Hi, Readers! Thank you for visiting with me today! I’m Joe Cosentino, the bestselling author of the heralded Jana Lane romance mysteries, and Divine Magazine’s Favorite Mystery Author of 2015. Do you like mystery, romance, stories about movies and show business? Then stick with me. First I’ll tell you a bit about me, and then a lot about my amazing heroine Jana Lane.
When I was a teenager, I told my mother (who was cutting vegetables for dinner at the time) that I wanted to be an actor. She said, “Take this knife and stick it through my heart!” But I did it anyway, and nobody was more proud than Mom! So after college I acted in film, television, and theatre, working opposite stars like Bruce Willis (A Midsummer Night’s Dream onstage), Nathan Lane (Roar of the Greasepaint onstage), Rosie O’Donnell (AT&T Industrials), Holland Taylor (ABC-TV movie My Mother Was Never a Kid), Charles Keating (NBC-TV’s Another World), and Jason Robards (Commercial Credit computer commercial). It occurred to me that acting is storytelling in the same way that writing is storytelling, so I decided to give writing a try. After writing some plays, I knew my novels would include show business in some way, since show business has always been such a huge part of my life. As an avid mystery reader, it was clear to me that my novels would also be page-turning mysteries with clever plot twists, engaging characters, romance, and lots of clues leading to a surprising conclusion. Since coming from a funny Italian-American family, I also knew humor would play a role in my novels.
As a child I loved child stars like Shirley Temple, Hayley Mills, and Patty Duke, seeing their movies over and over again. So I created a heroine, Jana Lane, who was the biggest child star ever until she was attacked on the studio lot at eighteen years old. In PAPER DOLL, the first Jana Lane mystery, Jana at thirty-eight lives with her family in a mansion in picturesque Hudson Valley, New York. Her flashbacks from the past become murder attempts in her future. Jana ventures back to Hollywood, which helps her uncover a web of secrets about everyone she loves. She also embarks on a romance with the devilishly handsome son of her old producer, Rocco Cavoto.
The local suspects include Jana’s down-on-his-luck husband with a dislike for living off the fruits of his wife’s young labor, Jana’s sister and male friend (who both have eyes for Jana’s husband), Jana’s show business father, her deranged loyal fan, and Jana’s young Guy Friday who covets her fame and shares an uncanny resemblance to Jana.
The reviewers and readers loved it! For example:
“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
All of the characters were great fun to write, but Jana’s agent, Simon, was my favorite character for five reasons. He is amazingly resilient, old world Hollywood, incredibly funny, loyal to Jana, and most importantly, I want to play him in the movie version!
The ending still shocks me and I wrote it! Here’s how you can purchase PAPER DOLL:
Order from Barnes & Noble here
I’ll be back soon to tell you about the second Jana Lane mystery. In the meantime, which child star is your favorite? Post a comment below. At the end of the day ONE reader who posts the comment on the blog that tickles my inner child star the most will win an e-book of PAPER DOLL!
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