Lady of the Lake. Martin and Ruben’s son, Ty, is Arthur’s bastard (pun intended) son Mordred, and Martin’s sassy office assistant, Shayla, is cast as the cunning Morgan le Fay. Detective Manuello comes along for the ride as Pellinore, the knight with the Holy Grail (he found at a gay bar). Noah’s niece from Scotland, Lairie, plays the scheming Isolde. Nicky and Noah’s dog, Asterisk, and his husband, Tag, are cast as King Arthur’s dogs Cavall and Glassic. Ty’s girlfriend, Shinelle, is also back as stage manager.

Who are the new characters/suspects/victims for book eighteen?

The Knights of the Roundtable are played by hunky newcomers to the series. Associate Professor of Musical Theatre Bernardo Anita is cast as Knight Perceval. The Latino’s muscular body, dark hair and eyes, and olive skin set his adorable graduate assistant Wang Fong’s heart aflutter. Wang (Knight Kay), a deaf performer, also enjoys the fact that Bernardo is a CODA (child of deaf adults). Theatre majors bodybuilder Nathan Masterson (Knight Tristan), wealthy Tevye Perchik (Knight Gawain), and Dracula lookalike Beau Babcock (Knight Bedivere) form an interesting love triangle. When play reviewers drop like knights’ tights, there are plenty of suspects—not to mention sweet romance. As Nicky would say, if you read this novel, you’ll have more fun than a Republican-appointed Supreme Court member taking away LGBT, workers’, environmental, women’s, and voting rights. You’ll also get to see how this popular series ends!

How can your readers get their hands on Drama King and how can they contact you?

The purchase links are below, as are my contact links, including my web site. I love to hear from readers! So do Nicky and Noah. I tell them everything!

Thank you, Joe, for interviewing today.

It was my pleasure. As a past professional actor and current college theatre professor/department chair, I know first-hand the hysterically funny antics, sweet romance, and captivating mystery in the worlds of theatre and academia. The Nicky and Noah mysteries are full of them! I know you’ll laugh, cry, feel romantic, and love delving into this crackling new mystery (as Nicky would say) with more plot twists and turns than a priest with five new altar boys. I’m more excited (as Nicky would say) than an anti-gay politician tapping his foot in a public men’s room stall to share this eighteenth mystery in the series with you. So put on your cape and crown, and head to the magical land of Camelot for murder, mayhem, and of course a happy ending (no pun intended)!

And drop me a line. I’ll share it with Nicky and Noah! http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com

DRAMA KING (the 18th Nicky and Noah mystery)

a comedy/mystery/romance novel by JOE COSENTINO

E-book and Paperback: 230 pages

Language: English

Genre: MM, contemporary, mystery, comedy, romance, theatre, musical theater, college, Camelot, King Arthur, Lancelot, Knights of the Round Table, deaf, CODA

Heat Level: 2

Cover Art: Jesús Da Silva

Release date: October 1, 2023

It’s summertime at Treemeadow College and the living isn’t easy. Theatre professors and adorable couple Nicky, Noah, and their thespian troupe stage an original musical adaptation of the King Arthur Legends entitled, Knights in Tights. Queens blissfully shout, “King me,” until critics drop like their scathing reviews. Once again in this novel, our favorite thespians will need to use their drama skills to catch the killer before their crowns spin—around their throats. You will be applauding and shouting Bravo for Joe Cosentino’s fast-paced, side-splittingly funny, edge-of-your-seat entertaining eighteenth mystery in this delightful series. It’s a royal riot! So hurry to your seat. The stage lights are coming up in Camelot on a king on the down low who pulls his long sword out of a tight stone, knights of the roundtable craving a circle jerk, a half-fairy son with a daddy complex, more men in tights than in a Promise Keepers’ convention, and murder!

Buy Links:

https://mybook.to/DramaKing

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1431705

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/drama-king-joe-cosentino/1143858612?ean=2940166089755

Praise for the Nicky and Noah mysteries:

“Joe Cosentino has a unique and fabulous gift. His writing is flawless, and his 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…the best modern Sherlock and Watson in books today…I highly recommend this book and the entire series, it’s a pure pleasure, full of fun and love, written with talent and brio…fabulous…brilliant” Optimumm Book Reviews

Excerpt of Drama King, the 18^th Nicky and Noah mystery, by Joe Cosentino:

I discreetly raced down the hallway and booked it into Noah’s dressing room, where I found my wonderful husband sitting at his makeup table. “I laid out lunch for you on the end table, Nicky.”

I gazed at Noah’s culinary creation: warm beet and farro salad with a blackberry vinaigrette, carrot ricotta tart with pesto and pine nuts, pheasant chestnut zucchini skewers, and peach banana cocoa souffle for dessert. “Noah, you outdid yourself!” I gave him a kiss on the cheek, sat on the (appropriately) pink loveseat across from the end table, and began devouring lunch with a pear plum kiwi smoothie chaser. I garbled between bites, “This is delicious.”

