Tara sees auras and is sure she is going nuts, so she goes to a family friend who is also a psychiatrist for help. The help she is given is the name and address of Mr. Hara who can help her understand the auras. With his help she no longer thinks she is crazy but she also starts a fledgling business of detection.
Clients are beginning to contact her, but for now she is off to Brisbane to help Wal’s mate who is getting blocked out of venues for acts he is promoting in Brisbane.

This is book 3 in the series and I found it as interesting, delightful and fun as the 1st. ( )

Buckle in for Stage Fright, the third book in the Tara Sharp series; it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Things haven’t been going well for aura-reading investigator Tara lately. Sure, the gorgeous Eduardo is smitten with her but, when she can’t get the married Nick Tozzi off her mind, Ed loses some of his appeal. Crime lord Johnny Viaspa probably still wants her dead, living in a garage with Cass is becoming untenable and her security chief, Wal, has been acting strangely. So when a job comes up in Brisbane, Tara jumps at the chance, even if it means leaving one of her best friends behind with a marriage crisis on her hands.

Investigating is not the only thing Tara has to do when she reaches BrisVegas. With a frenetic rapper to babysit, Tara must find out who’s trying to jeopardize his career before he and his publicist, Stuart Cooper, collapse under the pressure.

Danger lurks in the Queensland sun, and the clues are adding up, but the sabotage is looking to be more than a personal vendetta. With Johnny Viaspa showing up in Brisbane, Tara knows that the stakes are going to be high.

The timing for Stage Fright couldn’t be better. With its sultry Queensland setting, it is the perfect pool-side read for summer. It’s the first Tara Sharp novel that I’ve read and, although it is light-years away from my usual genre, I have to say that it’s thoroughly entertaining. There’s no need to read previous Sharp novels as Stage Fright stands on its own. There are characters who evidently have been in previous books and parts of the plot arc across the series, but all of the necessary information is provided so new readers will never be lost. Delacourt is incredibly skilful at weaving information from previous Sharp novels in with the new one. There is never so much information that the new story gets boring, or so little that new readers will be confused.

As with all of my favourite books, characters drive Stage Fright. Delacourt’s cast are vividly eccentric and astoundingly diverse at the same time. Everyone’s favourite good, and bad, guys are back. Nick Tozzi is as smoulderingly unattainable as (I imagine) usual. Though his presence in Stage Fright is minimal, his scenes are intense, lighting up the page. Tara’s new love interest, Eduardo, is sweet and gorgeous; offering a lovely contrast to the dynamic, sticky-caramel-aura brandishing Nick. Additionally, an abundance of new characters brighten up the story and thicken the plot. All of them cheerfully defy the stereotypical cookie-cutter roles; and choosing the most vibrant of them would be a task and a half. Personally, in the fight for my affections, the great, big biker who’s afraid of flying and is stuck with a name like Bon Jovi Ames ties with Inigo, the hippie who can sniff out danger and may just end up using her gift to save the day. Yes, Ed is sexy as sin twice over, but how can he compete against personalities this big?

While, as a whole, Stage Fright is fresh and exciting, the minor plot-line of Tara’s friend Smitty’s marital woes didn’t work for me. Part of the reason for this is that, as a new-comer to the Tara Sharp novels, I wasn’t as invested in the characters involved as I should have been. Another side of the reason is that, although I couldn’t foresee the specifics, I had an idea of how the plot-arc would play out. Despite this, it was an important side-plot as it had risks to Tara that were personal rather than physical, so it ends up really drawing readers into the emotional side of her personality.

While Stage Fright is funny and easy to read, it doesn’t neglect to offer substance to its readers along with the entertainment. Tara is not the sort of girl who abandons her friends or clients. Her moral standing is rock-solid; so, while you can laugh at the crazy situations she gets into, you can also care about her. Delacourt masters understatement in her inclusion of minorities too, so they’re seen as people rather than tokenistic additions. Bok isn’t quite sure who he’s interested in, and that’s okay. It doesn’t need to be defined because sexuality isn’t the entirety of a person’s worth.

With summer well on its way, this is the perfect read to kick back with on the beach. The pacing and characters will keep you hooked on the mystery until the very last page. Unfortunately, once that page has turned, you’ll be dying for the next instalment. ( )

The HK Monaro wormed it's way into my heart in 1968. Bathurst, Bruce McPhee, Hardie-Ferodo, pole position and the race lap record at that time. A life-long love of those cars was started on the lino of the kitchen in South-West Victoria, shouting at a dodgy TV telecast, enthralled. Sure, my teenage years saw a shift in preference to the HG model, and I would always opt for the dark purple HG with the sidewinder stripes and, of course, the GTS 350, with the stiffened suspension and the power front disc brakes. Alas I suspect that passion is about the only thing that Tara Sharp and I would ever share. As far as STAGE FRIGHT was concerned, the Monaro had me at the very first book. The aura reading, the sense of humour and the madcap "antics" not so much.

STAGE FRIGHT fits right into that sub-genre of crime fiction that includes the Stephanie Plum books, and my particular favourite, the Grace Smith series. Whilst the best of that sub-genre can be hilarious and hugely entertaining, the worst is a tad too forced, often times a little overtly twee and predictable for my liking. They are undoubtedly books for readers who prefer their crime delivered with a hefty dose of dressing up. Chick lit with bodies and a bit of high camp fem-jep.

The Tara Sharp series is going to have it's fans, and if you happen to like the Plum books in particular, something that's got a similar feeling and tone set locally is a very good thing. You will have to have a tolerance for a lot of aura reading, and not mind the occasional bit of romantic tension and heavy-handed humour, but if that's you, then you really should give the local product a go.

STAGE FRIGHT is the third book in the Tara Sharp series. SHARP SHOOTER is the first, SHARP TURN the second.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/stage-fright-marianne-delacourt ( )

With it’s blend of humour, action, mystery and romance Marianne Delacourt's lighthearted crime series is always a fun read. Stage Fright is the third novel in the series featuring quasi professional sleuth and aura reader, Tara Sharp and begins a short time after the events of Sharp Turn.

When Wal asks Tara to help out a mate in Queensland, she is happy to escape Perth for a while, looking forward to a break from her complicated lack of love life, her mother and Johnny Viaspa's murderous attention. The job seems straight forward enough, find out who is sabotaging Stuart Cooper's music promotion business and put a stop to it to ensure the successful tour of US rapper, Slim Sledge. But Tara ends up fitting in her investigative work around body guarding her client's neurotic celebrity with the help of a bikie she met on the plane, ducking Viaspa who turns up in Brissie, and hooking up with Ed, who is in town for a music video shoot.

Tara is proving to be a savvy investigator, able to talk herself into, and out of, almost any situation. She works hard for her client though still manages to find herself in the midst of absurd situations including wielding a Peking duck as a weapon and cooling the ardour of a young man during his first lap dance. Tara's blend of smarts and wit ensures she is an appealing character and I appreciate that Delacourt is really allowing Tara to mature and gain skills without losing her amusing quirks.

As always Tara is supported by a cast of great characters. Smitty is certain Henny is cheating on her, Aunt Liv is hysterical when Wal goes missing and Nick Tozzi is in a strange mood. In Brisbane, Tara contends with the bizarre behaviour of Slim, the odd appearance of Harvey, hippy dippy Inigo and bikie Sergeant-of-Arms Bon Jovi (Big Nuts) Ames.

Stage Fright is an entertaining, fast paced crime caper and this sharp (pun intended) series is a favourite of mine. Fans will definitely be intrigued by the romantic cliffhanger and I am already looking forward to the release of Sharp Edge in 2013. ( )