A MUST READ from a sophomore author. Ruth Francisco proves with her second book that some folk are just born with the right stuff.

GOOD MORNING, DARKNESS is a book about a young woman named Laura and the slow disintegration of her life. As the book opens part of a body has washed ashore. At the same time Laura no longer inhabits her apartment near the beach. She was a woman whom men noticed and now that she’s no longer there they wonder where she could be. Is she the unidentified corpse? The fisherman who found the first arm is sure it’s her. The policeman who was giving her self-defense lessons believes the body may well be Laura’s. In a Catch-22 situation there is no report that the lady is missing and so nothing for him to investigate…. at least above the radar. The ex boyfriend says she’s left to take care of her mother. Francisco slowly shows us the life that was Laura’s. She uses multiple points of view. Unwanted attention from the ex is accelerating rapidly towards violence. Work is becoming intolerable. Her first date after the break up goes badly. Our author strings our emotions along. We feel the angst within this story.

Just as you become totally invested in this tale the other shoe is dropped and we realize we’ve only just begun one of the most original mysteries of 2004.

Ruth Jordan