Gerry Boyle, author of a dozen mystery books, is the guest speaker at an open meeting on Thursday evening, January 28, at 6:30 pm at the Manchester Public Library (MA!).
Boyle will speak briefly about his own background as a journalist and how those experiences shaped his mystery novels. His chief character is Jack McMorrow, a fictional reporter who has settled in central Maine after several years in New York city, working for the New York Times.
A question and answer conversation will follow Boyle’s initial presentation. The event is hosted by the Library’s Mystery Book Club.
Although Boyle’s protagonist is a journalist, Boyle’s books resemble the witty-and-dogged-PI genre made popular by Robert B. Parker’s Spenser. However, while Parker used many real and fictional locations in and around Boston, Boyle uses many real and fictional settings throughout Maine.
Boyle graduated from Colby College in 1978.
His first reporting work was done at a small weekly paper in Rumford, Maine that has a population just a bit less than does Manchester-by-the-Sea.
According to Boyle: “After a few months it was on to the daily Waterville, Maine Morning Sentinel, where editors learned early on that I worked best when left to my own devices. They gave me a thrice-weekly column and I wrote about stuff I saw in police stations, courtrooms, in the towns and cities of Maine. I enjoyed both hanging out with cops—and sitting with inmates in prison visiting rooms. I learned that the line between upstanding citizen and outlaw is a fine one, indeed.”
His first McMorrow novel, Deadline, was published in 1993. The eleventh is due out in stores this May. He has also written two books in a separate series featuring a rookie Portland, Maine police officer.
The Mystery Book Club meets monthly to discuss a selected mystery book. This year, all of the selected books are by New England mystery authors.
In addition, the club invites all interested people to open meetings with selected New England mystery writers. This month it is to meet with Gerry Boyle on Thursday evening, January 28.
Get the FLYER for the meeting here.
