By Richard Goutal (in 2020) – Webmaster and current leader of the Manchester Public Library, Mystery Book Club.
Some years ago, I started this website, planning to be a “mystery book blogger.” I’m a pretty poor blogger; blogging takes persistence and endurance, neither of which describe me. Posts were few and far between.
Somewhere along the line I began to use one or two pages on this site to post documents related to the Manchester Library Mystery Book Club…. even though I was not really blogging here anymore.
With the “stay at home” orders associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic, I decided to re-purpose this blog to what you now see: a place that more fully supports the needs of the Mystery Book Club.
Who am I?
My love of mystery books began in the 4th grade with the Hardy Boys. As an elementary school reader, my goal was to become a private detective. Later in life, I 
have shared my love of those books with my three children and to the grandchildren living closest to me. I probably read the Hardy Boys to them a bit too soon (including my not quite 4 yr old grandson at right). I just couldn’t wait to share the delight of my youth!
About the same time, my aunt introduced me to mysteries on the radio – this was in the mid-to-late-fifties. Many of these are available online now, though sadly not on the air. My favorite then was Johnny Dollar, insurance investigator. But of course I listened to many others.
By grade 7, thanks to the books of Erle Stanley Gardner (not to mention the television sensation – “Perry Mason”), I wanted to become a lawyer. In grade 8, I started the “Lawyers Club” in school where we role-played trials.
Mystery books took a back seat in college and through most of my young adult life. When I began to travel as a semiconductor equipment supplier training manager and then as a train-the-trainer consultant, I went back to reading mysteries. Lots of them. On the airplane and after work in the hotel room.
At a smallish meeting of the mystery book club at the Manchester Public Library (MA) about 2008. [second from right]
Around 2004, I discovered the Mystery Book Club at my local library in Manchester, Massachusetts (on the coast north of Boston) where I have participated every month that I’ve been home since then. I have enjoyed the friendship and laughter of some wonderful friends as we have talked about books we have liked or did not like. We have deliberately read a variety of genres, including older “classic” mysteries and current writers over 230 monthly books!
I have gone to a regional mystery writers convention, Crimebake, several times. I have no plans to write a novel, but I wanted access to these wonderful writers! Crimebake is for New England writers and is usually sold out six months before it takes place. I also once attended the North American mystery fans conference known as Bouchercon – that was in September of 2018. I hope to visit other conferences – fun!
I enjoy talking mystery books with friends; hearing the views of others is what makes it fun. I am very grateful for the friendships and fun provided by our Mystery Book Club!
All the best,
Richard Goutal (Updated: 2020)