Teacher writes murder novel
SALEM – Scott Reighard is a murderer. On paper, that is.
The Salem resident who teaches at Northside High School during the day is a writer by night. The 46-year-old recently released his second book, “The Reunion Reaper,” which is a suspense novel.
Scott Reighard, author of "The Reunion Reaper"
Although he wrote his first book, “Jamestown: Journey Back in Time” for young adults, Reighard warns there is adult language in his new book. The language is necessary to define the “bad guys,” he says.
He describes the plot as revolving around “A serial killer who is killing classmates he graduated with 25 years ago.”
“People that I work with at Northside might recognize themselves in this book. They already know. And the people I went to school with will recognize themselves,” he said, adding that he changed “almost all the names. They should recognize the character.
Reighard goes on to explain, but without giving away too much of the plot: “The killer targets specific people in the class he wants to pay back for something that happened to him in high school.” The cover of “The Reunion Reaper” – which Reighard took the photos for – features pictures of people the killer has been doing surveillance on, along with his 1983 yearbook, and an invitation to the reunion of the class of 24 graduates.
His killer isn’t killing them randomly, and isn’t doing it at the reunion. The suspense centers around the question if the protagonist, Detective Andrew Keane, can solve the murders before the next person is killed. Keane is a former classmate from the Class of 1983.
“Really, it’s about relationships,” Reighard said, “between Andrew and his wife and Andrew and his father, and how that relationship gets strained because of his stubbornness.”
Much of the book is set in Virginia, Reighard said. The detective is a Roanoke County detective, for instance. But a lot of the action takes place in Palm Beach, Fla., at “Palm Beach Prep.”
His protagonist lived on “the other side” of the Intracoastal Waterway, “which means he was not a rich kid,” Reighard explained.
He admits some of the story has to do with him – not the murders, though – in that he lived in Florida before relocating to the Roanoke Valley. “The detective has small-town values; I wanted the small-town feel.”
A couple of readers who have read Reighard’s book had this to say:
Wendy Maguire – “Reighard has characters that represent the every day man and woman, and there is a genuine care for those characters. I couldn’t help but really sympathize with many of them.” And Bobbi Ingle said, “This story moves along so smoothly and is a nice easy to follow plot, but it doesn’t mean it was a weak plot, on the contrary, it is a very compelling plot. Also, the characters are so rich and Mr. Reighard’s style is very reader friendly.”
Reighard began teaching at Northside 10 years ago and now teaches mostly 12th-grade English. He formerly coached football, tennis and cross country, and coached Salem Recreation teams for a couple of years.
He and his wife, Jennifer, who is in medical billing at Carilion, live in Salem. Their children are Katie, a senior at Radford University majoring in early childhood education, who graduated from Salem High School in 2005, and Kyle, a seventh-grader at Andrew Lewis Middle School.
Reighard’s objective was to put out a good book for family and friends, he said, “And build up the market for my next book, which all takes place in Roanoke. The title is ‘Death in the Valley.’ ” He hopes to have it ready by Christmas 2010, he said.
It’s the story of a high school cult killing high-profile people in the Roanoke Valley. “People are going to think I’m demented,” he said, laughing.
“I never saw myself as writing these types of novels,” he added. “I always thought I would write young adult novels.” One day, he said, he would like to get back to his Journey Back in Time books like his first one on Jamestown.
Does Reighard hope to sell hundreds of his newest novel? “I don’t care. I just want readers to be happy with the story,” he said.
It is published by CreateSpace.com, a subsidiary of Amazon.com. The Reunion Reaper is available from Amazon.com for $15.95, and is also available on Kindle.
