Richard F. McGonegal is the author of four books in the Sheriff Francis Hood Mystery Series.

The newest is The Substance of Fear, published in March 2025 by Level Best Books.

His previous books are Sense of Grace in 2020, Ghoul Duty in 2022,  and The Forget-Me-Knot in 2023. All were published by Cave Hollow  Press. The unpublished manuscript of The Forget-Me-Knot was honored as second runner-up at the 2021 Killer Nashville Claymore Awards.

In addition, 24 of his short stories have been published, including nine in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Four of those nine have been  reprinted in anthologies. He is an active member of Mystery Writers of America.
McGonegal retired in 2017 as an editor for the News Tribune Co. in Jefferson City, Mo., where he worked for more than 40 years.

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973 from Rutgers University,  New Brunswick, N.J., and a Master of Arts degree in 1975 from the  University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Both degrees are in English  literature and language.

 He and his wife, Kristie, live in Jefferson City, and are the parents of two adult daughters, Heather and Jane.