Retired Editor Richard F. McGonegal crafts gripping crime mysteries.
As a career journalist, Richard F. McGonegal covered more than his fair share of crime stories. That experience, along with an active imagination, led the former editor of the Jefferson City News Tribune to a second career in retirement, that of mystery writer.
Richard is the proud author of four novels in the Sheriff Francis Hood mystery series. His newest book, “The Substance of Fear,” was published in March 2025 by Level Best Books. His previous works include “Sense of Grace,”“Ghoul Duty,” and “The Forget-Me-Knot,” all published by Cave Hollow Press of Warrensburg, Missouri. Richard has also written numerous short stories, 24 of which have been published, including nine in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.
“Sheriff Hood is a kinder, gentler law enforcement officer who tries to work with people, rather than browbeat them,” Richard says.
All of Richard’s books center around a particular theme. Fear, social anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder are a few of the subjects he’s tackled. As demonstrated through Sheriff Hood, Richard often portrays his characters in a way he hopes readers find relatable. For example, the bad guys typically are not evil, serial-killer types; they are real people with virtues and vices who do stupid things and then cover them up to make matters worse.
Richard was drawn to mystery writing through his years of reporting on county government, crime, and the court system. While he draws on his personal experience to develop the themes and characters in his books, he relies heavily on creativity to round out the stories. For technical expertise and feedback, he calls upon a broad group of experts he has assembled over the years through both his personal and professional relationships.
Richard has had writing and storytelling in his blood since childhood. As a kid, he wrote his own narratives for the comic books he liked to read and devoured the Tom Swift science fiction and adventure novels that were popular at that time. He ultimately pursued college degrees in English literature and language, receiving his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University and his master’s degree from the University of Virginia.
With his focus shifting to his career, marriage, and children after college, Richards’s dream of writing a novel was put on hold. It wasn’t until his retirement in 2017 that the former newsman set about writing his first book. Interestingly enough, it was the state’s historic Flood of 1993 that was the catalyst for Richard’s first novel, “Ghoul Duty,” which was ultimately reworked to become the second novel in the Sheriff Francis Hood mystery series.
Richard recalls covering the catastrophic act of nature for the News Tribune. Particularly impactful was an incident at the Hardin Cemetery, where the flood caused the buried coffins to resurface. “Ghoul duty” was the term Richard coined to describe law enforcement’s retrieval of the corpses.
“I thought, ‘What if they found a body that didn’t come from the cemetery?’” Richard remembers. “That idea became the genesis for a short story, but it wouldn’t contain itself in a short story; it wanted to be bigger.”
And thus, the Sheriff Francis Hood series was born.
Richard says he never aspired to become a published author and notes he is just happy to have a seat at the writer’s table. He will soon be releasing the last Sheriff Francis Hood book for which he’s contracted, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the sheriff will be riding off into the sunset.
“I’m not finished with Sheriff Hood just yet,” Richard says. “I still feel he has something to say.”
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Richard’s books can be found online and at The Curious Turtle, and book/shop, etc. in downtown Jefferson City.