The Foreign Service Journal, November 2013

38 NOVEMBER 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL The Women’s Coffee Shop Andriana Ierodiaconou, CreateSpace, 2012, $8.55, paperback, 238 pages. This murder mystery is set on an eastern Mediterranean island shortly after the end of colonial rule, during a period of rapid change and growing conflict between Christians and Muslims. As the story opens, Angelou Pieri, a social activist who has dared to open a coffee shop for the women of the village, where they can drink and gossip like the men, has just discovered that her good friend, Avraam Salih, is dead. Because of his Christian-Muslim background and profes- sional, political and romantic exploits, Salih’s murder proves difficult to untangle. Yet Angelou and the women of her cultur- ally suspect coffeehouse are determined to discover the motives for the killing and identify the perpetrator. As readers turn the pages, they will relish the descriptive imagery and complex set- ting of the novel, and will not want to rest until the mystery has been solved. Andriana Ierodiaconou, the wife of retired FSO Alan Berlind, is a Cypriot author, poet and former journalist who writes in both English and Greek. She graduated fromOxford University with a degree in biochemistry, but chose to pursue her passion for writ- ing. Her first novel was Margarita’s Husband (Armida, 2007). Leonidas of Sparta: A Heroic King Helena P. Schrader, Wheatmark, 2012, $25.95, paperback, 584 pages. As this third volume in a trilogy of bio- graphical novels about the title character and his faithful wife, Queen Gorgo, opens, Persia has crushed the Ionian revolt and is gathering a massive army to invade and punish mainland Greece. Meanwhile, in Sparta the dangers are even closer to home, as Leonidas and Gorgo do their best to steer their beloved city-state through the dangerous waters of domestic strife and external threat. The first book in the series, A Boy of the Agoge , described Leonidas’ childhood in the Spartan public school, while the second, A Peerless Peer , focused on his years as an ordinary citi- zen. This final installment tells the story of his rise to power and tumultuous reign. The murder of two Persian ambassadors by an agitated Spartan Assembly sets in train the inevitable conflict between the two powers that will take Leonidas toThermopy- lae—and into history. FSO Helena P. Schrader is an economic officer in Addis Ababa. Her previous assignments include Oslo, Lagos and Leipzig. In addition to two novels about Sparta, she has pub- lished several non-fiction works, including The Blockade Blockers (History Press, 2008) about the Berlin Airlift, and Sisters in Arms: British and American Women Pilots During World War II (Pen & Sword Books, 2006). Africa’s Embrace Mark Wentling, Peace Corps Writers, 2013, $16.78, paperback, 336 pages. This novel beckons the reader to join the lively narrative of David, known by his new African name “Bobovovi,” on a life-altering journey to a land far away from his rural Kansas upbringing. David first travels to West Africa on a Peace Corps mission with the intention of spending a few years achieving his goals before returning to regular life in the United States. Though his plans keep going awry, David (Bobovovi) finds his connection to the continent growing ever stronger, and he is less and less able to let go. The reader will become enticed by the magic that surrounds Bobovovi, largely inspired by the rich history and mystical cus- toms that are still prevalent in modern-day Africa. His spiritual moonbeam experience causes him to be regarded as a hero, and he finds that his life is becoming ever more intertwined with the culture than he could have imagined. Through all of his relation- ships and loves, Bobovovi grows and experiences the adventures that make up life. Before joining the Foreign Service, Mark Wentling was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras and Togo. During his subsequent career with USAID, he was posted to Niamey, Conakry, Lomé, Mogadishu and Dar es Salaam. After retiring from the Foreign Service, he has continued to work in Africa. Over the past four decades, he has visited all 54 countries on the continent. Jewelry from a Grave: A P.J. Smythe Mystery Caroline Taylor, Five Star Publishing, 2013, $25.95, hardcover, 276 pages. A gripping adventure mystery, Jewelry from a Grave is the story of an aspiring investigator, P.J. Smythe, and her search to uncover the truth behind the strange and deadly occurrences that surround her.