Joe Cosentino interviews Nicky Abbondanza and Noah Oliver from his
Drama Detective,
the fifth Nicky and Noah mystery/comedy/romance novel
Joe: Welcome, Nicky and Noah. Thank you for chatting with me today about the fifth novel in your popular mystery series.
Nicky: We’re always chatting with you, Joe. This time it’s not all in your head.
Noah: And it feels good to get out of there for a while. It’s a wild and wacky place.
Nicky: I’ve been meaning to ask you, why did you start writing?
Joe: I thought I was asking the questions.
Nicky: Hey, we gave you five hit novels. Can’t you answer my question?
Joe: Okay. After majoring in theatre in college, I became a professional actor, working in film, television, and theatre 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). Moving on to playwriting and ultimately writing novels came next working with Dreamspinner Press, NineStar Press, Lethe Press, and The Wild Rose Press. Along the way I received two master’s degrees and became a college professor/department head (like Martin Anderson in the Nicky and Noah mystery series). I do lots of writing there, but it’s nowhere near as fun as writing with you two guys in my head.
Noah: I have a question. If there was a Nicky and Noah Mysteries television series, who would you cast as us?
Joe: Matt Bomer and Neil Patrick Harris. I also think Nathan Lane as Martin Anderson’s (the department head’s) spouse. I want to play Martin Anderson! Wanda Sykes would be a riot as Martin’s office assistant, Shayla.
Noah: Joe Manganiello would be perfect as Nicky’s brother, Tony (or in any role). And I can see Rosie O’Donnell and Bruce Willis playing my parents,
Nicky: I can also see Valerie Bertinelli and Jay Leno as my parents.
Joe: 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!
Nicky: Joe, why did you decide to write in the mystery genre?
Joe: When I was a kid I had terrible insomnia. What finally cured me was reading Sherlock Holmes mysteries and Agatha Christie novels. I became absorbed with analyzing the clues, sifting through the red herrings, and marveling at the brilliant detectives’ powers of deduction as I sharpened my own little gray cells. Even at a young age, I suspected that Holmes and his friend Dr. Watson were more than roommates, which made reading the series even more fun. Unfortunately, given the times in which those books were written, none of the characters were openly gay. I decided to change that.
Nicky and Noah: And we’re happy you did!
Nicky: We say the same thing sometimes. It’s a cute couple thing we do.
Noah: Why did you write a gay cozy mystery/comedy/romance series?
Joe: The Nicky and Noah mysteries are the kind of books I like reading: hysterically funny, theatrical, sexy, wild, and wacky with a solid mystery full of plot twists and turns at its center—and a surprise ending! There aren’t a whole lot of books like that out there. I’ve been told the series is unique and I agree. As my parents will tell you, I’ve never been one to follow the pack. For anyone who hasn’t read them (and they should!), tell the readers about your mysteries.
Nicky: The Nicky and Noah mysteries are set in an Edwardian style university founded originally by a gay couple (Tree and Meadow) whose name the university bears: Treemeadow College. The clues and murders (and laughs) come fast and furious, there are enough plot twists and turns and a surprise ending to keep the pages turning, and at the center is a touching gay romance between Associate Professor of Directing Nicky Abbondanza (that’s me!) and Assistant Professor of Acting Noah Oliver (that’s my man!). The characters are wacky, surprising, and endearing.
Noah: In the first novel, Drama Queen (Divine Magazine’s Readers’ Choice Award for Favorite LGBT Mystery, Humorous, and Contemporary Novel of 2015), college theatre professors are falling like stage curtains (while Nicky directs the college play production), and Nicky and I must figure out whodunit and why. In the second book, Drama Muscle(Rainbow Award Honorable Mention 2016), Nicky is directing the college’s bodybuilding competition, and bodybuilding students and professors are dropping like barbells. In Drama Cruise it is summer on a ten-day cruise from San Francisco to Alaska and back. Nicky and I must figure out why college theatre professors are dropping like life rafts as Nicky directs a murder mystery dinner theatre show onboard ship starring other college theatre professors from across the US and me. Complicating matters are our both sets of parents who want to embark on all the activities on and off the boat with us. (There are terrific audiobooks of the first three novels!) In Drama Luau, Nicky is directing the luau show at the Maui Mist Resort and he and I need to figure out why muscular Hawaiian hula dancers are dropping like grass skirts. Our department head and his husband, Martin and Ruben, are along for the bumpy tropical ride. In each book Nicky and I eavesdrop, seduce, role play, and finally trap the murderer, as pandemonium, hilarity, and true love ensue for a happily ever after ending.
Nicky: Until the next book.
Noah: Has the Nicky and Noah mystery series been well received so far?
Joe: Reviewers called the books hysterically funny farce, Murder She Wrote meets Hart to Hart meets The Hardy Boys, and a captivating whodunit with a surprise ending. One reviewer wrote it was the funniest book she had ever read. The awards have also been amazing.
