Surviving ‘The Courts of Garrowville’

Hewlett native and professional accountant Kenneth Siegel, has written and self-published his first book, a whodunit murder mystery “The Courts of Garrowville,” available for purchase on Amazon.com.
The 1987 Hewlett High School graduate finds time to write in between reconciling accounts, including short stories for Nostalgic America Magazine. “I wrote the book during my spare time in the evenings and on weekends,” he said. “As a result the book took over a year for the first draft to be completed.”
His writing process began with a story outline, then he progresses ahead chronologically. “I knew how the whole story would unfold before even starting to write,” he said. “I then more specifically spelled out what I wanted to happen in each chapter by writing just one to two sentences for each chapter. Then I proceeded to write the book in order from beginning to end.”
Siegel said he has always liked books in which the reader could follow the story from the perspectives and experiences of al the characters. “To accomplish this, I intentionally wrote short chapters,” he said. “This way, I could bounce around to all the different perspectives while keeping the plot moving forward and not letting the book get too long.”
The message he seeks to impart is that people make up the court of public opinion and should adhere to the “innocent until proven guilty” concept not to damage the accused person’s reputation as they could be innocent, Siegel said.

Jon Lieb is a longtime friend of Siegel’s who wrote alongside him at Hewlett High School’s newspaper, The Spectrum. “My favorite part of the book was the conclusion,” Lieb said. “Ken did a masterful job at disguising the murderer throughout the book. The reader knew from the outset that a murder took place, but figuring out who actually committed the crime was far less obvious.”
The book’s title “The Courts of Garrowville” was chosen very carefully, Siegel said. “The word ‘courts’ is plural to represent the fact that there are two ‘courts’ in play — the criminal court and also the court of public opinion,” he said. “The name of the fictional town ‘Garrowville’ is named after Sir William Garrow, a 19th century English lawyer, who is credited with coining the phrase ‘innocent until proven guilty.’”
The plot involves a husband who is immediately and wrongly accused of murdering his wife. Circumstantial evidence and hearsay feed that presumption. He has been convicted instantly in the court of public opinion and as a result, his life was ruined, though he hadn’t been convicted in any criminal court.
Former Hewlett-Woodmere School District educator Rori Greenspan, an ESL teacher at a Palm Beach County charter school in Florida, read the book and also received feedback from her kids. “Two of my children have read the book as well and told me that they learned a lot about the court system from the story,” she said. “They always thought that you were innocent until proven guilty, but learned that sometimes innocent people end up guilty in the eyes of others even before they go to trial.”
Siegel is working on another novel “The Wrong Man From Willingham,” that will also revolve around a criminal story line. He hopes to finish it this year. “I’ve received a lot of feedback for my first book,” he said, adding that many readers said the trial was their favorite part. “I will have the trial scene start sooner in the storyline and last longer. This way, everyone’s favorite part of the story will be a larger part of the book.”