UPSTAGED: "Mystery about a Musical" Available for Pre-Order!

It's been a long time coming. This eBook, print, and audio book are the "author's preferred editions" with new plot twists and new chapters. We've had so much fun with this one, and I just love the cover Ardy Scott designed for my publisher, Lida Quillen at Twilight Times Books, don't you? If you look closely, you'll see little Boris (Camille's mini-dachshund) peeking out behind the curtain!

Here's a little bit about the story:

When Gus LeGarde agrees to play piano for the high school drama club’s production of “Spirit Me Away,” a sixties-style musical he wrote in college, he doesn’t expect to face a barrage of menacing pranks played on his fiancée, Camille and the cast and crew of the drama club. Who’s 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 won’t talk about, and it has to do with Armand. Gus wants to know what it is, but she’s not talking.

Could it be Superintendent Marshall, whose past holds horrific secrets related to one of the worst crimes of the 20^th century? And why did someone break into Camille’s home, taking her intimate undergarments and stealing her beloved mini-dachshund, Boris?

Gus must unravel the mystery before the backstage saboteur stakes his final, deadly claim.

--
Twilight Times Books: Critically acclaimed Literary, Mystery and SF/F books

http://twilighttimesbooks.com/

My daughter, Melanie Carbonneau, has also written a whole album of original songs to go with the book. They are truly beautiful - upbeat, joyous, and sad, too. Not only did she write the music, but she sings it, too! She's an unemployed singer, so anything you can do to support her would be great! ;o)

You can pre-order the CD and listen to some excerpts here:

Thanks for your time, folks. I'll let you know when the audio book is out - it will include all the songs in the CD. Pretty neat, huh?

Best wishes to all,

Aaron Paul Lazar

www.lazarbooks.com

Blog Hop

Hi, folks!

Recently, Tom Drinkard, author of many riveting thrillers, asked me to participate his Blog Hop.

What's a blog hop? You can find out here at Tom's Blog Hop.




Website: brinson1.wordpress.com

Facebook: Thomas Drinkard

Twitter: @ThomasDrinkard





Here is a synopsis of Tom's latest book: 



A vampire novel with a unique, modern twist. Wil Boyd is a vampire, but he is also a soldier. He is deployed to Afghanistan and his hunger leads to discovery of his secret. The man who Boyd tells about himself, Vic Russell, is a former Special Operations soldier who has lost half of one leg, but aches to become part of combat operations again. In Boyd, Russell sees a weapon to terrorize the terrorists. This is the first in series.

Tom's a great guy and a wonderful writer, please head over and check it out!!


***

Now, for my part of this venture, I’ve been asked to answer the following questions.

1: What is the working title of your book?

Virtuoso: a Gus LeGarde Mystery

2: Where did the idea come from for the book?

When my daughter Melanie was a student at the Eastman School of Music, the setting called to me. It just needed to have a mystery happening in those hallowed halls! Also, we took my grandson Julian to the Rochester Museum of Art many times, and I used to stand in front of one particular Monet painting for long periods of time. I decided it deserved a place in one of my mysteries, too!

3: What genre does your book fall under?

Mystery and Suspense

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Male lead – Yannick Bisson (he plays William Murdoch in Murdoch Mysteries) as Gus LeGarde

Female lead –  Jessica Brown Findlay (she plays Sibyl in Downton Abbey!)  as Camille Coté:

5.0 Synopsis of your book?

Art and music collide in this special edition based on Dale Lazar's ancestor, Emma Cunningham. When a handsome but decadent Greek tenor from the Eastman School of Music stalks Gus’s stepdaughter, Shelby, Gus rallies to protect her innocence. He asks for help from his old friend, Byron who works at the college. Gus and Byron become involved in an investigation dealing with a Monet canvas found in a plane wreck. Is the painting real, or fake? And why are people dying to protect the secrets? Through it all, Gus discovers a shocking tie to the past through the artwork of his great, great aunt, Emma Mabel Clark. 

6: Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I will be submitting it to my publisher, Lida Quillen at Twilight Times Books, soon.

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

About two months.

8: What other work of fiction would you compare this story to within your genre?

All of the Gus LeGarde mysteries.