Nicky: They like us. They really us!
Joe: Who could resist such a handsome and charming couple?
Nicky: No argument here.
Noah: Is it challenging writing a series?
Joe: I feel as if I am visiting with old friends.
Nicky and Noah: You are!
Nicky: There we go again.
Joe: I also enjoy watching the leading characters and their relationships develop. As you two guys fall more deeply in love with each other in each book, I and the readers fall more deeply in love with you. Watching your marriage expand to include a son has been so emotionally gratifying. It’s also great fun developing minor characters from earlier books, like Martin Anderson’s husband Ruben, into major characters in later books. Ruben was especially a blast since we get to see his dry and wonderful sense of humor, devotion to Martin, and mystery solving chops. Finally, I enjoy creating new characters/suspects in each book to relate to the regulars.
Noah: I’ve always wondered, since you are a college theatre professor/department head, Joe, are you Martin Anderson, and is the series based on your life?
Joe: My faculty colleagues kid me that if anybody at my college ticks me off, I kill him/her in the series? Hah. To be honest, I like my colleagues and students too much to murder them in my books. Martin Anderson, your department head, is based on me. As you know, he’s a loyal, hardworking department head and professor who fully supports his faculty colleagues, office assistant, and the students in his department. Like me, he is also a little bit, well quite a bit, of a gossip. His spouse, Ruben, is based on mine. The other characters are a conglomeration of people I’ve met, spiced up by my vivid imagination.
Nicky and Noah: So that’s how we were born.
Nicky: And we did it again.
Joe: Do you guys like working at Treemeadow College in Vermont?
Noah: Treemeadow College 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.
Nicky: And it’s very romantic. Right, Noah?
Noah: (giggles)
Joe: Tell the readers about the storyline in Drama Detective. But no spoilers please!
Noah: Nicky is directing and ultimately starring as Sherlock Holmes opposite me as Dr. Watson in a Sherlock Holmes musical premiering at Treemeadow College, Is Holmes a Homo?, on the road to Broadway. When cast members begin toppling over like hammy actors at a curtain call, Nicky and I use our drama skills to figure out who is lowering the street lamps on the actors before we get half-baked on Baker Street.
Nicky: As usual it’s a laugh riot, and also a good puzzle with an ending you won’t see coming. You’ll love it more than an anti-gay politician loves a dark corner at a gay bar.
Joe: Noah, since the readers can’t see you both, how would you describe Nicky?
Noah: Nicky is incredibly handsome with a Roman nose and dark hair, muscular, with long sideburns that get me every time, and an enormous…manhood.
Joe: Does that help him solve the murders?
Nicky: It doesn’t hurt. Well, maybe it hurts Noah.
Noah: (blushes)
Joe: Nicky, please describe Noah.
Nicky: Noah is gorgeous with porcelain-like skin, long golden hair, and soft blue eyes.
Joe: Do your good looks help you solve the murder mysteries?
Nicky: Sometimes I have to flirt a little for information.
Noah: But just a little.
Nicky: Even more, Noah and I use our theatre skills, including playing other people, to get clues.
Noah: Most of all, Nicky uses his smarts, always a fine asset in an amateur detective. And as in the third and fourth novels, we get some help from Martin and Ruben, joining in with hysterically funny role plays to nab the killer. Those are my favorite scenes.
Joe: I love your parents in the novels. Do they crack you up as much as they do me?
Nicky: 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 me. As they say, men marry their fathers.
Noah: And both sets of our parents accept their son’s spouse as part of their family. Kudos to them.
Joe: Noah, who is your favorite character in Drama Detective?
Noah: Nicky is so adorable. I love his never say die attitude, wit, smarts, and perseverance in the face of adversity. He is genuinely concerned for others, and will do anything to solve a murder mystery. Finally, he is a one-man man.
Nicky: And I’m proud to admit that man is Noah Oliver who is sweet, kind, and my rock.
Joe: Awwww. Who is your favorite new character in book five?
Nicky: Mark Melody, the creator of the Sherlock Holmes musical who talks in musical theatre talk and has a wild crush on Corey Sundance a young stud actor member of the company. How about you?
Joe: You’re all my beloved creations, but Ruben and Martin are special to me, since they are based on my spouse and me. I love Martin’s paternal instincts toward you two guys, his sense of theatricality, and his inquiring mind. I also like how Ruben keeps Martin in line. Finally, it’s wonderful to see an older couple so much in love (uncommon in the entertainment field).
Nicky: I like how Martin and Ruben can read each other like a book (no pun intended).
Joe: Which character do you like the least in book five?
Nicky: I started out not liking handsome Rev. Tommy Hawk for his discrimination against Noah and me under the guise of Hawk’s “religious freedom.” However, when things took a turn in the story, my feelings changed.
Joe: How about you, Noah?