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
My “Murder Book”
About once a week, I revisit what I call my "murder book" on the Stacey Burns murder. It is a very thick , three ring binder, filled with all sorts of notes, emails, newspaper clippings, interview transcriptions, etc. The murder book term is a common one in stories...
Stacey Burns Progress Report
As promised in my last post, here is the progress report on the Stacey Burns murder case from only my perspective. On May 25, in response to a comment on this blog that the "(Stacey Burns) case is over," I sent a question to the NHSP asking if this respondent was...
Back to work
After a two week hiatus, I will begin posting regularly on this blog. The last couple of weeks have been fun, spending quality time with our grandkids visiting from Maryland (shown in the photos petting stingrays at the Desert Museum and taking a horseback riding...
Catch up
For this past week and the next, any posts will be sporadic at best. We've had our grandchildren, ages 9 & 12, here for this week and then we travel to the east coast with them back to their home in Bel Air, Maryland. What a great visit with young kids! Needless...
Catch 22?
For those wondering about the status of investigation into the tip i submitted to the NHSP in early May . . . Of the seven people I thought would be interviewed based on that information, I can only confirm that three have been spoken to by police. One additional...
Urgent tip response
What follows is an email received from a follower of this blog, used with permission. It explains what the NHSP say they are doing in the Stacey Burns murder case and other so-called cold cases. It also explains why I have not and evidently will not receive...
That troublesome “tip” again!
Followers of this blog are aware that in early May, I sent an unsolicited "tip" regarding the murder of Stacey Burns to the NHSP Cold Case unit. This tip originated with an old friend from New Hampshire and contained what I thought was new information. It was my...
Two wrongs
Do you remember your parents admonishing you for retaliation on a sibling or a classmate who had wronged you in some way? "Two wrongs don't make a right," they would say as you wondered why it is always the second person into the fray that takes the blame. Isn't it...
Irresponsible and Cruel
What follows is one of the most upsetting posts for me personally since I started the "Stacey Burns murder project." It is a response to my post entitled "Ten Suspects." "Telling Stacey’s children that there could be as many as 10 people, one being their own father...
Ten Suspects
Ten suspects in the murder of Stacey Burns? This is a revised version of a post of over a year ago because of new information I've received over the last few months. I spent some time yesterday looking back through notes from interviews, e-mails, and phone calls I've...
Tip Status Update-Stacey Burns Murder
As promised in a previous post, here is the latest update I have received thus far from a "tip" which I submitted in mid-May regarding the murder of Stacey Burns. I would not feel comfortable releasing any details of the information I submitted as it could possibly...
Character Flaw
The is a little different kind of post. The next post I do will fill you in on the progress of my "hot tip" of six weeks ago. So, I'm wondering . . . Is wanting to keep everyone happy a character flaw? In Cracks in the Wall, Linda Phillips, the protagonist, has this...