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
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Free Book
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My Books
View a list of my published books, including Tainted Justice.
Recent Posts
Libel and Slander
For the sake of clarification to some of the readers of this blog, this post must be written. First and foremost, I have no concern that the current draft of Murder in a Small Town: The Tragic Death of Stacey Burns contains anything that could be considered libelous...
Publishing Stacey Burns?
As this moment in time, it looks as if I will begin to publish Murder in a Small Town: The Tragic Death of Stacey Burns in serial fashion. One of my most revered authors (Charles Dickens) did that on numerous occasions so maybe it is not a bad idea. I'm still working...
Private investigator contact
On Saturday, I received a call from a private investigator in New Hampshire. Unfortunately, I was not at home and the message he left was garbled in places and I did not get the phone number to return the call. So, "John," I'd be happy to speak with you if you will...
Almost unanimous!
Thank you to all who responded to my "What do you think?" question in the last post. The results, which are viewable, are close to unanimous. It appears that most people would want to see something published about the Stacey Burns murder case. Currently, on my website...
It’s about time . . .
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...
What’s the harm?
At the risk of being chastised for repeating myself once too often, I'll do it anyway. In numerous posts about the Stacey Burns murder case, I mentioned my bewilderment at the hesitancy of the police to speak with me. Notice, I did not say provide me with any...
Deadly Habits vs Caring Habits
Honoring a request from one of my readers, here are all seven of Dr. William Glasser's Deadly Habits with corresponding Caring Habits. Remember, a major axiom of his Choice Theory is that the only person whose behavior we can control is our own. In a previous post, I...
Guilty by external control?
Years ago, I attended a seminar led by the brilliant Dr. William Glasser. His philosophy of "Choice Theory" affected my outlook on education dramatically and I've been thinking lately that it likely might help our understanding of what happened to Stacey Burns....
And they . . .turned to their affairs.”
Robert Frost's powerful poem, Out, Out, use a narrative style to tell the tragic story of a young boy who suffers a horrible farmyard accident as he is cutting wood. When the boy dies as a result of the accident, Frost ends the poem with a telling commentary on...
Current Projects
While preparing a biography for a planned panel of memoir writers, I realized that I have not kept readers informed of my current works in progress. Anyone reading my posts are well aware of Murder in a Small Town: The Tragic Death of Stacey Burns. This is my longest...
Enough shame to go around
Is anyone else getting tired of this? I did not know Stacey but my reasons for trying to write a book about her _______murder (I am running out of adjectives to describe it) have been documented over and over again. However, I feel a personal shame that my...
Compartmentalizing a murder
Today, I share a thought from someone whom I shall not name but it is someone I highly respect. The truth in the short statement is rather profound. Here it is: "Somewhere someone lives with the memory of murdering Stacey. I wonder who that person is and how it is...