Go Go Gato by Max Everhart

 

Eli Sharpe was a professional baseball player for a short time.  He was talented but when his career didn't take off, he started drinking and doing drugs and ended his career in spectacular fashion, driving a truck into the bull statue at the Durham minor league ballpark.  Now Eli lives in Ashville, NC.  He is a private investigator, specializing in marital infidelity cases and cases related to baseball such as running background checks on potential signees before teams offered them a contract.

When Veronica Sharpe walks into his office, Eli is ready to do whatever she wants.  Veronica is a tall, leggy blonde who is both a lawyer and a personal manager.  Her latest protege, Go Go Gato, playing for Ashville's minor league team, has disappeared and she wants to hire Eli to find him before his pro team finds out.  Eli takes the job, figuring Gato is just off on a bender.

But as he investigates the young player, Eli can't help but feel sympathy for him.  Gato was signed to a multimillion dollar contract when he was eighteen.  His first act was to arrange for his parents and twin sister to get to the United States, taking a boat from Cuba.  Unfortunately, the boat capsized and only his sister survived.  Now she is also living in Ashville with Gato in a condo that he titled in her name.  That's not the only thing that shows Gato's heart.  He has been thinking about marrying a woman with a young child who is down on her luck to help her out, although he has a rich girlfriend already.  Can Eli find Gato before he throws his chance at a professional career away?

This was a debut novel of the author.  It is noir in feel with Eli as a hero who doesn't want to be.  There are plenty of suspects in Gato's eventual murder and twists and turns on the trip to find the murderer.  Since I'm from North Carolina, it was fun to read a mystery set in Ashville where I've visited many times and recognize landmarks in the book.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.