Saturday WE: LeGarde Newsletter

Good morning friends and writers,

Today I'm off to a booksigning at Heron Hill Winery in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York. The above picture was taken at a winery a few years ago on Cayuga Lake.  I look a little too full of myself in that one.  It must have been before they offered me a nice glass of Riesling and my fingers were cramped from autographing books.

Sure they were.

Actually, I usually do a pretty brisk business at these venues, but there the lines don't snake out the door. It's more likely that I was trying to look "authorish" in this photo. Of course, that never works when you just want to smile all the time. Goofy, huh?

If you're in the area and want to sample some great wines and scenery, come on down to the west side of Keuka Lake and stop by. There will be live music and a wine/beer bar outdoors.

Since I'm pressed for time more than usual, I thought I'd post a sample of my LeGarde Newsletter. I try to get these out once every 3-4 months, to keep my readers up to date on my life and literary happenings. If you'd like to sign up for the newsletter, please send me an email at aaron dot lazar at yahoo dot com. (you know how that should look - it's just to avoid the robots from sending me even more spam!)

Regardless of your weekend plans, enjoy them fully and if you can squeeze in a little bit of time for yourself, remember to write like the wind!

                                                                                                                                       -Aaron

LEGARDE NEWSLETTER

I can't believe how times flies between these updates. Since I last wrote, we've been blessed with a new grandchild (Isabella Marie - a sweet little apple dumpling with bright eyes, a rosebud mouth, button nose, and soft silky honey brown hair), Melanie (daughter) has moved back in for summer between undergrad and grad school, we got a puppy and sadly had to give her up because of my wife's illness (daughter Jenn took her), and a gazillion other family issues cropped up. But all have resolved, including the very scary days following Isabella's frightening birth experience, where we nearly lost her. Thank God that all's well that ends well!

My gardens are flourishing, giving us a bounty of squash, cukes, herbs, cabbage, peas, beans, beets, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, gooseberries (okay, so I'm a little berry crazy!), and more. Keeping up with it all is a challenge, but I do what I can and it's great therapy.

Literary News - MAZURKA AND HEALEY'S CAVE.

On the literary front, the covers for MAZURKA and HEALEY'S CAVE are complete. I'll be updating both websites over the next few months with new excerpts, cover art, audio clips of yours truly reading from the books, etc. We have three radio shows scheduled over the next few months, and I'm getting accustomed to thinking on my feet - at least a bit. I'm still more articulate when I can prepare answers by writing them out ahead of time. So much tidier than responding to prompts! If you'd like to listen in, just stop by my LeGarde Mysteries web site "EVENTS" page.

MAZURKA's back cover tentative reviewer quotes have been chosen, and all of the publicity blurbs as far as updated bios and synopses are done. Are all these crazy details are a surprise to some of you? After the book is written, there's a great deal more to the process before an author can hold his book in his hands.

The next steps are to submit the ARCs (Advanced Review Copies) of both books to the big review houses, such as Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, Booklist, etc. That takes three months, as they require the unpublished manuscripts 12 weeks in advance. Then, after we select the best review blurbs, the final cover(s) will be updated and we'll be able to publish soon. My guess is that MAZURKA will be out in the fall (Oct/Nov?) and HEALEY'S CAVE will follow just behind it. 

What's Meanwhile, I'm tearing into FIRESONG: AN UNHOLY GRAVE, which will be the sequel to MAZURKA. I wrote it a while back and need to rip it apart and redo much of it to get it up to snuff. Such fun! But I have wonderful critique partners who are helping me go through this painful process.

I'll be selling and signing copies of the first three LeGarde books at the Heron Hill Winery this Saturday, July 19th, from 12:30 to 4:30. I'm getting low on my UPSTAGED supply, though, so if you want that one shoot me an email to reserve you a signed copy at aaron dot lazar at yahoo dot com. There's a beer and wine bar outdoors with live music, so it sounds like it will be a fun event. Stop by if you're in a winery touring mood and looking for a good summer read.

