LeGarde Mysteries

   Meet the LeGarde Characters

 

 

 

Principal Family Members:

 

Gus LeGarde

Gus refers to himself as a “hopeless romantic, a wistful Renaissance man caught in the twenty-first century.”  No stranger to passion or heartache, Gus lavishes love on his family and dog as he mourns the loss of his lifetime soul mate, Elsbeth.  By profession, Gus teaches music at Conaroga University, imparting the love of the classics to his young students.  He is passionate about French Impressionist painters, nature photography, gardening, and spends hours cooking lavish gourmet meals for his family and friends.  His rambling, 1811 Greek Revival farm house lies amidst the rolling hills and bucolic splendor of the Genesee Valley.  He drives an old Volvo sedan, plays Chopin etudes to clear his mind and feed his soul, and has an impeccable inner moral compass. 

 

Elsbeth (Marggrander) LeGarde

Elsbeth leapt to her death from the cliffs of the Letchworth Gorge four years before the action begins in Double Forté.  Nevertheless, she plays an important part in each of the novels and made an indelible imprint on the soul of her husband.  Elsbeth was petite with long, curly dark hair and brown eyes.  Fire flashed from her brooding eyes as she railed against the world’s injustices, particularly those that destroyed her Jewish mother’s family in the concentration camps of Buchenwald.  The anguish she endured poured forth from her fingers as she abandoned herself to the piano, principally Frederick Chopin’s works.  She sacrificed the opportunity to become a world-class performing artist when she married Gus and bore her first and only child, Frederica.

                

Siegfried Marggrander

Siegfried is a true, gentle-giant, whose child-like soul encourages solid friendships with men and mothering instincts in women.  He is fiercely devoted to the LeGarde family.  Gus calls Sig his “behemoth brother-in-law.”  He stands at 6’8,” has a long, blond ponytail, and relates exceptionally well with animals and children.  Siegfried, Elsbeth’s fraternal twin brother, suffered severe brain damage at the age of twelve, due to a boating accident.  The brilliant young Siegfried awakened after the coma with severely limited faculties.  After much therapy and retraining, he graduated from high school at the age of twenty-one.  He lives in the updated carriage house on the LeGarde property and works at Freddie’s veterinary clinic. 

 

Frederica (LeGarde) Delano

Freddie, daughter of Gus and Elsbeth, is sensible and hardworking, a terrible cook, and a good mother to her two-year-old son, Johnny.  She married Harold Delano after they met in college while earning her veterinary degree.  She stands at 5’6” with wispy golden hair and blue eyes.  The family musical gene pool completely bypassed Freddie, but she was blessed with a clever intellect and exceptional business skills.  Freddie’s primary failing is her inability to deal with her philandering husband whom she has forgiven too often for his amorous indiscretions. 

 

Harold Delano

Harold is a complete moral degenerate.  He is a self-serving, pompous lawyer who indulges in extra-marital affairs and is particularly obnoxious to the innocent, particularly Siegfried and his son, Johnny.  Gus longs to throw the bum out in the street, but holds back only because of Freddie’s appeals.  He borrowed fortunes from Gus and Elsbeth during the course of his education and has not repaid the loans.  Known to frequent gambling establishments, he is frequently missing from the family circle.  His dark past and shocking history are revealed in Double Forté, the first novel in the series.

 

Johnny Delano

Johnny is a delightful, impish two-year-old with chubby cheeks.  His honey-brown hair hangs in an inverted-soup-bowl haircut hair over his big brown eyes.  Johnny spends his days with nanny, Mrs. Pierce, while his parents, grandfather, and uncle work.   He loves animals and frequently drags his cat around the house with pride.  Favorite activities include watching Disney videos, reading books with his grandfather, catching fireflies, and playing the “bumblebee” game with his Uncle Siegfried.  When he’s not building robots from Gus’s old set of tinkertoys, he dances around the great room while his grandfather plays Chopin Mazurkas on the piano.

