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
Proof submitted!
As of yesterday afternoon, the author's proof of the new edition of Agent for Justice was submitted to the publisher. After the corrections in the proof are incorporated into the manuscript, it will be sent to me for one more examination before it goes to publication,...
Eddieland redux
The post by Jim Vittum in which he relates an incident which took place while he was working a logging operation for Ed Burns is a perfect example of something I mentioned in my last post. It is an incident which is contained in the book, Murder in a Small Town: The...
“Eddieland”
Checking through my manuscript of Murder in a Small Town: The Tragic Death of Stacey Burns, I found a minimum of six references to "Eddieland," all of them directly attributed to Jim Vittum during the time he worked for Ed Burns on a logging operation and in personal...
Author’s proof
Received the author's proof of the new edition of Agent for Justice on Tuesday and have been working on it ever since, as has my second reader, my perfect (and very patient) wife, Barbara. With any luck, we'll get the approval copy to the publisher by next week so...
Anonymity=Safety
Enough people have mentioned this issue to make it public, yet again! Of course, this post is dealing with the murder of Stacey Burns. I am going to make up a composite comment, based on what I have heard from any number of people. This comment represents no one...
Surprised by the “Killer” question!
My last entry posed a few questions that I would have for the killer of Stacey Burns should he or she have the courage to step forward. I even boosted this post to circulate it to a much wider audience. I'll admit to being a little surprised that there hasn't been...
A “Killer” Question!
If asked to think about it, everyone would have an idea what they would like to ask the killer of Stacey Burns if they could do so without any risk. Here's what I would like to ask him or her if given the chance and I wouldn't even mind if there were some risk...
Criminology and Stacey Burns
I assume that the New Hampshire State Police have a trained criminologist as part of their homicide investigation team, or, at the very least, have access to one. I wonder how this expert has viewed the murder of Stacey Burns. Would he (or she) ascribe to the...
New jacket-Front cover
Here's the new jacket for the new edition of Agent for Justice! Let me know what you think!Thanks! Duke
Moving on #2
Here is a reply to a comment about my "Moving on" post of a few days ago. It explains further what I mean by moving on. "What I will not do is let it sit for another five years. What will sit is a manuscript I am proud of. When something happens, I'll be ready to add...
Moving on . . .
I will continue to post my opinions, comments, and questions about the Stacey Burns murder regularly. Be advised that some content will be repetitious from previous posts because there really is nothing new to report. Without an arrest or some equally dramatic event,...
What would you do?
Here I sit, with approximately 150+ pages of manuscript and more than 150 pages of notes and messages not used yet. Thus far, it is the "Jim Vittum Story" with a few notable exceptions. He is the only one who has been the supplier of information (copious, I might...