There are several more events planned for the summer, including another visit to Heron Hill Winery on August 9th and three radio shows. I'll update my website soon as the fall events become comfirmed.

HORS D'OEUVRES

MAZURKA is the fourth LeGarde Mystery, following DOUBLE FORTE, UPSTAGED, and TREMOLO. Here's a syopsis to whet your appetite for all things European couched in a delectable mystery. ;o)

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.

Read a sample

HEALEY'S CAVE: A SAM MOORE MYSTERY, the debut novel of Lazar's paranormal mystery series

                                                                        Book one    

Sam Moore's little brother Billy disappeared fifty years ago.  Riddled with guilt, Sam still hasn't recovered from the loss that locked him in a mental institution as a teenager.  Life as a country doctor has helped soothe his soul, but he mourns for Billy each day and is obsessed with thoughts about his fate. What happened to him? Was he kidnapped? If so, why didn't he come home when he reached adulthood and subsequent freedom? Sam doesn't like thinking about the alternatives, and at the age of sixty-two sill feels a strong link to the eleven-year-old boy who slept in the bottom bunk.  

Retirement allows Sam more time in his sumptuous gardens. One day, while struggling to eliminate the rapacious Japanese Knotweed from the grounds, Sam discovers a glowing marble. It warms to his touch and whisks him back in time to his childhood. Billy and Sam's childhood pals appear beside him - breathing, sweating, laughing - and very much alive. Sam is drawn into the strong young body of his twelve-year-old self to re-experience his past.  

When Sam pops back into the future, he believes it must have been a dream until the next time the marble warms in his hand and flings him back to his youth. Thrust back and forth through time, Sam tries to untangle the mystery of Billy's disappearance. Demonic teenager Manfred Healey tortures the boys, exactly as he did in Sam's youth. Recently released from prison in real time, Healey haunts Sam and becomes a prime suspect.  Did he murder Billy? Or were Sam's childhood friends involved? What about his old buddy, Bruce MacDonald, who'd risen to N.Y. State Senator and was about to be tapped for the Presidential nomination? Or Doug Smythe, the most annoying guy in the world? It couldn't be Harvey Allen, that puppy dog of a man with the shock of white hair who staunchly served his country in the Marines. Could it?  

Sam's beloved wife Rachel frets when Sam "falls asleep" outside while journeying to the past. Stricken with multiple sclerosis, she harbors a fierce desire to maintain her independence. Sam cares for his wheelchair-bound wife between the events that escalate, although he's afraid to admit the truth about the marble. With her dry wit and persistent love, Rachel gently helps Sam stay afloat.  

When Sam uncovers the skull of a young boy in the knotweed patch, the FBI flocks to his property, sifting through the soil to search for evidence. Sam is sure it's Billy's body, but he's astounded when he learns that the bones belong to a young boy who disappeared five years before Billy.

Aging FBI agent Mac Stewart befriends Sam and reveals the history of a serial killer who engaged in ghastly crimes for the past fifty years, and who may return to the scene of his first crime to make his final kill. Boys have been murdered every five years since Billy disappeared. Was Billy one of his victims?  

As the deadline for the next murder rapidly approaches, Sam worries about his grandson Evan, who fits the profile of murdered boys. Billy's old toys mysteriously reappear in the present.  Someone attacks the sixty-two year old Sam, shooting him and bludgeoning him in a nearby cave where the boys used to play near a waterfall. When Evan experiences the same "dream" as Sam, all hell breaks loose.  

Little by little, Sam relives the past, following Billy until the day he disappeared. Horrified, he follows his brother's spirit to its final destination. Now, armed with knowledge that may save his grandson, Sam struggles to prevent Evan's murder and is shocked when confronted by the true killer during a raging thunderstorm for the final showdown.  

Read a sample

Thanks for listening, and for supporting LeGarde and Moore Mysteries!