Stage Fright

Stage Fright

Tara Sharp is at it again, and this time she's not missing a beat...

When Marianne Delacourt first sat down to write Tara Sharp, she knew she was tapping into something special. As Marianne says, 'Tara Sharp seems like a second skin". A great believer in writing what she knows makes Marianne's Tara Sharp the quick, down-to-earth and endearing character that keeps her fans coming back for more. Stage Fright is the third, exciting instalment in Marianne Delacourt's latest series.

Tara Sharp's finding things a bit hot in Perth right now. She's unemployed, twenty-something and has a psychic gift she'd sometimes rather forget. So, when music promoter Wal offers her a gig minding a rock star in Brisbane, it's no surprise she jumps at the chance to leave town.

Sure, it's not Tara's usual line of work but the money is good and she's a sucker for a backstage pass. Escaping from her overbearing mother is also a plus. Not to mention some much needed time to sort out her mixed up feelings for the two men in her life. A break is exactly what she needs!

But arriving in BrisVegas, Tara finds her hands full with the young rocker's bizarre habits and his even crazier fans. She soon discovers the music industry is far more cut-throat than she'd ever imagined, and the promoter who hired her is well over his head. Tara's about to discover how dangerous it can get when you're messing with the big boys.

Like Tara Sharp, Marianne too made the big move from Perth to Queensland to pursue a new career and new opportunities. From all the places she'd been and the people she's met (including one very 'in the know" musician) Marianne's Stage Fright parallels her life in a way that makes her characters spring from the pages, and soon to land on the small screen...

Emmy® Award-winning multiplatform production company Hoodlum Entertainment has announced the option of turning Marianne Delacourt's Tara Sharp series into a TV Show. Step aside The Mentalist and Lie to Me, there's a new crime-solving psychic in town, and this time she's home-grown.

Marianne Delacourt is the pseudonym of a successful Australian fantasy writer who is sold throughout the world. A Davitt award-winning author, Marianne grew up in Perth and now lives in Brisbane with her husband and three sons. Marianne's Stage Fright is the third in the successful Tara Sharp series.

Stage Fright
Allen and Unwin
Author: Marianne Delacourt
Price: $19.99

Interview with Marianne Delacourt

Question: What originally inspired the Tara Sharp series?

Marianne Delacourt: I had been writing science fiction novels, I'd written about six or seven and I really felt as if I needed to get back into the contemporary world instead of writing science fictional landscapes. I was itching for something -real world' and I really wanted to showcase Australia and those two ideas came together and the character just came to me as I thought about those two ideas.

Question: How does your everyday life and those around you inspire the series?

Marianne Delacourt: I have always been interested in paralanguage and body language and when I was thinking about ideas for the story I started researching that area and I've always been a person who was reasonably good at reading body language and my research took me a little bit further with it and Tara Sharp turned into a Private Investigator who could read body language.


Question: How does it feel to know the Tara Sharp series is going to be made into a TV series?

Marianne Delacourt: Fingers crossed! It has been optioned by Hoodlum Entertainment who are a Brisbane based interactive media company who have done some great work with Lost and Spooks. Hoodlum Entertainment is looking into moving into their own creative content and I'm very hopeful and excited that something will get off the ground.


Question: Are there any Australian actresses you have in mind to play Tara Sharp?

Marianne Delacourt: I am a fan of the new unknown actor and I'd like to be surprised with somebody who turns out to be the perfect person as we have some great acting talent in Australia.


Question: Like Tara Sharp, why did you make the move from Perth to Queensland?

Marianne Delacourt: Tara Sharp is in her late twenties and I hadn't been living in Queensland in my late twenties so I felt that I needed to centre it in Perth because that's where I'd come from and I knew the geography and feel of the city as a twenty year old. I really wanted to showcase other places in Australia as well and I've lived in Brisbane for ten years now so I set the third book in Brisbane. I felt quite comfortable having Tara visit Brisbane because after ten years I felt I could do the city justice.

Crime writer, Ian Rankin talks a lot about the city of Edinburgh in his crime novels to the point that the city itself actually becomes a character and that's what I've tried to do with the Tara Sharp novels; I hoped to create a character out of Brisbane and in the end hopefully I'll be able to write about Sydney and Melbourne as well.

Question: What research did you do surrounding rock stars?

Marianne Delacourt: I spent a long afternoon with a guy who has been in the Brisbane music industry for many years both in a punk band and now as a solo artist. He worked behind the scenes driving transport to move equipment round for gigs and he knew the industry really well and he also had, had his own interactive media production as the character Sheldon D'arc, which is fascinating as they pretend to be a band who is being made by the manager. I learnt about all angles of the music industry and I got a lot of my source material from him as well as drawing on my own experience as when I was younger the live music band was really strong in Australia and now it's dwindling away.


Question: What's next for Tara Sharp?

Marianne Delacourt: Tara Sharp is back in Perth and things come to a head with her nemesis for the series, crime boss John Viaspa; John has been after Tara for a while and she finds a way to try and put him behind bars which becomes quiet a dramatic story; Tara also has big problems with her love life.


Interview by Brooke Hunter