To the Editor and Manchester-Essex Community,
In 2004, I began participating in the MPL Mystery Book Club, which had started about two years previously. In the following years, I was unable to make every monthly meeting due work-related travel, but what a super-fun experience it has been! From that time until now, the group has not missed having its meeting, usually the last Friday of the month at 10:30 am. It has been my pleasure and privilege to lead the group since 2011.
It is usually a busy group, because there are often optional add-on activities beyond the monthly meeting of between 10-15, currently operated via Zoom. For example, right now, there is also a subset of about 6 members that are meeting in homes to discuss all of the Louise Penny books in order. Kicking off October 1 is another small group that will read, in order, five of the Mickey Haller (the Lincoln Lawyer) books by Michael Connelly.
In better times we had book related field trips to Boston and Concord. There have been one or more monthly restaurant outings for lunch. Several visits to the theaters for shows and movies. For now, we have optional Zoom lunches. Friendships are great, even if it’s Zoom.
Discussing crime fiction is fun - because it’s not real, and we feel free to rate authors as we see it! It always has been - and now especially remains - a welcome break to see friends and to gather for no serious purpose. It’s great to be able to actually laugh about different points of view!
All of this to say, join us! Contact Rachael Meneades at the library (526-7711) for more information. Or check out our web page at MysteryBookFan.com. Sign up for the newsletter and get the details on meetings.
We are just now settling our list of books for 2020-2021. We will soon be starting the optional Mickey Haller reading group. At our September 25 meeting will be discussing The Likeness by Tana French. During October we will be reading (or for some, re-reading) Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell.
Hop on - there’s always a good time to join us, but why not now?
Dick Goutal
Manchester
