Eversz, Robert 1954–

(Robert McLeod Eversz)

PERSONAL:

Born April 22, 1954, in Great Falls, MT; son of William McLeod (a businessman) and Thelma (a nurse) Eversz. Education: University of California, Santa Cruz, B.A., 1977; University of California, Los Angeles, M.F.A., 1980.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Prague, Czech Republic. Agent—A.L. Hart, Public Ledger Building, Independence Square, Philadelphia, PA 19106. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer. Earl Wilson and Associates (marketing consultants), Los Angeles, CA, vice president for operations, 1981-84; Robert Eversz and Associates (marketing consultants), Los Angeles, CA, 1984-88. Writer, 1988—. Prague Summer Program (hosted by Charles University of Prague and Western Michigan University), Prague, Czech Republic, cofounder of Summer Writers' Workshop, currently professor, Summer Writers Program; Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, visiting professor and writer-in-residence, 2006-07; served as finalist judge for Association of Writers and Writing Programs.

MEMBER:

International Association of Crime Writers (executive council member), Mystery Writers of America.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

The Bottom Line Is Murder, Viking Press (New York, NY), 1988.

False Profit, Viking Press (New York, NY), 1989.

Gypsy Hearts, Grove Press (New York, NY), 1997.

"NINA ZERO" SERIES

Shooting Elvis: Confessions of an Accidental Terrorist, Grove Press (New York, NY), 1996.

Killing Paparazzi, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Burning Garbo: A Nina Zero Novel, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2003.

Digging James Dean: A Nina Zero Novel, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2005.

Zero to the Bone: A Nina Zero Novel, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2006.

Novels have been translated into ten languages.

SIDELIGHTS:

Robert Eversz writes crime novels that have been described as hip and satirical with a very modern sensibility, although with something of the tone of classic hard-boiled crime fiction. His first two novels fit into the detective genre, but his more recent ones go in a slightly different direction, focusing either on criminals or amateur sleuths whose investigations are motivated by personal considerations. "I still consider myself a crime writer, though no longer a genre writer," he told Prague Post interviewer Alan Levy. "My definition of a crime novel is any narrative structured around a criminal act or incident."

Eversz, who studied filmmaking in college, started writing novels after having been "sidetracked," as he put it to Levy, from film into a business career. "I'd read a lot of crime and detective fiction, so I decided perhaps I should write a book," he told Levy. Eversz's first two novels feature Paul Marston, a Los Angeles-based investigator specializing in business-related cases, and his partner, Angel Cantini, a woman prizefighter and Marston's occasional lover. Eversz once told CA he set out in these books "to interpose the hard-boiled detective form between the reader and the business world." In The Bottom Line Is Murder, Marston and Cantini look into the death of a corporate chief, Jack Carlisle, in a plane crash that may not have been accidental. Carlisle's company, Western Shores, had been the subject of a takeover battle. His widow bankrolls the detectives' investigation, and meanwhile she becomes romantically involved with Marston, who had been friends with her late husband.

"Marston eventually solves his case of corporate evil, leaving a trail of bodies behind him," related Kathleen Maio in Wilson Library Bulletin. Despite Marston's "newfangled corporate veneer," she observed, he is "an old-fashioned tough guy at heart." She recommended the book to "fans of the Sam Spade school." Chicago Tribune Books reviewer Phil Vettel found Marston an appealing character, with humor in addition to toughness, and deemed the novel "a nicely woven mystery." Booklist contributor Peter L. Robertsen praised the characterization of Cantini as well as Marston, calling the duo "eccentric" and "a terrific sleuthing team."

In False Profit, unscrupulous investment mogul Jack Burns hires Marston as a bodyguard but is soon murdered. Marston and Cantini then try to track down Burns's killer, plus the money that had belonged to his clients. The investigation takes Cantini to Paris in search of Burns's bisexual girlfriend, while Marston gets framed for a prostitute's killing. Joe Queenan, reviewing for the Wall Street Journal, wrote that Eversz had mishandled Marston's character, making him a mix of classically hard-boiled private eye and modern, sensitive guy. "Mr. Eversz is going to have to make up his mind about Marston: Either he's Mickey Spillane or he's Mickey Mouse," Queenan wrote. Queenan did consider False Profit "quite an entertaining book … because it's old-fashioned trash, and things like continuity, logic and intelligence would only ruin things." A Publishers Weekly contributor commented that "though some may find its style derivative," the novel "provides a likable investigating team caught up in a sexy and satisfying puzzle." A Library Journal contributor described the book as full of "thrilling, fast-paced action," which makes it "solid fare for the armchair detective."

