| Upstaged |
| II of LeGarde Mystery |
| Lazar, Aaron Paul |
| (2005) |
|
| Tags: | Cozy Mystery |
| Cozy Mysteryttt |
When Gus LeGarde agrees to play piano for the high school drama clubs production of Spirit Me Away, a sixties-style musical he wrote in college, he doesnt expect to face a series of menacing pranks played on his fiance Camille and the drama club. Whos sabotaging the show? And what do they have against Camille?
Is it sex-crazed Armand, the Latino teen infatuated with her? Something happened last year that Camille wont talk about, and it has to do with Armand. Gus wants to know what happened, but shes not talking.
Could it be Superintendent Marshall, whose past holds horrific secrets related to one of the worst crimes of the 20th century? And why did someone break into Camilles home to steal her intimate undergarments and her beloved mini-dachshund, Boris?
Gus must unravel the mystery before the backstage saboteur stakes his final, deadly claim.
Upstaged
A Gus LeGarde Mystery
Aaron Paul Lazar
Copyrigh t
Upstaged: a Gus LeGarde Mystery by Aaron Paul Lazar
This is a work of fiction. All concepts, characters and events portrayed in this book are fiction and any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.
Copyright 2016 by Aaron Paul Lazar.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except brief extracts for the purpose of review, without the permission of the publisher and copyright owner. Originally published by Publish America in 2005 and subsequently re-published by Twilight Times Books Feb. 5, 2013.
Authors Preferred Edition, May, 2016
Cover Art by Kellie Dennis at Book Cover by Design
www.bookcoverbydesign.co.uk
Published in the United States of America.
Dedication
This novel is dedicated to my sweet wife, who has patiently journeyed by my side throughout our tumultuous life. I love you, honey.
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Devils Lake
Bittersweet Hollow, book 1
Two years ago, Portia Lamont disappeared from a small town in Vermont, devastating her parents and sister, who spent every waking hour searching for her. When she suddenly shows up on their horse farm in a stolen truck with a little mutt on her lap, they want to know what happened. Was she taken? Or did she run away?
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Reviews
Youre about to dive into Upstaged, book 2 in the LeGarde Mystery series. If you enjoy it, I hope youll consider leaving a review. It doesnt have to be long or fancyjust a few lines about what you liked best or how the book made you feel is perfectly fine.
Authors really do read the reviews and love to hear what their readers think and feel about the characters, the story, or the writing. Its validating, especially if you enjoy what we work so hard to produce!
Thanks in advance for taking a few minutes to write a review ;o)
- Aaron Paul Lazar
Cast of Characters
Primary Cast
Gus LeGarde: Professor of music at Conaroga University. Focal point of a large group of friends and family as well as unusual, often harrowing, events.
Camille Cot: Social worker and troubled victim of a brutal ex-husband. Guss fiance.
Siegfried Marggrander: A giant of a man, deprived of his enormous mental ability early in life by an accident. He survived as a genial, fearless and loyal companion to Gus.
Elsbeth (Marggrander) LeGarde: Siegfrieds twin sister who died five years before the events of this story, but survives as an unforgettable memory in Guss mind. Elsbeth was Guss first wife.
Freddie (LeGarde) Delano: Guss daughter. Ex-wife of Harold Delano, now imprisoned, and mother of Johnny, a precocious two-year old.
Maddy Cot: Camilles flamboyant mother and Guss secretary in the Music Department at Conaroga University.
Adelaide Pierce: Housekeeper of the LeGarde household.
Joe Russell: Lieutenant of the local police and a close friend to Gus.
Adam Knapp: Joe Russells partner who is romantically interested in Freddie.
The Stones: Oscar and Millie took the bereaved Gus under their wings as he suffered one loss after another in his family.
Performers in the Play and School Personnel
Lou Marshall: School superintendent, a man with secrets.
Molly Frost (Celeste Freespirit): Lead singer with a lovely soprano voice.
Lisa Bigelow (Rikki Mudd): Young actress always cast in second place to Molly, portrays Broadway wannabe.
Candy Price (Minnie Shaw): Plays Porters younger sister who wants to escape her Catholic high school and go to Woodstock. Candy is very artistic and the school photographer
Randy Sherman (Damian Firebrand): Cocky actor in rock star role.
Maurice Potter (Porter Shaw): Portrays a war veteran suffering from unrequited love.
Takeema Billings (Lana Canberra): A free spirit in both play and reality.
Armand Lugio: Originally cast in a role, he was dismissed from participation and expelled from school for his unbalanced and dangerous behavior.
Nelson Santos (Emilio Juarez): Gay and occasionally the victim of narrow-minded people.
Agnes Bigelow: Unstable stage mother, somewhat mended with medication. The assignment of her daughter, Lisa, to a secondary role, is a severe trial.
Cindi Fox: One of the helpers on the set. A gentle young woman with Down Syndrome.
Jonesy: On the janitorial staff, a moody and quiet man.
Frank Swensen: Head janitor, lanky with honest brown eyes.
The Animals (and owners)
Max (Gus): Half husky/half wire-haired dachshund.
Sheba (Siegfried): Golden retriever rescued from hunters trap.
Boris (Camille): A longhaired mini-Dachshund, Drama Club mascot.
Tristan (Gus): A Himalayan cat with the instincts of a thief.
Diablo (Gus): A Morgan gelding with visions of a steeple-chasing career.
Maggie (Gus): A dainty Morgan mare.
Rascal (Gus): An ill-tempered rooster who rules the barn.
Tinkerbell (the Stones): Shebas mongrel pup who replaced the beloved Jasper.
Ginger (Camille): An orange tiger cat who snoozes as much as she eats.
Dunster (Joe Russell) : A tri-colored collie, now dead, but alive in his owners memory.
Chapter One
W hen the first scream came, it was long and shrill.
The students sitting in front of the stage shot up from their seats and began to babble and twist around, looking for the source.
I wondered where it had come from, too. Pushing back from the piano, I stood and listened for an encore. I waited a few minutes, and then turned to my fiance, Camille, who was in charge of auditions this afternoon. Miss Cot?
Brow furrowed, she turned to the teens who crowded around her. Does anyone know where the scream came from?
The teens shook their heads and chattered even louder.
Molly Frost, whod been auditioning on stage with a lyrical rendition of Gershwins Someone to Watch Over Me, stared down the dark hallway leading to the prop room. I think it came from the back.