 

Adelaide Pierce

Mrs. Pierce is a stout and grandmotherly transplanted Floridian who lives with the LeGarde family and keeps house during the weekdays.  She cared for Elsbeth during her battle with cancer, and was asked to stay on to help with the household after Elsbeth’s death.  Adelaide visits her sister, Eloise, in Syracuse on the weekends, when Gus takes over the cooking.  She wears her steel gray hair in a soft bun at the nape of her neck, bustles about the kitchen in her colorful apron, and provides motherly advice to all while singing vintage songs from her youth at the top of her voice.

 

Max

Max is a heroic half-Husky/half-Wire-Haired Dachshund mutt.  With wiry gray fur and blue eyes, he is a fierce protector of the homestead.  Max sleeps on Gus’s bed and has been known to bury his rawhide chewies underneath the covers.  He provides untold comfort and companionship to his lonely owner.

 

Tristan

Tristan is a tubby seal point Himalayan cat with turquoise eyes.  His four-inch white ruff stands out like a clown’s collar against his seal brown face.  Tristan can be found following Gus around the garden, sitting on the windowsill in the kitchen, or tolerating the awkward hugs of a two-year-old. 

 

      

Family Friends and Acquaintances:

 

Madelaine Coté

Maddy has been Gus’s secretary in the music department for twenty-five years.  She brings uproarious laughter to the normally quiet department, and is known for her coquettish mannerisms and matchmaking.   Her boisterous behavior and flamboyant style confirm her convictions that “Life is for Living!”  She unabashedly drinks a bottle of Narragansett beer every night and lives for the next re-run of the Lawrence Welk Show.  Widowed for ten years, Maddy still cuts a striking figure at the age of 62 with her short, well-coifed blond hair and ample figure. 

 

Camille Coté

Camille is a spirited, vivacious woman whose heart aches for the lost children of Upstate New York.  In her capacity of social worker and therapist, Madelaine’s 38-year-old daughter defends unwanted children and lavishes them with all of her love.  She adores animals, the Theater, international cooking, and child psychology, and within these activities she very successfully hides from the traumas of her past.  Divorced for five years from her abusive husband Greg, Camille faces the world with a bright smile, yet still harbors deep wounds.  She keeps a major secret that is revealed in Upstaged.  Maddy introduces Camille to Gus in Double Forté.  Camille has long, mahogany-colored curls and luminous chestnut eyes.  She speaks with a mellifluous voice and stands a petite 5’2”.

 

Lieutenant Joe Russell

Second generation police officer.  Joe is widowed and good-natured.  He lives in a run down trailer in East Goodland.  Maddy has her cap set for him.

 

Officer Adam Knapp

Lieutenant Russell’s younger partner.  Amateur pianist who used to run cross country with Freddie in high school.

 

Oscar Stone

Oscar Stone is genteel, intellectual, and a passionately devoted husband to Millie.  Their sixty-five year old marriage stood the test of time, in spite of the loss of their only son in the war.  Oscar’s dry wit, acute observational powers, and connections with the community are unparalleled.  He is intimately connected with the town secrets, scandals, and history.  Oscar is a well-known, worldwide nature photographer and canal enthusiast who collects Victorian antiques with Millie.  He stoops, has bright-blue eyes, and his long, silky white hair is often in disarray. 

 

 

Millie Stone

Millie is crippled with arthritis and is wheelchair-bound, but she maintains a sweet, gentle manner.  In spite of her daily pain, Millie manages to carve small wooden objects and sews costumes for her very large collection of French fashion dolls.  She treats her dogs like children, and although she loses her lifetime friend, Jasper, in Double Forté, a new relationship is formed with a mongrel puppy that she names Tinkerbell.  Gus likens his frequent visits to the Stone’s home to "a tour through a congested, mysterious museum.”  The Stones have acted as surrogate parents to Gus, particularly after the death of Gus’s father.  Millie has hazel eyes and nightly pin curls her short, black hair.

 

Boris

Boris is Camille’s long-haired Mini-Dachshund who lives with her in a small white cape cod in the town of East Goodland.  Boris loves to hide his soggy rawhide toys all over the house and has been known to offer these delectable treasures to new friends for a lively game of fetch.  Boris plays a key role in the second book of the series, Upstaged.

 

Ginger

Ginger is Camille’s overfed, female orange tabby who loves to snooze on piles of magazines on the old green leather club chair.  She is content with her life, unafraid to beg for seafood, and accepts visitors and the world with equal aplomb.