“Just like you.” Noah sat next to me, resting his head on my shoulder. The room was full of the scent of his luscious strawberry shampoo.

After we shared a kiss full of pesto, I said, “I hope you didn’t eat the pine nuts.” Noah is allergic to all nuts—except mine.

“Of course not.”

“Good.”

“But thank you for worrying about me.”

“Always.”

We kissed again.

I asked, “Have Taavi, Sloane, Asterisk, and Tag eaten?”

“They’re finishing up their lunches in Sloane’s dressing room. When I left, Nicky Jr. was on Sloane’s lap with Asterisk and Tag holding the bottle to Nicky Jr.’s lips. Our dogs wouldn’t leave the baby’s side until he drank all of his formula.” Noah kissed one of my sideburns as I chewed. “So, what did you find out?”

“About what?”

“Our cast members—while you were spying on them.”

“I told you, Noah, I don’t spy. I observe.”

“Potato potahto.”

“Don’t make me skewer you with my skewer, Noah.”

“Later.” He kissed my nose. “Tell me the scoop.”

After I swallowed a mouthful of pheasant, I said, “Ty and Shinelle seem to like our niece Lairie.”

Noah clapped his hands. “I’m so glad Lairie is making friends.”

“They may be more than friends.”

“What do you mean?”

“I could be wrong—”

“My own Sherlock Holmes? Never.” Noah giggled.

“Can it, Watson.” I slapped his bubble butt. “Ty and Shinelle seem to be attracted to Lairie.”

“Lairie is probably a novelty to them. They’ve probably never met anyone from Scotland.”

“I guess so.”

Noah fed me a tart. “What else did you discover about our merry troupe?”

“Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre Bernardo Anita and his graduate assistant Wang Fong seem to be at war.”

“That isn’t good.”

I nodded and avocado dribbled onto my plate. “And our students aren’t fairing any better.”

“Do tell.”

“Nathan Masterson is interested in Tevye Perchik who is interested in Beau Babcock who is interested in Nathan Masterson.”

Noah gasped. “Nicky, we have our own soap opera!”

“Let’s hope the drama stays on the stage during our press conference in the greenroom tomorrow.”

“Who’s coming?”

I replied between bites, “The theatre reviewers from the Vermont Victory: Albert and Rose McAfee, their sons Hugo and Conrad, and Rose’s mother Mae.”

Noah grinned. “The family that reviews together stays together.”

“They can be tough reviewers, but they review every show in Vermont. So I’m hoping some wining, dining, and press interviews tomorrow evening will soften them up before opening night.”

Noah nodded. “I made gourmet finger foods and stored them in our refrigerator. We can bring them to the theatre tomorrow. Taavi, Sloane, and Lairie agreed to help set up.”

Shinelle knocked on the open door. “We’re back from lunch, professors.”

“Thank you, Shinelle,” Noah said.

I mumbled the same with my mouth full. After Shinelle was gone, I wiped my mouth with the pink silk napkin Noah had placed on my knee. Then I handed him my empty pink china plate. “Thank you for the wonderful lunch, Noah. See you on stage, Lancelot.”

“I’m right behind you, Arthur.”

“That’s a switch.”

We shared a chuckle.

As I headed out of Noah’s dressing room, I thought about our cast and crew—wondering if one of them was a murderer.

About the Author

Joe Cosentino was voted Favorite MM Mystery, Humorous, and Contemporary Author of the Year by the readers of Divine Magazine for Drama Queen, the first Nicky and Noah mystery novel. He is also the author of the remaining Nicky and Noah mysteries: Drama Muscle, Drama Cruise, Drama Luau, Drama Detective, Drama Fraternity, Drama Castle, Drama Dance, Drama Faerie, Drama Runway, Drama Christmas, Drama Pan, Drama TV, Drama Oz, Drama Prince, Drama Merry, Drama Daddy (novelette), Drama King; the Player Piano Mysteries: The Player and The Player’s Encore; the Jana Lane Mysteries: Paper Doll, Porcelain Doll, Satin Doll, China Doll, Rag Doll; the Cozzi Cove series: Cozzi Cove: Bouncing Back, Moving Forward, Stepping Out, New Beginnings, Happy Endings; the In My Heart Anthology: An Infatuation & A Shooting Star; the Tales from Fairyland Anthology: The Naked Prince and Other Tales from Fairyland and Holiday Tales from Fairyland; the Bobby and Paolo Holiday Stories Anthology: A Home for the Holidays, The Perfect Gift, The First Noel; and the Found At Last Anthology: Finding Giorgio and Finding Armando. His books have won numerous Book of the Month awards and Rainbow Award Honorable Mentions. As an actor, Joe appeared in principal roles in film, television, and theatre, opposite stars such as Bruce Willis, Rosie O’Donnell, Nathan Lane, Jason Robards, and Holland Taylor. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Goddard College, Master’s degree from SUNY New Paltz, and is currently a happily married college emeritus theatre professor residing in New York State.