The Absence of Goodness

When a sheriff's deputy is brutally murdered, fellow deputy Margaret Donovan-his lover-questions every choice she has made as her life spins out of control. Struggling to find meaning amidst chaos, she returns to the faith in which she was raised. A friendship with a local nun motivates Margaret to hand in her badge and gun and devote her life to the convent.

Poised to make her final profession and take the veil, Margaret learns of the murder of two students. Her former boss asks her to help him to solve the killings. Margaret soon links the recent murders and a thirty-year-old cold-case slaying of another Saint Dominic's student. She also realizes the first murder is entangled in a cover-up designed to protect some influential people.

Working to identify the killer, her burdens escalate. Another child is on the killer's hit list, and she finds the detective with whom she's working, Bill Templeton, falling in love with her. Realizing she makes bad choices more often then she would like, Margaret desperately attempts to solve the murders and reconcile her spiritual and secular lives. Only God knows where it will all end, but Margaret's faith-and ultimately her love-will lead her to the truth.

A native of Iowa, Isaac Morris grew up in central Illinois and was educated for 12 years in parochial schools. He entered a Catholic seminary after high school, but left after one year and received a bachelor’s degree in English Literature in 1972 from MacMurray College, Jacksonville, Illinois. He earned a master’s degree in religion from Butler University and Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, in 1974. Mr. Morris worked for the Illinois state insurance department and the high-risk health insurance pool for 30 years, during which time he authored or ghostwrote articles for commissioners of insurance on insurance regulatory issues. His first novel, The Absence of Goodness, was self-published in 2008. His second novel, Along the River Road, was self-published first in Kindle format in 2011. The title was released through CreateSpace in January 2012. Mr. Morris is currently adjunct instructor of philosophy and religion for Lincoln Land Community College. He and his wife, Carol, live in Springfield, Illinois.