Gus LeGarde is a professor of music who loves and plans to marry Camille Coté. It will be a second marriage for both. Camille is presently directing a high school musical, and Gus helps out by playing the rehearsal piano. Gus, in fact, wrote the show and the music years ago.
Things go badly with the play from the start. A snake is discovered in the costume room to the consternation of Agnes Bigelow, a stage mother of one of the girls in the play. Gus's brother-in-law, Siegfried, dispatches the snake, but that episode is only the beginning. Agnes is irate because her daughter wasn't given the lead, and she possibly could be trying to make waves. The girl who has the starring role is injured when the rail she leans on during her song breaks and she tumbles several feet, breaking her arm. Someone had loosened screws causing this accident. Camille is pushed off the stage during rehearsal when the lights go off during a lightning strike and the auditorium is plunged into darkness. There are several disgruntled want-to-be actors who could be the culprit as well as others. Gus and Camille are almost run down by a motorcyclist while they are out, and Camille's dog is missing after she finds there is a break-in at her house.
Through all the turmoil, Gus and Camille try to find some tranquility, and are not ready to believe that most of the problems are merely pranks, albeit some pretty dangerous ones. Gus' house is full with a pregnant daughter and her small son, his brother-in-law and a housekeeper, and Camille has a comatose daughter in a nursing home. They try to keep their lives on an even keel even though someone is trying their best to cause havoc and ruin the high school show. When Gus' daughter needs to be rushed to the hospital, they find someone has sliced an engine hose and the car overheats. This culprit is out to do-in Gus, Camille and their loved ones. Will the show go on? And more importantly will Gus and Camille survive, and the criminal be caught?
UPSTAGED is an interesting cozy mystery with many twists to keep the reader turning pages. It is also a fine piece of literature telling of the daily lives of Professor LeGarde and his fiancée, Camille. Author Aaron Paul Lazar weaves a fine texture of everyday life with background clearly defined as that of ordinary peace-loving citizens who are somehow thrown into a mess not of their making. Days most be gotten through, work done, family taken care of, even though many deviant acts transpire. Mr. Lazar adds many details that embellish the coziness of the setting. The subplots make UPSTAGED a most captivating work. I think if you enjoy the work of Jan Karon, you'll also enjoy Mr. Lazar's small town, slice-of-life mystery. I believe this book will be enjoyed not only by adults, but older teens.
Jaye Dee Tyrack, Reviewer, Gotta Write Network
April 15, 2006
copyright Jaye Dee Tyrack & GWN
