a Jana Lane mystery by Joe Cosentino, published by
The Wild Rose Press
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am pleased to have Senator Sancho Ramirez of New
York with me, a character from Joe Cosentino’s SATIN DOLL, a Jana Lane mystery,
published by The Wild Rose Press. It’s an honor to interview a young senator
from Washington, DC., Senator Ramirez.
Please,
call me Sancho.
Welcome, Sancho.
Thank you.
It feels good to leave Joe Cosentino’s computer for a while.
Joe describes you as extremely
charismatic, handsome with effervescent dark hair and eyes, dimples like
craters, a muscular physique, and dressed in expensive suits.
Don’t forget the red ties.
Are you single?
At the start of SATIN DOLL I’m dating Tamaya Stormcloud, Washington DC’s most powerful reporter, but that doesn’t last long.
Why not?
You’ll have to read the book to find out.
The leading character
in the novel, Jana Lane, is one of your constituents.
Right. Jana and her family live in her mansion in Hudson Valley of New
York, a beautiful part of our state with high-peeked mountains, glimmering
lakes, and only a train ride away from New York City.
How did you meet Jana
Lane?
Knowing the most famous ex-child star in history was one of my
constituents, I did some research on her.
What did you find out?
In PAPER DOLL Jana uses the skills she learned as a child star to figure
out who attacked her at eighteen on the studio lot and who is attacking her at thirty-eight
in her Hyde Park, New York mansion. I was impressed.
So were the critics: “Paper Doll is a
superbly crafted mystery with an eclectic cast of characters that will engage
you and elicit some very emotional responses as you are completely caught up in
the events that unfold in these pages. Everyone has secrets and the people in
Paper Doll have them in spades!” Fresh Fiction
"Mr. Cosentino has produced a masterpiece of mystery (Paper
Doll)" "The story gripped me from the start and there were enough
twists and turns, with a bit of romance thrown in for good measure, to keep
hold of me until the end of the book." "Great book, can’t wait for
book 2." Readers’ Favorite
Next, in
PORCELAIN DOLL Jana makes a comeback film, His
Obsession. In the process of filming, she uncovers
who is being murdered on the set and why. Kudos to my constituent.
Again the
critics agreed:
“Beautifully written and intensely detailed, Porcelain Doll is one not
to be missed. Flirtatiously decadent with a strong moral undertone, set in a
decade of extraordinary social change this is a story of its period that is as
poignant today as it was then. Joe Cosentino controlled the emotions that the
book encouraged with a deft but delicate touch. Suspenseful and mysterious,
Porcelain Doll is a masterful creation, one that was impossible not to be
affected by.” Carol Fenton, BooksLaidBare Reviews
“Murder,
mystery, and suspense are high inside of this brilliant masterpiece by Joe
Cosentino.” “Every page fills the readers with intrigue.” “Edge of your seat
mystery that lures readers instantly.” “Once you read it, you can't put it down.”
Danielle Urban Universal Creativity Inc.
And now in
SATIN DOLL, Jana and her family head to Washington, DC and become embroiled in
murder and corruption at the Senate Chamber. I come into the story when the
first victim is murdered. Also, sharing Jana’s liberal bent, I support her AIDS
fundraiser at the Ford Theatre.
Since things don’t work out with you and Tamaya
Stormcloud, do you have a love affair in the novel?
I sure do.
Who’s the lucky lady?
Again,
you’ll have to read the book to find out.
Do you help Jana Lane solve the murder mystery?
Jana
figures it out on her own, again by using the skills she learned as a child
star in movies like The Girl Detective,
The Littlest Farmer, Jungle Girl, School Spy, and The Cutest Scientist.
Who are some of the other characters in the novel?
There are
some familiar faces from the first two books like Jana’s old-world, loyal, and
hysterically funny agent, Simon Huckby, who produces the AIDS benefit. And Jana’s
best friend and lawyer, Congressman Jackson Mitchell and his partner Adam, host
Jana and family at their rustic home on a lake. And there are some new faces
too like Senator Cassie Castle and her sister Lenore who Jana is shadowing to
research her upcoming movie, Madam
Senator. Ironically Cassie, a Democrat who like me is being touted for the
party’s Vice Presidential nomination, is dating the Republican leader of the
Senate, gray fox Senator Maxmillion. Max is a top one percenter who is beholden
to Benjamin Topower, Max’s wealthy super pack contributor. Each character in
the novel has a pretty shocking secret, including me.
I’ve always found it interesting how some politicians
can speak to someone and make him/her feel as if he/she is the only person in
the room. You seem like that.
I enjoy
talking to my constituents, but I also want to make the world a better place. While
I personally have a liberal bent, I think Joe does a great job in the book of
treating the political characters in both parties equally in terms of good
points and bad.
Since the book takes place in 1983, Jana and ex-football
player detective Chris Bove get to dance to songs like “Flashdance…What a Feeling” and
“Maniac.” She wears layered hair, shoulder pads, and lace gloves. He wears
parachute pants, colored T-shirts, and blazers. Though you are younger than
they, you stick to expensive suits.
I think
that fits in with the time period. We also experience a number of historical events
like Karen Carpenter’s passing, the still new AIDS epidemic and the devastation
it caused when ignored by our political representatives, and dangerous proposed
legislation by conservatives like the Protect the Children Act, which was a
disguise to try to make gay people second class citizens.