Eversz changed his focus after False Profit because, he told Levy, "I realized that no matter how much I tried to hammer, bend and twist the detective story, I could never make of it something uniquely mine." The author also noted: "I felt only one or two contemporary writers could put it to interesting use. I wasn't one of them." His next work, which he described to Levy as a "bridge novel," was Shooting Elvis: Confessions of an Accidental Terrorist. It introduces another recurring main character, Nina Zero, formerly Mary Alice Baker. Mary Alice, a trusting sort with a disreputable boyfriend, agrees to do her boyfriend a favor by delivering a briefcase to a Russian at Los Angeles International Airport in exchange for a large parcel. The parcel turns out to contain a valuable work of art, but the briefcase turns out to contain a bomb, which blows up the airport. Mary Alice, who has escaped safely, now must elude the police—who hold her accountable for the bombing—and the criminals who want the artwork. She adopts a new name, appearance, and personality, changing from a gentle girl-next-door type to the punky, combative Nina. "This story aspires to be sharp, wry and brilliant and at times attains a legitimate glimmer," remarked a Publishers Weekly contributor, adding that "for the most part … it rolls on predictably." Booklist's Donna Seaman deemed it "stylish" and "hilariously cynical," and called Eversz "a master of plot and one-liners." She also wrote: "What a blast."

Gypsy Hearts is set in Eversz's adopted home of Prague; he moved there in the early 1990s after a long residence in southern California. The novel portrays the Czech capital in the post-Communist era as a lively place populated with ambitious and sometimes shady characters. Among the latter is the book's narrator and protagonist, Richard Milhous Nixon Miller, a twenty-five-year-old former Californian posing as a screenwriter in order to become friendly with women tourists and steal their cash. Nix, as he is called, makes the mistake of falling for one of the women, Monika, who turns out to be a more sophisticated criminal than he and who involves Nix in increasingly complicated schemes.

"The novel seems like a cross between an elaborately plotted comedy and film noir," observed Lawrence Rungren in an admiring review of Gypsy Hearts in Library Journal. A Publishers Weekly contributor likewise described the novel in film-related terms, but did not care for it, commenting: "Instead of genuine ideas, [Eversz] has movie concepts and no sense of the real darkness behind his cinematic conceits." The Publishers Weekly contributor did praise Eversz's pacing of the story and some of his supporting characters, but thought Nix too "cruel" and "cowardly" to hold readers' interest. Booklist contributor Mary Ellen Quinn, however, found the character more of a "romantic, easily deceived because he deceives himself," and had positive words for the novel as a whole, adding that Prague "is the perfect setting for this tale of escalating disorder." A writer for Kirkus Reviews termed Gypsy Hearts "smart-alecky, frequently hilarious storytelling, with brainy send-ups of vampiric Europeans and idiotic Americans on the dark side of the post-Cold War Grand Tour."

Nina Zero returns in Killing Paparazzi. Just released from prison after serving five years for her role in the airport explosion, she marries Gabriel Burns, a British paparazzo—photographer of celebrities—so he can stay in the United States. The marriage of convenience turns into a love match, and Nina, who was a children's photographer in her days as Mary Alice Baker, also takes up her husband's profession. But soon there is a rash of murders of Los Angeles paparazzi, including Gabriel, and Nina sets out to find the killer. "There's the expected unexpected ending, but half the fun is getting there in this noirish ramble across L.A.'s seedy underbelly," related a Publishers Weekly contributor, who enjoyed the novel's satirical tone despite thinking that "the violence is a little too visceral to take lightly." A Kirkus Reviews contributor called Nina "adorably dangerous," while Booklist's Donna Seaman commented that "Eversz's killer sense of humor and Nina's extreme rage, toughness, and quest for justice … make this smart and stylish mystery hum."

In Burning Garbo: A Nina Zero Novel, Nina Zero is working as a celebrity paparazza when she sees a retired movie star's mansion burn down and is blamed for the fire, and then for murder when bones are found in the ashes. Nina sets out to clear herself and meets an interesting cast of Los Angeles characters, including the movie star's niece, who hires Nina to find out what really happened. "With plenty of celebrity satire and an ending that confounds expectations, this is a rollicking ride," wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor. Mostly Fiction Web site contributor Cindy Lynn Speer commented: "This book goes down like warm tea and honey. It's one of those easy, hard to put down reads that passes an evening quickly and pleasurably."

