By Joe Cosentino
Joe Cosentino, congratulations on the release of the seventeenth book in your award-winning and popular Nicky and Noah gay cozy comedy mystery series, Drama Daddy.
Joe: Thank you, but don’t call me daddy. (smile)
You’ve written five Jana Lane mysteries, two Player Piano mysteries, five Cozzi Cove books, and seventeen Nicky and Noah mysteries. Why so many Nicky and Noah mysteries?
Joe: Nicky and Noah keep begging me for more. So, do the readers. Plus, the books are so much fun to write. I often laugh out loud when writing them. Each story has humor, quirky characters, sweet romance, cozy settings, plot twists and turns, a show business background, and a shocking whodunit ending. I even continue to shock my husband, which makes me very proud.
Why do you think the Nicky and Noah mystery series has lasted over a decade now?
Joe: I haven’t found any other cozy MM comedy mystery romance series set in the world of academia and theatre. Also, nobody else has my warped sense of humor.
This is your first novelette in the series.
Joe: Yes, after sixteen novels Nicky and Noah mystery readers asked for a Nicky and Noah mystery novelette. It’s lower in price and pages, but not lower in laughs, mystery, and romance.
Why did you pick a musical about the founding of our nation as the show within a story for the seventeenth mystery?
Joe: As a kid, I was fascinated by United States history, particularly how the Continental Congress severed ties with Britain and became the United States in 1776. The Broadway musical 1776 was one of my favorites. How I admired the courage, strength, and commitment of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and the other early Americans who worked tirelessly on their Declaration of Independence for freedom. I played the cast album so many times my parents threatened to get their independence from me. I get misty-eyed every July 4th as I gaze at the fireworks in the sky and think about the meaning of freedom, democracy, and liberty and justice for all. So, I decided Nicky, Noah, and their theatrical troupe at Treemeadow College would stage an original musical production of the founding of our nation entitled, I Do Declare.
Tell us about Drama Daddy, the 17th Nicky and Noah mystery.
Joe: It’s summer stock time at Treemeadow College. Professor of Play Directing sexy Nicky Abbondanza directs the show and takes on the leading role (What else did you expect?) of John Adams. Nicky’s gorgeous and faithful husband, Associate Professor of Acting Noah Oliver, is cast as Adam’s love interest, Thomas Jefferson.
It's great to see our favorite characters back.
Joe: Of course! Nicky and Noah’s best friend and department chair, Martin Anderson, grabs (among other things) the plumb role of Adams’s beard Abigail. Electricity sparks fly as Martin’s long-suffering husband, Ruben Markinson, plays a frisky Benjamin Franklin. Nicky and Noah’s son, Taavi, and Martin and Ruben’s son, Ty, threaten to call Child Protective Services until Nicky casts them as the Couriers. Nicky’s nemesis, the oblivious Detective Manuello, worms his way into the cast as King George III with a roving eye for muscular male servants. Nicky’s dog, Asterisk, shows his molars until he secures the treat role of the king’s dog Georgie.
Who are the new characters/suspects in book seventeen?
Joe: New to the cast are hunky Sami Zaman, Graduate Assistant of Music, Musical Director, and Edward Rutledge, who has a yen for handsome Haku Yamato, Assistant Professor of Dance, Choreographer, and John Dick-in-son. Hot Theatre majors, Hector Alvarez and Philippe Laurent, play the father of our country George Washington and his French kiss lover Guy Raffleur III, giving new meaning to the term, “Sugar Daddy.” When the actor playing John Hand-cock finds snarky Professor of Music Hank Tobias (Caesar Rodney) murdered in the theatre wing, Nicky and Noah take flight to solve the case —before the murderer clips their wings.
What makes the Nicky and Noah mystery series so special?
Joe: It’s 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 (as Nicky would say) faster than the Proud Boys storming the Capitol at the insurrection. At the center is the touching relationship between Professor of Play Directing Nicky Abbondanza and Associate Professor of Acting Noah Oliver. We watch them go from courting to marrying to adopting a child, all the while head over heels in love with each other (as we fall in love with them). Reviewers called the series “hysterically funny farce,” “Murder She Wrote meets Hart to Hart meets The Hardy Boys,” and “captivating whodunits.” One reviewer wrote they are the funniest books she’s ever read! Another said I’m “a master storyteller.” Who am I to argue?
How are the books cozy?
Joe: Many of them, 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.
For anyone unfortunate enough not to have read them, tell us the titles of the novels in the series.Joe: The Nicky and Noah mysteries are: 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, and now the Drama Daddy novelette.
Many of your characters are of various ethnicities and sexual identities. Is that deliberate on your part?
Joe: Absolutely. We live in a diverse world. A story taking place at a college and/or in the world of theatre would be unbelievable if everyone were the same.
I’m sure you’ve been told that the books would make a terrific TV series.
Joe: Many many times! Rather than Logo showing reruns of Golden Girls around the clock, and Bravo airing so called reality shows, I would love to see them do The Nicky and Noah Mysteries. Come on, TV producers, make your offers! I’ve written a teleplay of the first novel and treatments for the remaining novels!
How would you cast the TV series?
Joe: Here’s my wish list: Matt Bomer as Nicky, Neil Patrick Harris as Noah, Rosie O’Donnell and Bruce Willis as Noah’s parents, Valerie Bertinelli and Jay Leno as Nicky’s parents, me as Martin Anderson (nepotism!), Nathan Lane as Martin’s husband Ruben, Wanda Sykes as Martin’s office assistant Shayla, and Luke Macfarlane as Nicky’s brother Tony. Or Luke Macfarlane as any character!
Is this the last book in the Nicky and Noah mysteries series?
Joe: Drama King, the next novel is the last.
