Joseph Cowley

A Jury of His Peers

George Andrews, a textbook salesman in his mid-thirties, lives in the suburbs with a lovely wife, two small children who love and adore him, and wonderful friends and neighbors. One day a horrible crime takes place. A young high school girl of fifteen is raped and murdered in the woods adjacent to the school. George was in the school, selling textbooks, at the time the crime took place. Circumstantial evidence points to him as the perpetrator. Is he guilty? Friends and neighbors, even his wife, become part of the jury that tries him before the trial in the courtroom can even take place. In the end, there are three juries. You, the readers and audience, are the third jury. What is your verdict?

Selected Works

Fiction
An historical look at adultery under the Puritans, and the suffering it causes two people accused of it.
Novel abridged and simplified. Meets requirements for level 4 of Ladder series for ESL students.
Non-Fiction
A clear, concise, brief recounting of the life of our second President, the American Revolution, and the founding of this country
An Armchair Guide to Scientific Decision-Making for the busy executive
Anthology
Once More With Feeling; The Chrysanthemum Garden; Another Great Day; He Says, She says; The Stargazers
Novels
Two older people find happiness in late-blooming love
Novel of a “lost weekend” told with brutal honesty
Novel of Great Depression bound to become a classic
CIA agent caught in rebellion to overthrow a brutal tyrant
A wealthy old man discovers the secret to eternal life
Plays
Conflict between Kepler and Tycho Brahe for the secrets of the solar system
A textbook salesman is accused of a horrible crime. Is he guilty? Who is to judge?
Two plays dealing with love that can be produced separately or on same bill
Stories
Stories about love at all ages, from teenage to nonage
"Strange" stories, of children playing a deadly game to the weird adventures of a clutch of explorers
Four novellas about love that have been reprinted in The Night Billy Was Born