Can someone read this novel before reading the
previous two Jana Lane mysteries?
Yes, readers
get a complete mystery with each novel full of revealed secrets, plot twists
and turns, and a white knuckle ending leading to a shocking conclusion.
So
who-dun-it? I know, I have to read the book to find out. What’s next for Jana Lane after SATIN DOLL?
In CHINA
DOLL (releasing late May), Jana heads to New York City to star in a Broadway
play, co-starring the gorgeous Peter Stevens, and she is faced with murder on
stage and off.
Are you in that novel too?
No. I’m
not in the next book either, RAGDOLL, where Jana is offered the leading role in
a new television mystery series. And again life imitates art.
How does Joe Cosentino think up these terrific
storylines and surprise endings?
Characters
like me are in his head helping him out.
Does Joe have another mystery series?
Yes, the
Nicky and Noah comedy mysteries published by Lethe Press. Each novel is loaded with wacky humor and romance in a
fast-paced whodunit. Since
Joe is a college theatre professor/department head, and theatre departments are
havens of mystery, secrets, romance, and high humor; the series takes place at
an Edwardian style New England college. In
DRAMA QUEEN (Divine Magazine’s Best Mystery of 2015) theatre college professors
are dropping like stage curtains. With the inept local detectives, it is up to
Directing professor, Nicky Abbondanza to use his theatre skills (including
playing other people) to solve the murders, while he directs a murder mystery
onstage. Complicating matters is Nicky’s intense crush on Assistant Professor
of Acting, handsome Noah Oliver, the prime suspect in the murder. In DRAMA
MUSCLE Nicky and Noah have to use their theatre
skills to find out why musclemen are dropping like weights in the Physical
Education department while Nicky directs the Student Bodybuilding Competition.
In DRAMA CRUISE (not released yet), Nicky and Noah go on a cruise to Alaska,
and discover why college theatre professors are going overboard like lifeboats
while Nicky directs a murder mystery dinner theatre show onboard ship.
Has he written other novels as well?
His MM
romance novellas are published by Dreamspinner Press. They are AN INFATUATION,
A SHOOTING STAR, A HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, and THE NAKED PRINCE AND OTHER TALES
FROM FAIRYLAND. Joe also has an MM series COZZI COVE: BOUNCING BACK and COZZI
COVE: MOVING FORWARD taking place on the Jersey Shore and published by NineStar
Press.
How can readers contact you?
Through
Joe. He loves hearing from readers. It gives him a break from listening to characters
like me. They can contact Joe at: http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com.
SATIN DOLL, a Jana Lane mystery by Joe Cosentino
published by The Wild Rose Press
purchase links:
Blurb:
Murder, corruption, and scandals rock Washington,
D.C.... America’s most famous ex-child star, Jana Lane, is playing a US
Senator in a 1983 film. Just as she and her family arrive in DC, two Washington
power players are murdered, and Jana is caught in the web of intrigue and
political scandal. Jana falls under the spell of the breathtakingly handsome
detective assigned to the case, ex-professional football player and food
aficionado, Chris Bove. Will Jana and Bove uncover the murderer’s identity
and shocking secrets before Jana and her family become the Capitol’s next
victims?
Author’s Bio:
Bestselling author Joe Cosentino won Divine
Magazine’s awards for best mystery novel, best humorous novel, and best
contemporary novel of 2015. He is the author of the Jana Lane mysteries: Paper Doll, Porcelain Doll, Satin Doll,
and China Doll (The Wild Rose Press);
the Nicky and Noah mysteries: Drama
Queen, Drama Muscle, and the upcoming Drama
Cruise (Lethe Press); the Cozzi Cove beach series: Cozzi Cove: Bouncing Back and Cozzi
Cove: Moving Forward (NineStar Press); and the romance novellas: In My Heart anthology (An Infatuation & A Shooting Star), A Home for the Holidays, and
The Naked Prince and Other Tales from Fairyland (Dreamspinner Press); and The Nutcracker and the Mouse King
(Eldridge Plays and Musicals). As an actor, he has appeared in principal 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
Head of the Department/Professor at a college in upstate New York, and is
happily married. http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/JoeCosentinoauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoeCosen
Excerpt:
Jana felt goosebumps as she looked over at the dias for the presiding
officer—a rotating senator elected by the majority/Republican party. Her eyes
spanned the one hundred desks in a semicircle, where senators sat by order of
seniority with the majority leader (Josiah Maxmillion noticeably absent) and
minority leader (Ben Stevens present) sitting front and center on each side.
The meeting resumed. Jana stood in awe and listened as senators took to
the floor, yielding and accepting time to and from one another, making their
case for or against the vast expense of taxpayers’ dollars.
After ten minutes had gone by, Jana realized she had left her notepad in
Cassie’s office. Wanting to write copious notes about her meeting with Max and
about the senate debate, Jana hurried through hallways and around corridors.
Again flashbacks from her nightmare rendered her unable to move, but she
commanded her legs to obey and miraculously found her way back.
Upon entering Cassie’s office, Jana noticed Cassie’s secretary and
Lenore were not at their desks. Probably on their lunch breaks. Since
Cassie’s office door was open, Jana peeked her head inside and gasped at the
sight of Tamaya Stormcloud, lying motionless on the Persian rug, surrounded by
a pool of blood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks Joe and thank you Senator Ramirez for stopping by! We enjoyed your visit!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.