How can your readers get their hands on Drama Daddy, and how can they contact you?
Jeo: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.
Joe: 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’m more excited to share this novelette with you. So, take your seats for the fireworks. Not only Ben Franklin’s kite will rise as the men in the Continental Congress find romance, rollicking fun, and rousing murder!
And I love to hear from readers. So drop me a line. I’ll share it with Nicky and Noah! JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Drama Daddy
Nicky and Noah mystery novelette
Nicky and Noah mystery 17 by Joe Cosentino
Summer stock, romance, and murder blossom at Treemeadow College on July 4th when theatre professors and husbands Nicky and Noah and their thespian cohorts stage an original gay musical adaptation heralding the signing of the Declaration of Independence entitled, I Do Declare. Nicky and Noah need to use their drama skills to catch the killer before the frills on their collars are tied in a knot—around their throats.
You will be applauding and shouting Bravo for Joe Cosentino’s fast-paced, sidesplittingly funny, edge-of-your-seat entertaining first-time novelette (mystery #17) in this delightful series. Take your seats. It’s Independence Day! The curtain and fireworks are going up on an enamored John Adams and Thomas Jefferson who raise Ben Franklin’s kite, Daddy John Dick-in-son, John Hand-cock, George Washington and his French squeeze Guy Raffleur, and murder!
E-book and Paperback: 92 pages
Language: English
Genre: MM, contemporary, mystery, comedy, romance, theatre, musical theater, college, 1776, July 4, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Independence Day
Heat Level: 1
Cover Art: Jesús Da Silva
Release date: July 1, 2023
Purchase Links
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1387690
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/drama-daddy-joe-cosentino/1143424004?ean=2940166053817
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/drama-daddy-a-nicky-and-noah-novelette
Excerpt of Drama Daddy, a Nicky and Noah novelette, by Joe Cosentino:
Noah and I headed past the oak study to our bedroom. We stripped to our T-shirts and boxers, leapt into our oak fourposter, and cuddled under the white satin sheets with our legs entwined like tree roots.
As I lay back on my hypoallergenic pillow, Noah rested his head on my chest. The scent of strawberries filled the sky-blue room. I stroked Noah’s golden locks. “Our son keeps growing up.”
Noah patted my expanding package. “So does his father.”
I slapped his bubble butt.
“Do you think everything is okay with Taavi?”
I nodded. “We’re not ready to be empty-nesters. And Taavi doesn’t seem ready to fly the coup.”
Noah breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.”
“So now all we have to worry about is the show — and the murder.”
His eyes twinkled like little stars. “What did you find out earlier by eavesdropping on the cast and crew?”
“I don’t spy on people.”
Noah kissed my cheek. “Come on, Sherlock, tell your Watson what you know.”
I happily relented. “Our Graduate Assistant of Music Sami Zaman desires Hank Tobias’s teaching position, and Assistant Professor of Dance Haku Yamato wants that for Sami too, making Sami and Haku good suspects.”
“I don’t believe Haku would murder anyone. During rehearsals, I talked to him a great deal. He’s a terrific guy.”
I did a double take, which nearly gave Noah whiplash. “Are you and Haku an item now? Do you want your independence too, Noah?”
He slapped my chest. “Of course not. I’m with the man of my dreams. And you’re all I’ll ever want.”
“Ditto.”
We kissed and Noah’s strawberry scent filled my nostrils.
“What else did you discover, Nicky?”
“Our theatre students Hector Alvarez and Philippe Laurent admitted their dislike for Hank Tobias.”
Noah sighed. “It seems nobody liked poor Hank. What a shame.”
I cocked my head. “Did you like Hank, Noah?”
“I heard Hank was once a top-notch professor.” He rested his head on my shoulder. “I think everybody should have somebody.”
“Maggie Tobias doesn’t have anyone — now. She said it’s been she and Hank for the last few years after her mother died and Hank discovered Maggie’s fiancé was a player.”
“Good for Hank.” Noah said, “See? There’s some good in everyone.”
“Especially you.” I kissed his smooth forehead.
“I told Maggie we will invite her to dinner.”
“Great.” Noah snapped his fingers. “Hank has been a professor at Treemeadow for decades. He must have left Maggie a windfall.”
“Hardly. With her parents’ doctor bills, Maggie comes away empty-handed. Oh, Maggie saw our student stage manager kneeling next to Hank’s dead body. Adrienne said she was looking for a lost eyelid ring.”
“Adrienne was in my Acting I class.” Noah sighed. “She’s at Treemeadow on a juvenile prison to college program.”
That caught my attention. “What did Adrienne do to land in juvenile prison?”
“She beat up a teacher over a grade dispute at her high school.”
I shuddered. “I’m glad Adrienne wasn’t in my Play Directing class.”
Noah cocked his head. “Adrienne is a good stage manager.”
“When her jewelry doesn’t get caught in the theatre equipment.” I added, “She volunteered to understudy Caesar Rodney.”
“That was nice of her.” Noah asked me, “Did Adrienne or anybody see the quill pen leave the stage?”
I shook my head. “Manuello interviewed everyone. As usual he came up empty. No surprise there.”
“I asked around too.”
“My Watson.” I pinched his pec.
“Nobody saw or heard anything.” Noah kissed my nose.
I grinned. “With Taavi and Asterisk down the hall, and Sloane, Nicky Jr., and Tag away, nobody can see or hear anything we do in here.”
He chuckled. “Is that so, Sherlock?”
“Elementary, my dear Watson.”
We slid down in the bed and made love under the skylight as the twinkling stars and silvery moon heralded our passion.
Author Links
Web site: https://JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/JoeCosentinoauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoeCosen
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4071647.Joe_Cosentino
Amazon: Author.to/JoeCosentino
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joecosentinoauthor
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