The evidence is overwhelming: CSI book club is a hit

There are about 70 members who share their love of mysteries.
By SEAN BARRON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BOARDMAN -- Ever since she was able to read, Naomi Garver has enjoyed mystery books and, at age 83, her passion shows no signs of disappearing.
Garver, who lives in North Lima, retired from the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County in the early 1980s after 32 years of service. There's nothing mysterious about her strong connection to the library, however.
"To me, it extends what I've done all my life," Garver said, referring to the CSI Y'town book club she belongs to,which was formed last year in conjunction with the library system.
Garver added that she enjoys attending the group's monthly meetings to meet new authors, as well as people "who have done the things we read about."
Since January, organizers have brought in several speakers, including a former FBI agent and a noted local coroner.
Another member of CSI Y'town who shares Garver's love of mystery novels is Joe Gillis, a former news director at WKBN-TV 27, who said he's read "literally thousands" of mysteries since retiring about 16 years ago. Gillis, of Boardman, added that he's rewriting parts of a mystery he started awhile ago, and that the group provides opportunities to come up with fresh ideas.
Camaraderie
Another longtime aficionado of mystery books is Terry Gallagher, a retired teacher from Youngstown. The group has helped Gallagher find others with similar interests, and features knowledgeable speakers, she said.
"The first adult book I read was a Nancy Drew mystery when I was about 8 years old," she recalled. "I've been hooked ever since."
About 15 years ago, Gallagher and her husband, Francis, a former Youngstown police officer, traveled to Michigan to take part in a three-day murder-mystery theater in which participants try to solve a fictitious crime. The couple won a prize for traveling the farthest, Gallagher said.
The CSI group, with about 70 members, is sponsored by the Friends of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County. CSI Y'town got under way in November and members meet the third Tuesday of each month at various library branches to share their interests in mysteries, detective fiction and true crime.
Speakers
Those who have addressed the group include a retired FBI agent and Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk, Trumbull County forensic pathologist. At CSI's most recent get-together earlier this month, the keynote speaker was Boardman police officer Daryn Tallman, who brought his K-9 partner, Yuma. Tallman demonstrated key moves his dog had learned during 13 weeks of training, and added that Yuma is trained to sniff for cocaine, methamphetamines, heroin and marijuana.
Tallman told the audience that his dog has "hit upon" suspected drugs in vehicles at the Southern Park Mall and other public places that would otherwise have gone undetected.
Sometimes such a find can lead to the confiscation of illegal weapons, drug money and other contraband, he said, adding that the animal once found $100,000 from a drug buy inside a car door.
Tallman noted that the 4-year-old Yuma, whom he refers to as "an apprehension dog," is an added tool for law enforcement and also has been used to search for people accused of burglaries, break-ins and other crimes, thereby protecting officers.
The patrolman stressed that his companion is not an attack dog; Yuma will bite and hold only on command and as a last resort.
"He's trained in reasonable force and will give the perp[etrator] another chance to give up," Tallman said.
Many mystery readers
The "CSI" TV series has drawn some members, but the Mahoning Valley has "a huge population of mystery readers," Deborah Liptak, development director for the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County, said in explaining the interest in the group. CSI Y'town's main objectives are to encourage people to read mysteries and other works, and to give ideas to someone who might be interested in writing a mystery novel, Liptak said. The group's chairwoman and Friends of the Library's vice president, Jeanne Macejko, said she was a member of Sisters in Crime, a national mystery-reading group. She belonged to chapters in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, and after moving back to the Valley, Macejko said, she urged library officials to start a similar group.