44 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2026 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL FICTION Asking for an Effort Nicholas Busselman, Novelty Fiction, 2026, $11.99/paperback, e-book available, 112 pages. Unlike his infamous and legendary older brothers, Mitch lacks initiative and purpose. A half-hearted, monthslong job search on foot finally leads him to the Pimlico Race Course, where an attractive girl on horseback ignites a flame deep inside him. Suddenly stubborn and determined, he seems bound to become a fixture or a failure at the racetrack, where the thoroughbreds stand ready to run. Set in the late 1970s to early 1980s, Asking for an Effort gives the reader a detailed and authentic understanding of the horse racing culture, social norms, and family synergies of that era. Nicholas Busselman is the spouse of a Foreign Service financial management officer currently posted in Libreville, Gabon, with an onward assignment in Lilongwe, Malawi. The Expediter Kenneth Dekleva, independently published, 2026, $10.99/paperback, e-book available, 189 pages. When a grieving Bosnian refugee mother asks Father Ishmael, a retired hostage negotiator turned parish priest, to reopen her murdered son’s cold case, the investigation carries him from Texas to Sarajevo, Vienna, Jerusalem, Rome, and Tehran, where he meets with diplomats, intelligence officers, and Vatican officials and moves toward a reckoning that will test his faith and resolve. A forensic psychiatrist and former Foreign Service specialist, Dr. Kenneth Dekleva knows the world of The Expediter from the inside. This thriller is for anyone drawn to stories of forgiveness and redemption, and for readers looking for insider-written espionage fiction. Kenneth Dekleva served as a regional medical officer/ psychiatrist (RMO/P) with the State Department from 2002 to 2016 in Moscow, New Delhi, Mexico City, Vienna, Washington, D.C., and London. Day of Wrath Otho Eskin, Meridian Editions, 2026, $19.95/paperback, e-book available, 258 pages. When Washington, D.C., homicide detective Marko Zorn is called to the city’s cathedral, he finds a scene as chilling as it is surreal: the bloodied body of the cardinal archbishop lies on the church floor, a playing card clutched in his hand. Marko learns the card is a key to an ancient secret from the mountains of Mexico, where the archbishop once encountered a shadowy cult devoted to Holy Death. As Marko digs deeper, he’s pulled into a secretive world of ritual and power that stretches from a remote desert village to the inner sanctums of the Vatican. What begins as a murder investigation quickly spirals into something far more dangerous: a calculated plot to infiltrate the Catholic Church and extend the cult’s reach into the modern world. With bodies mounting, time running out, and the pope on his deathbed, Marko must expose the truth before the cult’s influence becomes unstoppable. This is the fifth and final book in the Marko Zorn series. Otho Eskin joined the Foreign Service in 1961 and retired in 1982. He served in Damascus, Belgrade, Reykjavík, Berlin, and Washington, D.C. Freida’s Secret Robert Gribbin, independently published, 2025, $13.99/paperback, e-book available, 181 pages. This novel opens with the real-life 1887 effort to rescue Emin Pasha, governor of Equatoria, Sudan, from the clutches of Islamist jihadists hiding in the Congo Basin. The governor is found but only reluctantly agrees to be rescued and to leave Equatoria for the coast. At this point the narrative shifts its focus to Pasha’s daughter, Freida. A multiracial child, she is sent to Germany where she adapts to life and culture, even into the Nazi era, all the while hiding a secret from long-ago Africa. Robert Gribbin joined the Foreign Service in 1973 and was posted in Bangui, Kigali, Mombasa, and Kampala. He was U.S. ambassador to the Central African Republic (1993–1995) and Kenya (1996–1999). After retiring in 1999, he served as a short-term WAE in Mauritius, Djibouti, Bujumbura, N’Djamena, Abuja, Freetown, Monrovia, Kinshasa, Juba, and Accra.
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