9: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Shelby is put in serious danger in this episode – she’s now a fully blossomed teenager who falls madly for a young Greek tenor at the Eastman School of Music. It drives Gus and Camille mad!

 Thanks for stopping by and don't hesitate to drop me a line at aaron dot lazar at yahoo dot com. ;o)

FREE AUDIO BOOKS - hurry, limited offer!

Hello, friends.

I have just received 35 coupons from Audible.com to dole out to folks who might like to download any of my seven audio books for free and who are willing to post a review after listening. The review doesn't have to be a masterpiece, just an honest description of how the audio book made you feel, etc. And a rating of five stars, of course. (JUST KIDDING!!)

This is an incredible opportunity - because audio books aren't cheap. ;o)

First come, first serve. Let me know which audio book you want to review, and I'll send you a coupon code.

Here are the books that are available. Pls email me at aaron dot lazar at yahoo dot com if you are interested!

Good luck to all,

Aaron

Double Forté

Gus LeGarde is mourning the loss of his wife Elsbeth, who leapt from the Letchworth Gorge cliffs four years ago. He plays Chopin etudes on his antique piano and lavishes love on his family and dog, but nothing buries the pain or answers the burning questions. Why didn’t she say goodbye? What prompted her to jump? And how will he be able to live life without her? Harold, Gus’s arrogant son-in-law, is caught in several love affairs, and begins to verbally abuse Freddie, Gus’s daughter. With a two-year-old grandson in the mix, Gus worries it’s escalating and warns Harold that he’ll be out of the house the next time he messes up. When Harold’s law partner goes missing, a police search in the Gus’s woods reveals a shocking find. The mystery deepens, the plot twists and turns, and Gus’s innocent friend is set up to take the fall. In the deep cold of winter, threats erupt from the dark woods, spinning events out of hand, and Gus braces for the fight of his life. (released 2012, author’s preferred edition, eBook and print via Twilight Times Books)
ISBN-10: 1606191721 ISBN-13: 978-1606191729 ASIN: B007F2HHGQ
Tremolo: cry of the loon

A coming-of-age story, prequel to Double Forté. Summer, 1964: Beatlemania hits the States, and the world mourns the loss of JFK. For eleven-year-old Gus LeGarde, the powerful events that rocked the nation serve as a backdrop for the most challenging summer of his life. After Gus and his best friends capsize their boat at his grandparents’ lakeside camp, they witness a drunk chasing a girl through the foggy Maine woods. She’s scared. She’s hurt. And she disappears. The camp is thrown into turmoil as the frantic search for Sharon begins. Reports of stolen relics arise, including a church bell cast by Paul Revere. When Gus stumbles on a scepter that may be part of the spoils, he becomes a target for the evil lurking around the lake. Will he find Sharon before the villain does? And how can Gus--armed only with a big heart, a motorboat, and a nosy beagle--survive the menacing attacks on his life? (YA to adult)
Finalist in the category of Mystery Suspense in the 2011 Global eBook Awards. Preditors & Editors Readers Choice Award – 2nd place 2011* Winner of Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s 9th Annual Noble (Not Nobel!) Prize for Literature 2011 * Finalist Allbooks Editor’s Choice Awards 2011 * Preditors&Editors Top 10 Finalist
ISBN-10: 1933353082 ISBN-13: 978-1933353081 ASIN: B0042RULTM

Mazurka

When Siegfried receives a puzzling invitation to visit an ailing relative in Germany on the eve of Gus and Camille’s wedding, their honeymoon plans change. Siegfried – Gus’s socially challenged brother-in-law – can’t travel alone, so they gather the gentle giant under their wings and fly to Paris. After luscious hours in the city of lights, a twist of fate propels them into a deadly web of neo-Nazis. A bloody brawl on the Champs Élysées thrusts Siegfried and Gus into the news, where a flawed report casts Siegfried as the Nazi leader’s murderer, sealing his death warrant. While Siegfried recovers in a Parisian hospital, Nazi terrorists stalk Gus and Camille. Hunted and left for dead in the underground Parisian Catacombs among millions of Frenchmen’s bones, they barely escape. Siegfried is moved to safety at his aunt’s in Denkendorf, where he learns a shocking family secret about Chopin’s steamy past. The calm is soon shattered, when the threesome is plunged into a cat-and-mouse game where the stakes are lethal and the future of Europe hangs in the balance.
ISBN-10: 1606191608 ISBN-13: 978-1606191606 ASIN: B0042RULSS

