Some new folks have joined this blog and I feel a need to bring everyone up to date on what it is all about.

A little more than a year after Stacey Burns was murdered,  I initiated my work on Murder in a Small Town: The Tragic Death of Stacey Burns with an unofficial and unrecorded conversation with Jim Vittum on his logging barge in Lake Winnipesaukee. Subsequently, after much discussion with my family about the wisdom of undertaking the project, I contacted a good friend of Stacey’s who encouraged me to pursue the idea. I decided to try it despite my lack of experience in the true crime genre.

My personal caveat was that no one should profit from such a horrible crime so I made it known that any net proceeds from the sale of a book, should it ever be published, would benefit the established foundation fund for the Burns children.

In late October, 2010, I returned to New Hampshire and conducted extensive interviews with friends, colleagues, and acquaintances of Stacey Burns and began to work in earnest on the book. At that time, I sent letters to Ed Burns, the Keane family, and the police (both state and local) requesting interviews. These letters, some of which were sent certified, produced negative results. The police said they could not comment on the case, the family did not want to be involved in the project at all, and the letters (including one certified) to Ed Burns were ignored or returned to me.

While I have worked on other projects during the last three and half years, Murder in a Small Town: The Tragic Death of Stacey Burns has consumed a substantial amount of my writing time. Subsequent trips back to New Hampshire have only led to additional frustration as the people who could supply new information will not do so and I have no standing to force them to talk to me.

So, that is the situation right now. Some of my family and friends have said I should just publish what I have. What do you think?

Duke