A 1940's Mystery Novel Inspired by a 2016 Church Fire

WEST ORANGE, N.J. - April 13, 2022 - PRLog -- Just before dawn on New Year's Day of 2016, an historic stone church was ravaged by fire. The slate roof was entirely lost and the interior was completely gutted. The church stood prominently in West Orange, New Jersey. It dated back to the 1820's. It's name was St. Mark's. From its inception, it was Episcopal but it had recently been taken over by a non-denominational Christian group. The source of the fire seems to have been do-it-yourself electrical work for which no permits were pulled. Astonishingly, no prosecution was pursued.

"For me, the destruction was heartbreaking and unforgivable," said author John Dandola. "That church was a landmark standing on a knoll overlooking the town center. I needed some way to deal with that. What I have done in my novel, Dead in the Embers, is to transport the church fire back to 1944 where I could create a much better rationale for its destruction rather than the twenty-first century carelessness which actually caused it."

When the novel was first announced as being undertaken, no one sought to make contact to properly use it to raise funds for restoration. Dandola has done so with other organizations outside of New Jersey and he was entirely open to that in this case but the involvement of too many local politicians seeking the spotlight ensued and Dandola is known to be staunchly apolitical so he was never approached.

In the novel, he touches upon how the lost nineteenth-century stained glass windows could be recreated without going through the prohibitively expensive process of employing specialists who would work in nineteenth-century techniques. Dandola is knowledgeable about such things due to his training and skills in art. He has worked with stained glass. That expertise now remains untapped during whatever rebuilding may occur.

And so the only real memory of the church as it once was is in the pages of the novel so aptly titled, Dead in the Embers. It can be purchased directly from the publisher at http://www.quincannongroup.com/DelPlatoMysteries.html