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.
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My Books
View a list of my published books, including Tainted Justice.
Recent Posts
Picking a cover- What fun!
This past week, Wheatmark Publishers submitted three possible choices for the front jacket of the new version of Agent for Justice, all of them quite good. The decision was a difficult one because, as you all know, readers choosing a book obviously look at the cover...
Pondering unanswered questions
This post will be brief. Since starting this blog, I have posted 189 commentaries of varying length. Most of them raised questions about the Stacey Burns murder case directed at many different individuals as well as entities such as the police , family, and friends....
Another sad day
Twenty two years! It doesn't seem possible but yesterday marked the anniversary of our son's death. He was twenty nine years old, in the prime of his life. He was home for his sister's wedding, after which he would be attending the Colorado School of Mines for an...
Fox News Report
Several of my correspondents have sent me the link to the Fox News report on the murder of Stacey Burns and I thank you them for that. I have several questions based on that news report and wondered if anyone else might have had similar questions. First, one person...
A Sad Day
Tomorrow will be a sad day for so many people whose lives were touched by Stacey Burns. This post will contain none of the usual efforts to spur someone to action as readers have come to expect. There will be no sarcasm, cajoling, or begging. It will be brief. To...
Jim Vittum-Agent for justice?
Anyone who saw the 20/20 television show would remember the comments from Brad Garrett, the FBI profiler regarding Jim Vittum's attempts to play an active role in the investigation of the Stacey Burns murder. That show aired in January, 2011. Yes, folks, that was over...
Optimist or pessimist?
Given what has developed so far in the murder of Stacey Burns, would you cast yourself as an optimist or a pessimist? Are you confident that her murderer will be arrested and convicted or do you doubt that anyone will ever pay the price for this horrendous crime? In...
Christmas and Stacey Burns
A number of years ago, I was asked to substitute as a "lay minister" at our church in Melvin Village, N.H. It was the week after Christmas and our pastor was receiving a well-deserved weekend off. My message, not really a sermon, dealt with the danger of packing away...
Ed Burns-Agent for Justice?
As if anyone needs a reminder, ten days from now, Stacey will have been gone for five years! In keeping with a theme established several posts ago, here is another candidate for Stacey Burns's agent for justice. Recall that agent for justice is a phrase used in my...
Phone call content
Everyone realizes that there is no way to confirm the content of Stacey's call the Saturday before she was killed. At least four people have told me about the content of some of the calls and I have no reason to doubt what they have said. However, as mentioned before...
Thirty two phone calls
In the last post, I mentioned that by my count, Stacey Burns made or received 32 phone calls on the day before she was murdered. Comments to that post indicate that thirty two calls would not be unusual for Stacey. It is important to know that my count comes from...
Agent for Justice # 4
The fourth possibility for an agent for justice for Stacey Burns is, as was the third, a group of people. This group is composed of friends of Stacey's, friends who could be called her inner circle. These are people who saw Stacey regularly, spoke with her on the...