About Richard F. McGonegal
Richard F. McGonegal and his wife Kristie live in Jefferson City, MO, where their two adult daughters Heather and Jane also reside.
He retired in 2017 after a 41-year journalism career at the Jefferson City News Tribune. Twenty-four of his short stories have been published in magazines, including Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.
Sense of Grace is his first published novel.
Violence doesn't always go away just because the convicted perpetrator goes to prison.
In a small midwestern town, a dedicated police professional must deal with the fallout of a terrible crime from years earlier. Will he also find out that a great injustice was done even while a new set of crimes is unfolding, and will that finding transform his life?
Delve into the town's secrets— Read Sense of Grace!
Praise for Sense of Grace
"Sense of Grace is a novel that will have you staying up late and turning pages. It is well conceived and plotted with intriguing characters. Richard McGonegal knows what he is doing and does it well. Highly recommended." --W.L. Ripley, Author of the best-selling Wyatt Storme mystery series
"Sense of Grace is a story about flawed people, each trying to find their way out of the painful world they find themselves in. McGonegal unflinchingly takes us on a journey into the past and shows us how some of his characters have succumbed to their old wounds, and how others have found grace." -- Bradley Harper, Edgar Finalist, A Knife in the Fog; winner of the 2019 Silver Falchion for Best Mystery
"I don't know who coined the journalistic phrase 'If it bleeds, it leads, ' but former Mid-Missouri newspaperman Richard McGonegal's impressive debut novel, Sense of Grace, grabbed me with its bloody opening sentence. McGonegal's economic writing and true-to-life characters kept me hooked until the very end. I sure hope we'll be seeing more of Sheriff Francis Hood." -- Tim O'Mara, Author of The Hook, the fifth in the Raymond Donne crime series