I read this book on a plane, having first promised myself I wouldn’t finish it one go so I’d have some left for the rest of my trip. I broke that promise. Tara Sharp gets herself into – and out of – trouble with a breathtaking speed that kept me turning pages right up until I hit the back cover. Highly recommended.

Read the rest of Nansi’s Review here.

And while we’re talking about reviews, here is another great one from Aussie Book reviews!

Stage Fright is the third title featuring Tara Sharp, a Private Investigator with the ability to read auras, and, like its predecessors, is action-packed and exciting, as well as humorous. Sharp has an eclectic blend of friends and enemies, including other psychics, bikies, and a luscious toy-boy model. The situations she finds herself in sometimes defy belief, but that is part of her appeal. Great for summer reading!

“Delacourt’s novel is fast-paced, witty and fun. It’s jam packed with popular references, creating a really enjoyable sense of time and place. If you know Perth or Queensland at all you’ll feel particularly at home.

Tara is a great character, pragmatic and strong in her work and her self, but she’s also hopelessly conflicted when it comes to love and friendships. This of course creates some really entertaining twists and turns and creates a really likeable character. 

If you like female-lead crime and mysteries, Stage Fright will be just the book for you. Great summer reading, it’s a quick, punchy read.” Read the rest of the review here.

Also, I’d like to formally welcome Holly Mortlock to the review team. Here’s her bio – say hi:

Holly is a 22-year-old nymph who was born in Perth. She now lives in Brisbane, but was raised as a nomad all over Australia in tents and national parks. Holly has just received a BA in Design, but her real passion is for reading and writing. Her favourite word as a 5 year old was venomous, used as an adjective. She has been selling books at her local book-stores for the last 5 years. In her spare time, holly walks in bare feet through her local parks and Bunnings stores, catches trains without a destination, talks to strangers, draws things, writes poetry, and reads anything from fantasy, crime, and fiction, to philosophy, military history and Stephen Fry anything. 

Marianne Delacourt has been billed as the Australian Janet Evanovich, and there are certainly some similarities between Tara and Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum – the complicated love life, the non-traditional job and dangerous positions she finds herself in without even trying. But I think it is unfair to compare Marianne Delacourt and Evanovich – they are different authors working in different countries and with their own ideas. Stage Fright is a hilarious book, with an elaborate plot with twists and turns you never see coming.

It’s perfect for relaxing by a pool during your summer holidays. Tara Sharp is a great heroine; she is fearless and smart.” Toowoomba Chronicle

“A fun, easy read filled with intrigue … that kept me engaged and entertained start to finish. I am looking forward to catching up on the rest of the Tara Sharp books when I get a chance.”  Read the full review here.

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.

 Stage Fright – Marianne Delacourt

 Allen and Unwin (September, 2012)

 ISBN: 9781742377902

Stage Fright is a fantastic novel, and continues the ongoing story of Tara’s gangland nemesis as well as introducing a whole new cast of characters. And of course, the almost-romance she has going on with sexy Nick Tozzi.

I have to say my favourite new character was Slim, the neurotic rap star. One thing I’ve always loved about Marianne’s work, under both pseudonyms, is her willingness to subvert a stereotype, and having an OCD rapper who screams and cries if his fans touch him is such a great way to do it – because who would think a posturing rapper would ever do such a thing, based on the image rappers try to project?

I like that Tara is still sceptical about psychic stuff, even though she has her own psychic powers. Her interactions with a more eccentric psychic are hilarious to read.

Nothing springs to mind in terms of criticism – all is good and nothing seemed jarring!

The Tara Sharp series is still going strong, and I can’t wait for the fourth instalment. Especially with the personal-life cliffhanger at the end!” Amy Parker, Goodreads.