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
What’s Age Got To Do With It?
While doing a book signing/program at a Borders Book Store in Nashua, New Hampshire shortly after the original version of A Favor Returned was released in May, 2000, I was asked a question concerning my decision to begin writing at my age. (I was sixty at the time.)...
The True Crime Neophyte Program
Here is a press release regarding a program which will be presented in New Hampshire on September 29, 2013: "On Sunday, September 29, 2013, at 2:00 P.M. Duke Southard will present a program entitled “Adventures of a True Crime Neophyte” in Willing Workers Hall on...
“You Must Have A Book!”
What follows is just an observation but it was important to me at the time and continues to be. When the original hard cover version of A Favor Returned was published with the help of "patrons of the arts" who wanted to see the book in print, the publisher, Peter E....
Self-publishing-Searching for a definition?
The Week from Heaven and Hell, shown here on the left, is a self-published book. Or is it? Here is its history. In 2003, Hot House Press, a small traditional publishing house published my second novel, Agent for Justice. In 2005, I submitted The Week from Heaven and...
Tale of Two Books-UPDATE
On Wednesday, 8/14/2013, I presented my program "A Tale of Two Books" to 38 people at the Green Valley Forum. All publicity for the event mentioned that the topic would be the "The Korean Conflict." It wasn't and for that I apologize. However, I am hoping...
Correction-For Jim Vittum
I know that last blog said there would not be another one until after I return from NH but this has to be corrected. In the newspaper article of a couple of weeks ago, there was an error. The truth is simply this: there was a possibility that Jim Vittums DNA (not...
Last blog- Stacey Burns (Murder book)
To my faithful blog followers: Barring any new information arriving in the next month or so, this will be the final blog about Murder in a Small Town: The Tragic Death of Stacey Burns until I return from New Hampshire in early October. That trip will determine what...
Wednesday’s Forum Program
The Green Valley Forum on Wednesday, August 14th, is my "A Tale of Two Books" program. It is not the "Korean Conflict" as had been listed in the calendar. I was requested to change the date from my original September 18 date to this Wednesday but the change never made...
If You Make It Up, It’s Fiction!
In my "Adventures of a True Crime Neophyte" program, I have tried to make the following case with varying degrees of success. If one is writing a non-fiction piece, whether memoir, personal essay or, in my case, true crime, my contention is that if an event, a...
More On Investigative Reporting
Here is an interesting and vexing dilemma for the beginner in the field of investigative reporting. What does one do when there is a unequivocal divide over what should be clear fact? For example, in my early research and interviews for Murder in a Small Town: The...
Wednesday, August 14 Program
Yes, despite the calendar in the Green Valley News indicating that Wednesday's GV Forum will be on the "Korean Conflict," it will not. My program on "A Tale of Two Books" will be presented. Be assured that I will not be speaking on Korea. This was the originally...
An Investigative Reporter? Maybe!
In presentations to professional writing groups about my current work on Murder in a Small Town: The Tragic Death of Stacey Burns, I've usually begun with a disclaimer announcing that I am not an investigative reporter. When I give this presentation from now on, that...