Pastor, author speaks to Cornerstone
WAYNESBURG – “Murder in Greene” by the Rev. John Dorean is a book that took 15 years to get published. His wife, Merry, had 20 copies printed for a Christmas present and from those 20 copies it was decided that he should go ahead and publish this book, which became available in May 2012 and sold out in August.
Dorean’s roots are definitely in Greene County, even though he was not born here. His father, Bennett Rich, was born in Rices Landing, attended Hewitt Presbyterian Church and went to Carmichaels High School.
Dorean’s grandfather, Milton Rich, worked in the Rices Landing Bank on the lock wall and his father was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.
Dorean and his wife returned to Greene County in 1963. He was instrumental in starting Greene County Habitat for Humanity; serves on the board of the Greene County Memorial Hospital Foundation; and is on the board of Redevelopment Authority for Greene County.
“Murder in Greene” takes place in Greene County with local towns and locations. Although the book is fiction, some of the characters have the taste of persons that he knew. The main character is a pastor who is in a wheelchair because of injuries suffered in the war. Dorean has a daughter who has severe scoliosis and is in a wheelchair with multiple complications.
These complications and struggles shaped his life. People and situations in people’s lives shape them, and these shaped this book for him.
This pastor, Mark Stewart, is an athlete and continues to try to stay in shape by “jogging” in his wheelchair and while on one of his “jogs,” he sees a car coming out of a driveway a little too fast, spinning the gravel.
This is a scene of a very grisly murder of Jim and Sarah Granville. The pastor is then connected with this crime. The reader knows who did it within the first two chapters and is introduced to the guy and his struggles and sorrows.
He is in the act of stealing money from the home when the Granville’s return. The couple is shot with a gun that the intruder finds in a bedside table.
This family had a young baby who is now an orphan, so there is concern as to whom will care for him, there is a romantic interest and of course mystery.
Dorean wanted this book to be all Greene County so it was published by Rhodes and Hammers, Waynesburg. It is available at Bowlby Library, Waynesburg, and the Thomas Hughes House in Jefferson.
Dorean is in the process of writing a second book with Mark Stewart as the primary character.
The next meeting of Cornerstone Genealogy Society will be at 7 p.m. March 12 at the Log Courthouse. Retired Judge H. Terry Grimes will speak about Gov. Edward Martin.