Go Go Gato (Eli Sharpe Mystery) - Softcover

"Go Go Gato is the debut entry in a promising new series by Max Everhart, and it's a fast-paced, entertaining tale. Eli Sharpe is a very appealing character who combines just the right amounts of wit, humor, intelligence and courage, and it will be fun to watch him in action as the series continues to grow and develop."
--James L. Thane, author of Until Death and No Place to Die

"From its hero to its milieu to its eccentric, three-dimensional characters, Max Everhart's Go Go Gato is a terrific read. The North Carolina minor-league baseball scene feels authentic and beloved, and I was always rooting for protagonist Eli Sharpe. The best news is that this excellent mystery is first in a series. Fans of Harlan Coben will want to check out Max Everhart, a major new talent!
--Steve Ulfelder, Edgar finalist author of Wolverine Bros. Freight & Storage
"Everhart has crafted a first-rate private eye yarn in Go Go Gato. From the blonde who walks into his office to the cat in the rusted out car, he understands the genre, folding all the elements hard-boiled fans love into a modern tale about a young Cuban baseball player, greed and betrayal....Baseball fans of the young star at the center of the mystery have nicknamed him 'Go Go' Gato. Fans of P.I. novels who read this are sure to say, 'Go, go, Max Everhart!'"
--M. Ruth Myers, Gal Gumshoe
http: //galgumshoe.com/2014/10/29/fine-new-private-eye-writer/

Go Go Gato by Max Everhart - Eli Sharpe is a former "successful" professional baseball player who is now a private investigator in Asheville, North Carolina. Eli worked his way through the minors to reach the majors but stayed for only a few games in The Show.

His drinking and reckless lifestyle overwhelmed his considerable athletic talent. I had an image in reading the book of Eli as Kevin Costner in the classic baseball movie Bull Durham.

After getting himself together the once promising infielder is now running his own one man detective agency out of a studio apartment. Most of his investigations are for professional baseball teams checking out the lives of potential players and other staff.

Eli is not a predictable personality. On the walls of his office are posters and photos of Richard Nixon. As a boy he had started reading about Nixon and putting up posters of the 37th President. Partly he did it to upset his father and because "he found Nixon to be a fascinating study in contradictions." In his Nixon collection I was reminded of another quirky quick tongued sleuth, Elvis Cole, in the series by Robert Crais who loves Disney characters.

There is lots of back story for future books to fill in on Eli. He has been engaged 7 times but never married.

Into his life walks tall, blonde and beautiful Los Angeles lawyer and sports agent, Veronica Craven. She is dressed to impress:

She wore a crisp white button-down with the sleeves rolled to the
elbows, a gray pencil skirt, and Ruby red high heels.

She hires Eli to find her most prominent client, Almario (Go Go) Gato, an 18 year old Cuban refugee. A year earlier the Colorado Rockies had given him a $1.2 million signing bonus.

Almario, who hates the nickname Go Go, has disappeared from the Asheville Travellers minor league team and she wants him found before the Rockies start asking too many questions about the status of the prize prospect. Injured the year before his performance has been sub-standard for some time even though he has recovered from the injury.

Almario has been living with his fraternal sister, Maria, in a penthouse apartment. She is deeply worried about what has happened to her brother.

It is soon evident that the Almario was not ready for everything that comes the way of a handsome young professional athlete.

As he searches for Almario around Asheville, Eli is brought back to his experiences as a rising young professional ballplayer 15 years earlier. He equally did not handle well the temptations offered pro athletes.

Eli equally understands the enormous pressure to perform put on young pros on whom millions have been lavished. For most great athletes, as with Eli and Almario, the transition from amateur to professional is demanding. Expectations are high. When a young player struggles, as inevitable, it can become a burden to play the game.

In The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach, which I reviewed this summer, the young brilliant shortstop becomes incapable of making routine throws as he overthinks the game.

As Eli penetrates Almario's life murder occurs and Eli searches for the killer.

Everhart was convincing in his depiction of Asheville. I had a good feel for the city from the book

It is an excellent debut. Eli is a memorable character. I thought his personal demons were a touch over emphasized. At the same time I enjoyed the realistic description of pro baseball and the challenges of youthful highly paid athletes. I look forward to reading more Eli Sharpe mysteries.
--Bill Selnes, Mysteries and Moore from Saskatchewan
http: //mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2014/11/go-go-gato-by-max-everhart.html
Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014

When Almario "Go Go" Gato, a handsome young Cuban baseball player, goes missing mid-season, his agent Veronica Craven hires a private investigator to track down her best client. No police. No press. Enter Eli Sharpe, an Asheville, North Carolina-based ex-ballplayer turned private detective who specializes in investigating professional athletes. Eli begins by questioning Maria Gato, Almario's roommate and fraternal twin. Maria watched while both her parents drowned on the boat ride from Cuba to America, so she is naturally desperate to get her only brother back. She tells Eli a secret: Almario may have a problem with drugs and alcohol. Eli tracks down Almario's supposed girlfriend, a rich sorority girl, but is soon led to another woman in his life, Sheri Stuckey, his cocaine supplier and fiancée who works in tandem with a gay bartender named Dantonio Rushing. Stuckey, a drug abuser and single mother, claims Almario split because she wanted the two of them to check into rehab. But Rushing, dazzled by Almario's boyish good looks, tells a different tale: Almario has taken out a $500,000 life insurance policy on himself and named Stuckey as the primary beneficiary. With the help of his a mentor-a former homicide detective-and five ex fiancées who still care about him, Eli follows Go Go's trail, determined to locate the elusive ballplayer before one of the nasty people in his life-or his own bad habits-do him in.