Goodreads asked Joe Cosentino:

What mystery in your own life could be a plot for a book?

Joe Cosentino You'll have to read my full answer below and find out at the end. As a teenager, I suffered from terrible insomnia. What finally put me to sleep was reading cozy mystery novels, and I read plenty. The captivating settings, quirky and interesting characters, humor, puzzles, fast-paced plot twists and turns, and shocking yet justified endings intrigued me.
As she cooked dinner one evening, I told my mother I wanted to be an actor. Her response was, "Take this knife and stick it through my heart." After majoring in Drama (on stage and off) in college, I became a professional actor performing on stage, screen, and television opposite stars like Bruce Willis (A Midsummer Night’s Dream onstage), Nathan Lane (The Roar of the Greasepaint on stage), Rosie O’Donnell (AT&T Industrial), Jason Robards (Commercial Credit Computer commercial), Charles Keating (NBC-TV Another World), and Holland Taylor (ABC-TV movie My Mother Was Never a Kid). Two masters’ degrees later, I became a college theatre professor/department chair.
Blending my continued passion for mystery novels with my show business background, I created the Jana Lane mystery series. I self-published the first novel, Paper Doll, which did so well that The Wild Rose Press published the next four novels: Porcelain Doll, Satin Doll, China Doll, and Rag Doll. In the stories, Jana Lane lives with her family in a mansion in Hyde Park, New York. America’s most famous ex-child star discovers who destroyed her past and who is threatening to destroy her future. She then moves on to solving murder mysteries on her comeback film and television sets and on the Broadway stage. Critics called the series, “superbly crafted mystery” (Fresh Fiction), “a masterpiece of mystery” (Readers’ Favorites), “beautifully written and intensely detailed….a masterful creation” (Books Laid Bare), and “edge of your seat mystery….can’t put it down (Urban Book Reviews).
Adding in my quirky wit and quirky years in academia, I next created the Nicky and Noah mystery series: Drama Queen, Drama Muscle, Drama Cruise, Drama Luau, and the upcoming Drama Detective, Drama Fraternity, and Drama Castle. In these hilarious novels, college theatre professors Nicky and Noah use their theatre skills, including impersonating others, to solve murder mysteries in the theatre department, physical education department, performing in a murder mystery dinner theatre show onboard a cruise to Alaska, directing a luau show in Hawaii, directing a Broadway musical, and directing movies. Drama Queen (Lethe Press) was voted Favorite LGBT Mystery Novel, Humorous Novel, and Contemporary Novel of the Year by the Readers of Divine Magazine. Drama Muscle (Lethe Press) received a Rainbow Award Honorable Mention. Critics called the series “superb from start to finish” (Three Books Over the Rainbow), “an absolute gem of a series” (Divine Magazine), “laugh out loud funny” (Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words), Hardy Boys-meets-Murder She Wrote-meets-Midsummer Murders, with a side of parodic, farcical, satire” (Boy Meets Boy Reviews), and “a murder mystery, a comedic romp, an investigative caper, and a love story all rolled up into one nifty little novel” (The Novel Approach).
Many of my books also have audiobook versions performed by prominent actors. Readers tell me the books would make terrific television series or films. I agree. So I wrote screenplay versions of them. What's the mystery in my life that could be a plot for a book? Why haven't any offers come yet from television and film producers?!
For more information about my novels, see my web site at http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com

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