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

A Final Tipping Point

When will the Stacey Burns murder reach a final tipping point? On Saturday, we officially launched my new book, The Final Tipping Point. As I was once again perusing my murder book with material I've gathered on the Stacey Burns case, I thought about the central theme...

read more

85%

Just wondering if the new crime will result in an 85 % chance of conviction . . . However, we all know that 85 % is not good enough odds to bring forth the case, correct? Duke

read more

Another murder?

This will be brief: I know nothing about the incident in Wolfeboro. I am praying that it is not another case of "Come to New Hampshire where you can get away with murder." To whomever is affected, my sincere condolences. . . Looking forward to learning more details .....

read more

July 27, 2010 and August 13, 2011

Several people expressed interest in the historical perspective presented by revisiting past emails, blog posts, and other materials contained in my "murder book" about the Stacey Burns murder. I'll share some of them in the interest of trying to make some sense of...

read more

An Invitation To All!

  All of my southern Arizona friends (and anyone else) are invited to a wine/light appetizers open house to celebrate the official publication of The Final Tipping Point, the fourth novel in the Detective Parker Havenot series. The date is Saturday, October 20, 2018...

read more

More from “Murder in a Small Town . . .”

In preparation for a possible conversation with a television reporter (which hasn't happened yet but may fairly soon), I spent an hour or so leafing through what I call my personal "murder book," a term used widely by real detectives. It is a compilation of every...

read more

Messed up?

I will confess to finding it hard to come up with a new way to say this but here it goes and let the (cliché) chips fall where they may. Two murders, committed about twelve miles apart (across the big lake) almost ten years ago remain unsolved. Bobbie Miller and...

read more

My Tips

As I contemplate why only one person has responded to my request for knowledge of people interviewed during the tenth year of the Stacey Burns murder investigation, I began thinking about the "tips' about the murder that have come my way as a result of my blog and my...

read more

Yeah, but what about . . .?

I' m wondering about this as it becomes more prevalent. I call it the "but what about?" syndrome. The syndrome kicks in when someone is accused of anything, from a serious crime to hurling a simple verbal insult. No sooner is the perpetrator called for the infraction,...

read more

Twelve Days

After waiting twelve days for responses to my last post, I decided that I should let you know the results of my request. That post, read by dozens of people, resulted in two responses. Both can be read on my website under the category of "Murder in a Small Town." One...

read more

Interviews and followups(From March, 2013)

Five and half years ago, (March 28, 2013) back when I believed that the murderer of Stacey Burns would be caught, I asked this question in a blog post.  It makes sense, to me at least, to ask the question again since it seems a valid one, even after over five years....

read more

The Final Tipping Point (e-books)

All types of e-book versions of The Final Tipping Point are now available. Here are the links: Amazon (Kindle) http://www.amazon.com Barnes and Noble (Nook) http://www.barnesandnoble.com Google http://play.google.com/store/books Thanks for your support and be sure to...

read more