The man who co-authored a book about the Murdaugh murder trial with former Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill is now publishing a new novel. The new book discusses how author Neil Gordon came to learn Hill plagiarized part of the original novel, titled “Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders.””It shattered my wife and I to the core,” Gordon said. “When this happened, it certainly made me pause a little bit.” Gordon’s new book, called Trial Watchers, explains in-depth how Gordon found out Hill had stolen a BBC reporters material. It also explains, through Gordon’s words, how Hill reacted when confronted about the plagiarism. Gordon also discusses in the book how difficult it was to learn his name was now being associated with a plagiarism scandal.”It was awful. It made me sick to my stomach, and so I wanted to have a follow-up story to be able to share,” Gordon said.Hill is mostly mentioned at the beginning of the book. In the rest of Trial Watchers, Gordon and his co-author, Mike Petchenik, talk about the people who are fascinated with true crime and how they get involved. It was all inspired by the Murdaugh trial.”We met some fascinating people and we discovered it wasn’t just that they were Internet sleuths trying to put the puzzle together, but they had gone through some trauma in their own lives,” Gordon said.”I think our mandate was to peel back the layers of the onion on the stories of these folks,” Petchenik said.The book also discusses the psychology behind true crime lovers. “What might be interesting to for your viewers to know is that it is predominantly women who are following the trials,” Petchenik said. “The media psychologists that we interviewed for the book said there’s a number of reasons for that. Number one, it’s about putting the pieces of the puzzle together. It’s about being an internet sleuth and trying to solve a crime yourself. It’s also creating a blueprint for them so that they can avoid becoming victims of crimes themselves. They watch these trials and learn different things, different tactics to to keep themselves safe.”Both authors told WJCL 22 News they plan to donate 10% of the book’s royalties to charities that uphold victims’ rights.”We think there’s some important lessons to learn out of this, but we also wanted to be part of the solution, and we think some money can go to make a difference,” Gordon said.If you’d like to buy a copy of Trial Watchers, you can do so here.We reached out to Hill’s attorneys for a comment on the new book. We have not heard back, but will update this article if we do.
The man who co-authored a book about the Murdaugh murder trial with former Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill is now publishing a new novel.
The new book discusses how author Neil Gordon came to learn Hill plagiarized part of the original novel, titled “Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders.”
“It shattered my wife and I to the core,” Gordon said. “When this happened, it certainly made me pause a little bit.”
Gordon’s new book, called Trial Watchers, explains in-depth how Gordon found out Hill had stolen a BBC reporters material. It also explains, through Gordon’s words, how Hill reacted when confronted about the plagiarism.
Gordon also discusses in the book how difficult it was to learn his name was now being associated with a plagiarism scandal.
“It was awful. It made me sick to my stomach, and so I wanted to have a follow-up story to be able to share,” Gordon said.
Hill is mostly mentioned at the beginning of the book. In the rest of Trial Watchers, Gordon and his co-author, Mike Petchenik, talk about the people who are fascinated with true crime and how they get involved. It was all inspired by the Murdaugh trial.
“We met some fascinating people and we discovered it wasn’t just that they were Internet sleuths trying to put the puzzle together, but they had gone through some trauma in their own lives,” Gordon said.
“I think our mandate was to peel back the layers of the onion on the stories of these folks,” Petchenik said.
The book also discusses the psychology behind true crime lovers.
“What might be interesting to for your viewers to know is that it is predominantly women who are following the trials,” Petchenik said. “The media psychologists that we interviewed for the book said there’s a number of reasons for that. Number one, it’s about putting the pieces of the puzzle together. It’s about being an internet sleuth and trying to solve a crime yourself. It’s also creating a blueprint for them so that they can avoid becoming victims of crimes themselves. They watch these trials and learn different things, different tactics to to keep themselves safe.”
Both authors told WJCL 22 News they plan to donate 10% of the book’s royalties to charities that uphold victims’ rights.
“We think there’s some important lessons to learn out of this, but we also wanted to be part of the solution, and we think some money can go to make a difference,” Gordon said.
If you’d like to buy a copy of Trial Watchers, you can do so here.
We reached out to Hill’s attorneys for a comment on the new book. We have not heard back, but will update this article if we do.