Digging James Dean: A Nina Zero Novel, continues Nina's adventures. This time, someone has stolen the bones from the grave of actor James Dean in Fairmount, Indiana. As Nina tries to get to the bottom of the story, she is led to the cult of the Church of Divine Thespians. In a subplot, Nina encounters an older sister that Nina hasn't seen since childhood. Cindy Lynn Speer, writing on the Mostly Fiction Web site, noted: "The story itself is really interesting." Crime Scene Scotland Web site contributor James Clar commented: "Perhaps even more remarkable than the characters is Eversz's prose. Direct as a knee to the groin and beautifully poetic in turn, there are passages in this book that will set your nerves on edge and others that will leave you nearly breathless with their lyrical power."

The fifth book in the "Nina Zero" series, Zero to the Bone: A Nina Zero Novel, features Nina, her dog named "The Rott," and a newly acquired teenage niece named Cassie that Nina is taking care of since her sister's death. However, when one of Nina's photography models, Christine, turns up dead along with a video of her being tortured, Nina beings investigating the S&M scene to find the killer or killers. "Nina's addictive escapades … grow in depth and complexity, with mystery on the side," wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor. Noting the protagonist's "terse, tough-girl patter," Joanne Wilkinson went on to write in Booklist that Nina's "street-smart, humorous take on love and life makes for addictive reading."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 15, 1988, Peter L. Robertsen, review of The Bottom Line Is Murder, p. 1710; March 15, 1996, Donna Seaman, review of Shooting Elvis: Confessions of an Accidental Terrorist, p. 1238; May 15, 1997, Mary Ellen Quinn, review of Gypsy Hearts, p. 1561; January 1, 2002, Donna Seaman, review of Killing Paparazzi, p. 817; September 1, 2003, Connie Fletcher, review of Burning Garbo: A Nina Zero Novel, p. 68; January 1, 2006, Joanne Wilkinson, review of Zero to the Bone: A Nina Zero Novel, p. 66.

Entertainment Weekly, April 12, 1996, Megan Harlan, review of Shooting Elvis, p. 63.

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 1989, review of False Profit, p. 1785; January 15, 1996, review of Shooting Elvis, p. 86; March 15, 1997, review of Gypsy Hearts, pp. 398-399; November 15, 2001, review of Killing Paparazzi, p. 1582; August 1, 2003, review of Burning Garbo, p. 995; December 15, 2004, review of Digging James Dean: A Nina Zero Novel, p. 1167; December 15, 2005, review of Zero to the Bone, p. 1302.

Library Journal, January, 1990, review of False Profit, p. 152; May 15, 1997, Lawrence Rungren, review of Gypsy Hearts, p. 100.

Los Angeles Times, February 7, 2006, Dick Lochte, review of Zero to the Bone.

MBR Bookwatch, February, 2005, Harriet Klausner, review of Digging James Dean.

Prague Post, April 27, 1994, Alan Levy, "Robert Eversz: A Crime Writer Turns His Talents on Prague."

Publishers Weekly, December 15, 1989, review of False Profit, p. 59; March 4, 1996, review of Shooting Elvis, p. 55; April 14, 1997, review of Gypsy Hearts, p. 55; December 3, 2001, review of Killing Paparazzi, p. 43; October 13, 2003, review of Burning Garbo, p. 59; November 22, 2004, review of Digging James Dean, p. 41; December 19, 2005, review of Zero to the Bone, p. 43.

Times Literary Supplement, March 8, 1996, Harry Mount, review of Shooting Elvis, p. 26.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), June 5, 1988, Phil Vettel, "The Ever Engaging but Thankless Job of Nipping Murder in the Bud," p. 6; November 16, 2003, review of Burning Garbo, p. 2.

Wall Street Journal, February 22, 1990, Joe Queenan, "The Politically Correct P.I.," p. A12.

Wilson Library Bulletin, October, 1988, Kathleen Maio, "Murder in Print," pp. 82-83; November 16, 2003, review of Burning Garbo, p. 2.

ONLINE

Crime Scene Scotland,http://www.crimescenescotland.com/ (December 10, 2007), James Clar, review of Digging James Dean.

January Magazine,http://www.januarymagazine.com/ (December 10, 2007), Kevin Burton Smith, "Count on Zero" (review of Zero to the Bone) and "Have Nose Stud, Will Travel" (review of Burning Garbo).

Jules Brenner's Critical Mystery Tour,http://variagate.com/ (February 21, 2006), Jules Brenner, review of Zero to the Bone.

Mostly Fiction,http://www.mostlyfiction.com/ (January 11, 2004), Cindy Lynn Speer, review of Burning Garbo; (May 7, 2005), Cindy Lynn Speer, review of Digging James Dean; (March 22, 2006), Jana L. Perskie, review of Zero to the Bone; (December 10, 2007), brief profile of author.

Mystery One Bookstore,http://www.mysteryone.com/ (December 10, 2007), "Interview with Robert Eversz."