The Player

** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine

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The Player
A Player Piano Mystery, Book 1
by Joe Cosentino
★★★★★
273 Pages
POV: 1st person, one character POV
Content Warning: sibling abuse, homophobia, death of family members


The Player is the first the Player Piano Mystery series. Combining two stories – The City House and The Country House; with the same main characters – the stories are clever, intriguing, and full of quirky humour and a murder mystery.

Reminiscent of the Amy Myers “Auguste Didier” series, there is a comfortable balance of comedy and mystery, while Andre starts to navigate through a murder investigation in his own apartment complex. Finding a player piano in the basement is exciting, but when he begins playing and a ghost from the 1930s appears and begins flirting with him, Andre is dropped into the unknown. When a body drops outside his apartment door, Andre is thrust into a murder investigation, as the prime suspect. To prove his innocence, he begins to investigate, battling on all fronts: a flirty ghost no one else can see or hear, a murder investigation, and the usual antics of living in a busy apartment complex.

There are a dozen characters in the book, but the central and recurring characters are: Andre and his ghost Freddy; Andre's aunt, his best friend Victor and his boyfriend. Each of those characters appear in both stories within the book, which take place 1 year apart.

The City House – the first story – takes us straight into the characters, the mystery, and the return of Freddy into the land of the living, or undead. From page one, we take a deep-dive into Andre's life, which lets us get to know our central character, and allows us to feel for him, to worry about his fate, and hope for his future. As soon as the ghost, Freddy, was introduced I was even more drawn to the story, because both he and Andre were perfect main characters to keep the story alive, exciting, and add a touch of romance to the plot.

The pacing and writing, as usual, were brilliant. I have been a fan of Cosentino's for years, and this one is perfectly in line with everything I've come to know, expect and love of their writing. The wit, the humour, and the mystery were all right up my alley. The humour was fun and a touch slapstick and quirky, but not over-the-top. The mystery was intriguing, but like any good mystery, we were given plenty of breadcrumbs to follow throughout the story.

I loved the way Freddy – especially in The City House – is used to explore both the 1930s era and the modern era. Andre shares the good and bad advances of the modern world, and even how things haven't progressed as far as he'd like, while Freddy shares a riot of history and fame and fortune that is far removed from Andre's less glamorous life.

Overall, the entire novel was fun, lovely and super cute. It had an intriguing mystery and, though I did spot some of the clues early on, it was a fun journey to follow Andre and Freddy to the final conclusions. The first story lasted for 58%, which gave us plenty of time to feel connected to Andre and Freddy and explore their relationship, before progressing into the second story. I loved the pacing, the plotting and the natural way Andre came across information to help him solve the case.

I can't wait for the next installment in this series.

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Favourite Quotes

“We need to get it up to my apartment.”
He laughed ironically. “You and me and which professional piano movers?”
“Victor, we’ve both been working out at the gym.”
“To attract men, not to move pianos.””

“What if he arrests me?” Victor rose and sat on the arm of my chair. “If I go to prison, a tall, muscular inmate might want to have his way with me.” He thought about it. “Okay, maybe we shouldn’t rush into a defense.””

This is another fun cozy mystery series by Joe Cosentino. Actually, we get two treats in one book. The first story City House sets up the story, introduces Andre and Freddy plus Andre’s aunt not to mention the other tenants and suspects. The actual mystery is fun with one dead body and Andre and Freddy trying to solve the case. With Freddy not being able to leave his room though the story gets a tiny bit repetitive since Andre does the snooping then goes back and relates it to Freddy.
I was very surprised at the murderer in this one and had no clue.
Country House Andre goes on a trip to see Freddy’s house in the country and gets the music room to his delight has a player piano and he is able to bring Freddy into his room. Once again there is a murder and Freddy and Andre go about solving it.

The characters are all interesting and fun, the story is fast paced and fun and the mystery just enough to keep you guessing. My only issue with this series is that Freddy rambles on and on about all the past musicians and famous people and it gets a bit over the top. A little is cute but in my opinion there was just a touch more than necessary to add the humor to the story.
If you like ghosts, cozy mystery, and a sweet romance this is for you!