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
The Amazon Ratings (again!)
What a trip it is to check Amazon ratings for one's book! The fluctuations are rather dramatic. Do any of my writer friends out there know of a way to extract actual sales numbers from Amazon? Can the sale of two or three e-books make a significant difference in...
A Literary Tale?-GV Forum
"A Tale of Two Books" will be presented at the Green Valley Forum on August 14, 2013 instead of the originally schedule date of September 18. The program begins at 9:00 a.m. at Canoa Hills Rec Center instead of the usual venue of Desert Hills Rec Center. The focus of...
A civilian speculates about a killer . . .
The most common synonym for speculation is conjecture and that is all that may be offered here. After all, I am only a civilian, not privy to the facts and evidence which the police apparently have in copious amounts (but not enough) in the Stacey Burns murder case....
Sealing the lid on info flow?
Ongoing investigation! Open-unsolved! Active! Not a cold case! We have all heard these expressions over and over again in the four years since Stacey Burns was murdered. I've heard them yet again quite recently. Attempts to have a few events, conversations and...
A Favor Returned-Reviewed
A substantial degree of trepidation occurs when one's book is reviewed in the newspaper. Relief follows quickly if the review has positive things to say. So, check out the review of A Favor Returned. Here is the hot link to the book reviews in yesterday's paper....
Can A Re-release Outsell The Original?
A Favor Returned is now available in three formats: the original, in hardcover, is out of print. (I do, however, have boxes of them in my garage.)-:) The new revision can be purchased as a paperback and as an e-book for any e-book equipment. The new version, while...
Update-Batting average=.000
In the July 16th blog, I named three people I would be contacting and asking for fifteen minutes of their time when I return to New Hampshire in September. My hope was that these three could verify and/or corroborate a few details in the Stacey Burns murder case book....
A September Venue
My program, "Adventures of a True Crime Neophyte," will be presented at 2 p.m. on Sunday, September 29, 2013 at Willing Workers Hall on Route 109 in Melvin Village, New Hampshire. While the title is the same as the program I have presented to professional writer...
A matter of trust?
Just for the record, other than the cold case detective speaking with the editor of the Green Valley News, there is nothing in yesterday's article that should be a surprise to any of the people mentioned. Anyone who has kept up with my blogs about this subject has...
Front page article on Stacey Burns case
In the Green Valley News of today, Wednesday, July 24, 2013, there is a front page article about the Stacey Burns murder and the book I am working on. Here's the link to that article....
Credentials Must Mean A Lot!
Last Thursday, the editor of the local newspaper interviewed me for a possible story about my work on the Stacey Burns "murder book." Earlier in the morning, he had called the New Hampshire State Police and, with no apparent difficulty, was able to speak with the...
Shoulder sag or Fist pump?
In my "A Tale of Two Books" program, I will be pointing out some subtle and some not-so-subtle changes between the new edition and the original hard cover version of A Favor Returned. Here is one example and I will allow you to decide whether it is in the subtle or...