About Duke Southard

Duke Southard is a retired public school English teacher and Library/Media Specialist. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Villanova University, a Master of Arts degree from Rowan University and a C.A.G.S. degree from Boston University. During his teaching career, he published professional articles in Media and Methods Magazine, served as president of The New Hampshire Educational Media Association and won an “EDie,” the New Hampshire Excellence in Education Award for his outstanding contributions to the school library/media professional in the state.

His published works include six novels, a commissioned history, a memoir, and an anthology of prize winning short stories and essays. A Favor Returned, his first novel, was published in hard cover by Peter Randall and distributed by University Press of New England. Fourteen years later, a newly revised edition of A Favor Returned was published by Wheatmark, Inc. in Tucson, Arizona. The new edition earned finalist status in both the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards (2013) and the Indie Publishers Next Generation Book Awards (2015). Agent for Justice, his second novel, was published by Hot House Press in 2003 and the paperback version of that novel also earned finalist status in the 2014 NM/AZ Book Awards. The third and fourth novels, both in the Detective Parker Havenot series (Live Free or Die and Cracks in the Wall ) were also finalists in the NM/AZ Book Awards in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

2018 saw the publication of The Fallacy of Closure, an anthology, and The Final Tipping Point, the fourth novel in the Detective Parker Havenot series. Both of these books were finalists in two different literary contests.

The Week from Heaven and Hell, a memoir, was published by Wheatmark in 2010. The personal essay based on this book won first place in the prestigious Writer’s Digest Writing Competition in 2016. His short works have been regular award winners, including Three Weeks, a first place winner in the 2015 Society of southwestern Authors Writing Contest. In 2014, his personal essay earned him a place as a participant in the Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards Masters Workshop in non-fiction and in 2016, a short story entry garnered him the same honor in fiction. In 2007, he completed a non-fiction history of The Nick, a huge recreational facility in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire titled The Nick: A Vision Realized. Twice, his short

His books serve as a basis for a wide variety of programs which he has presented to dozens of school, library and community groups. He and his wife now live in Green Valley, Arizona, after spending most of their lives in New Jersey and New Hampshire.

The publication of Making Teresa Disappear, his sixth novel and ninth book, occurred in May, 2020.