Go Go Gato by Max Everhart, a Mysterious Review.

Review: Eli Sharpe, an ex-major league ballplayer now private investigator in Asheville (NC), is hired to find Almario Gato, a minor league player, who has inexplicably disappeared while training with his team, in Go Go Gato, the first mystery in this series by Max Everhart.

Almario, who goes by the hated nickname "Go Go" for his hustle on the field, found his way to the US from Cuba several years ago, and, after signing a lucrative contract with the Colorado Rockies, arranges to have his parents and twin sister Maria smuggled out of his home country. Unfortunately, on the trip across the Florida Straits, a boating accident kills his parents, with only his sister barely surviving. Today, Maria lives with Almario, managing his home and finances while his agent, Veronica Craven, who hired Eli to find him, manages his career. Eli seems uniquely qualified to do his job, as he too was once a rising star but let the fame and money get to his head before spectacularly flaming out. He thinks Almario might be going down the same path, and Eli is determined to not only find him, but to help him straighten out his life. And what a life Almario seems to have found off the field. He's apparently into recreational drugs, is (unknown to everyone else) engaged to be married to a barmaid, and all the while carrying on with a rich girlfriend. When — slight spoiler — Almario turns up dead, Eli finds himself tangled in a complex murder investigation, one in which all the usual suspects have a motive for murder but none seem likely to have committed it.

Go Go Gato is a very strong entry to this series. The characters are sharply drawn, the intricate storyline well-considered and developed, and the narrative crisply delivered. Eli Sharpe is a terrific series lead, flawed to be sure, but largely self-aware of his strengths and limitations and not bound or restricted by them. The surprise — but also quite credible — ending is foreshadowed a bit too early, but that's a minor quibble. A solid, entertaining mystery, one that will have readers eagerly looking forward to Eli's next case.

Ed, Not Eddie
Camel Press (Trade Paperback), April 2016
ISBN-13: 9781603819435; ISBN-10: 1603819436

Go Go Gato

An Eli Sharpe Mystery by Max Everhart