Go Go Gato

by Max Everhart

Overview

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 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.

Praise for GO GO GATO:

"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 Award-finalist author of Wolverine Bros. Freight & Storage

"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

"Max Everhart scores a homerun with this first novel in his new Eli Sharpe mystery series. Eli finds much more than he bargained for in his search for a missing baseball player in this fast read, best enjoyed with a glass of George Dickel in hand since that's Eli's favorite "poison". Like a good curveball you won't see the twist ending coming at you." --Paul D. Marks, author of the Shamus Award-winning novel White Heat

"This is an excellent read and the author's characters are very real; in particular, Eli Sharpe and his friend Ernest Carpenter. Readers will enjoy the plot, and root for Eli to discover the criminal before a more serious crime occurs." --Suspense Magazine

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781948235099
Publisher:	Down & Out Books
Publication date:	07/16/2018
Series:	Eli Sharpe , #1
Pages:	278
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

Max Everhart has a master's degree in creative writing from the University of Alabama, Birmingham. His short stories have been published in CutBank, Elysian Fields Quarterly, Slow Trains Journal, and juked. His short story, "The Man Who Wore No Pants," was selected by Michael Knight for Best of the Net 2010 and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Dzanc Books' Best of the Web Anthology. Currently, he teaches English and Creative Writing at Northeastern Technical College and Coker College. Go Go Gato is his first novel, and the first book in the Eli Sharpe Mystery series. You can find Max on the Web at maxeverhart30.wordpress.com

Read an Excerpt

"Wait here," Veronica said and clicked her heels into the kitchen, which was separated from the rest of the space by a wall that only reached halfway to the ceiling.

Eli sat down in the velvet armchair and picked up Marquez's novel. He didn't read Spanish, but as he stared at the opening paragraph, he remembered the book's opening, something about death and the smell of almonds. He put the book back where he found it and walked to the large picture window. The traffic inched along Biltmore Avenue below. Sunlight gleamed off the hoods of cars and neighboring buildings. A small band of Phish fans milled around the fountain, strumming guitars for spare change and smoking cloves. Eli walked to a door leading out to the terrace. A selling feature for most, but he didn't care for heights. Or stainless steel furniture. He returned to the red velvet armchair and waited.

Several minutes later Veronica waved Eli toward the kitchen. She leaned in close, grabbed hold of his jacket lapels, and stared into his eyes. "No bullshit, Almario is all she has." She bit her lip and let go of his jacket, smoothed out the wrinkles she'd made. "At the moment, he's all I have."

Eli got his first look at Maria Gato in the kitchen, which was massive and cold like the rest of the apartment. Raven-haired with a dark brown face sprinkled with pimples, Maria stood over a steaming sauce pan, her marble-black eyes focused on what looked like chicken bubbling in a reddish sauce. Her skin tone was much darker than Almario's, and standing next to Veronica, Maria appeared dwarfish and plump, bordering on fat. Her clothes weren't flattering either: a baggy tie-dyed T-shirt splattered with flour and red sauce and Jordache blue jeans that hung loose off her wide hips.

Eli introduced himself, and Maria lowered her eyes as she shook his hand. Firm grip. Strong, callused hands.

Veronica opened a drawer, removed a clean white apron, and slipped it over her pencil skirt, tying it off in the back. She put a hand on Maria's shoulder. "Eli Sharpe, the quiet one here is Maria Gato, Almario's twin sister. Maria, Mr. Sharpe is the private investigator I hired to find Almario. He needs to ask you some questions. Don't worry, he's here to help."

Maria nodded a second time and continued stirring her pot with a wooden spoon.

Veronica nodded at Eli.

Eli said, "Veronica tells me you received an email from Almario yesterday. Is that right?"

"No, it isn't," Maria snapped. "The email was from Almario's address, but it wasn't him."

"Do you mean someone other than Almario wrote it?"

"Yes, someone else wrote it."

"How do you know?"

"The grammar. It was full of mistakes."

Editorial Reviews

"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

"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

From the Publisher