Firesong

What would you do if your country church was hit by a rogue tornado during services? What if the shrieking winds unearthed the bones of a missing parishioner in a nearby wheat field? Now add the discovery of heroin in your elderly minister’s bloodstream. When Gus LeGarde is thrown into the middle of the mess, he knows life’s finally gone berserk in East Goodland, New York. The Genesee Valley is in chaos. Strangers drive panel vans through the countryside at weird hours of the night. A new batch of drugs is on the street, endangering students. The local salt mine collapses due to illegal mining practices. Gas fires burn in wells. Watering holes turn to brine. Crops are dying. Tempers are short. Forest fires threaten. To top it off, the new mine lies directly over ancient Indian burial grounds, bringing anguish to local tribes and inciting riots at the mine site. Join Gus as he’s lured into a bizarre network of underground tunnels to expose the most shocking discovery ever to rock the Genesee Valley.
ISBN-10: 1606191640 ISBN-13: 978-1606191644 ASIN: B004VF698W

Healey’s Cave




Sam Moore's little brother vanished fifty years ago. No body. No answers. What Sam has is a boatload of guilt, since he failed to accompany Billy on his final, fateful bike ride. While digging in his garden, Sam discovers a green marble with a startling secret—it whisks him back to his childhood, connecting him to Billy. Thrust back and forth through time, Sam struggles to unlock the secret of his brother’s fate. When the FBI investigates remains found nearby, Sam learns of a serial killer with a grisly fifty-year record. Sam’s certain it’s Billy’s killer. But what’s worse, his grandson fits the profile of the murdered boys. Will the killer return to Sam’s town to claim his final kill? Can Sam untangle the truth in time to save him?
Winner of the Commercial Fiction category for the 2011 Eric Hoffer award, winner in the Paranormal category of the 2012 EPIC eBook Awards, and a finalist in the category of Mystery Suspense in the 2011 Global eBook Awards.
ISBN-10: 1606191624 ISBN-13: 978-1606191620ASIN: B003ZYEVI0

Terror Comes Knocking


Sam’s daughter Beth has been unreachable for several days. Something is seriously wrong, and the Moores don’t know where to turn for help. No ransom note arrives, no kidnapper calls. When Beth’s roommate Zafina Azziz—a woman who slinks around like an Egyptian princess—arrives on their doorstep worried about Beth’s whereabouts, Sam realizes it’s time to call the FBI. The Moores unravel with worry as the green marble, a talisman connected to Sam’s dead brother Billy, thrusts Sam between past and present. When Sam’s friend, Senator Bruce MacDonald, is tapped for the Presidential nomination, the town goes berserk preparing to welcome the sitting President to the opening of a new arts center. That’s when Sam uncovers the awful truth - someone is out to destroy the soon-to-visit President, and that someone is alive and well in East Goodland. When he discovers a link between Beth and the terrorists, Sam dives head first into the melée to avert a calamity that could rival the 911 disaster.
ISBN-10: 1606191705 ISBN-13: 978-1606191705ASIN: B0079MNVE


For Keeps




When retired family doctor Sam Moore’s old girlfriend shows up dead in a local hotel, the police suspect his involvement. The coroner, a former med school colleague whose husband is about to desert her, reveals that she had a crush on Sam in med school. When she turns up dead the next day in her own morgue, Sam is once again in the hot seat.
Sam’s world falls apart when finds a family member dead in the laundry room, stabbed with his own garden shears. Rocketed into a world of denial and temporary insanity, he faces his worst fear, and is locked up in the very same psych ward he was in when his brother Billy died fifty years ago. Sam seeks help from the spirit of Billy, who has the ability to propel him through time. Sam’s plan: to change time, and bring his loved one back to life.
ISBN-10: 1606191748  ISBN-13: 978-1606191743 ASIN: B008OXZLR2

Thanks in advance!!

Aaron Lazar
lazarbooks.com