Welcome! I’m Duke Southard, an author, retired educator, and lecturer.
I have published seven novels, a commissioned history, and an anthology of
award-winning short stories and essays.
Please check out my blog where I write about true crime and a wide ranging variety of literary and everyday subjects.
My Programs
My programs are offered free of charge to any schools, public libraries, and educational/community groups.
Free Book
Grab a free copy of my book, The Week from Heaven and Hell
My Books
View a list of my published books, including Tainted Justice.
Recent Posts
Revisiting “Murder in a Small Town: The Tragic Death of Stacey Burns”
I have removed the manuscript of "Murder in a Small Town" from the desk drawer where it has resided since it seemed hopeless that the Arrest/Trial/Convictions chapters would ever be written.I've begun sharing it with my Green Valley Writers Forum group. They are quite...
Stacey Burns-Approaching 5000 Days
I know it has been a long time since I posted here about Stacey Burns, but it doesn't mean I haven't thought about that terrible tragedy often as have many of you, I'm sure. It will soon be 5000 days since she was killed. I wonder how her killer views the approach of...
New Book-Tainted Justice
My new book, Tainted Justice, is now available on Amazon and other retail outlets. Ebook version will be available soon. This is my tenth published book since "retiring" from public education.
The Eight Party Line plus A Stacey Burns Response
Apparently, at least one other person, maybe two or three more, were interviewed in the spring by the detective working the Stacey Burns active (cold case) investigation. That would be about the same time I spoke with that same detective. Maybe there is some hope this...
A Short Story
This will be a change of pace but first a report on the "alibis" post of a week ago. I 've heard from one person regarding the "ongoing investigation" into the murder of Stacey Burns. A good friend (perhaps best?) of Stacey says she's been contacted once by phone...
Alibis Revisited
In reading through what I've written on Murder in a Small Town: The Tragic Death of Stacey Burns, I came across the chapter on alibis. Here is the opening paragraph. Chapter Thirteen (page 114) "An earlier chapter of this book addressed the issue of “degrees of...
Definition of Active
In June of 2013, I published a blog post here with my definition of the word, ACTIVE, as it applies to a murder investigation. In retrospect, it seems a bit harsh for the time. The reality is that seven years years had passed when in April of this year, a NHSP...
Stacey Burns-Progress?
In my last post, I mentioned I would use this post to update readers on Murder in a Small Town: The Tragic Death of Stacey Burns. This will be a short post! On April 6 of this year, I spoke with the detective who is currently working on the murder case of Stacey Burns...
The Ice Dam-Conclusion
Here is how our first ice dam story concluded. The experience was a harbinger of future ice dams in a new house we occupied for almost forty years in New Hampshire. With temperatures stuck in the low twenties and a light mist of freezing rain falling, we managed to...
The Ice Dam
A work in progress for me is a series of short stories/vignettes about our move from New Jersey to New Hampshire in 1970. My new teaching job started in January in one of the snowiest, coldest winters and it surely was the snowiest, coldest we had ever experienced,...
Two Killers
This will be a brief post, followed by another tomorrow regarding those pesky ice dams referred to in the last post. My question- is it safe to assume that the murderers of Stacey Burns and Bobbie Miller had gotten away with murder? I ask that quite innocently because...
A New Start
I am no longer writing for the Pro Writers Writing (PPW) blog so am going to try to resurrect this blog with some regularity. I know some of the followers are shaking their heads and saying that this is a story they have heard before, but I promise to do my best. The...