The Foreign Service Journal, November 2020

58 NOVEMBER 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Fire on the Island: A Romantic Thriller Timothy Jay Smith, Arcade CrimeWise, 2020, $24.99/hardcover, e-book available, 288 pages. This playful romantic thriller features a gay Greek American FBI agent who is undercover on a sun-drenched Greek island to investigate a series of mysteri- ous fires. As the locals grapple with declining tourism, poverty, refugees, family feuds and a perilously damaged church, an arsonist invades their midst. Set against the very real refugee crisis cur- rently taking place in Greece, the novel paints a loving portrait of a community in crisis. Nick Damigos, the FBI agent, arrives on the island just in time to witness the latest fire and save a beloved truffle-sniffing dog. Hailed as a hero and embraced by the community, Nick finds himself drawn to Takis, a young bartender who becomes his primary suspect—which is a problem because they’re having an affair. A longtime devotee of the Greek islands, the author paints the setting with gorgeous color and empathy, and delivers a romantic thriller with the charm of Zorba the Greek while shedding bright light on the very real challenges of life in contemporary Greece. Timothy Jay Smith lives in Paris with his partner of 38 years, a former Foreign Service Reserve officer and retired Peace Corps chief financial officer. He has published several award-winning works, including A Vision of Angels , which won the Paris Prize for Fiction, and his first stage play, “How High the Moon,” which won the prestigious Stanley Drama Award. He is the founder of the Smith Prize for Political Theater. Smith published another novel, The Fourth Courier: A Novel , in 2019 (see next entry). The Fourth Courier: A Novel Timothy Jay Smith, Arcade Publishing, 2019, $24.99/hardcover, e-book available, 320 pages. The U.S. embassy in Warsaw invites FBI agent Jay Porter there in 1992 to help police with an investigation into a series of grisly murders, when police discover that the victims may have been couriers smuggling nuclear mate- rial out of the former Soviet Union. During the investigation, Porter, who has family connections to the Manhattan Project, learns that a Russian physicist who designed a portable atomic bomb has disappeared. The authorities race to find him—and the bomb—before it ends up in the wrong hands. Smith creates a haunting atmosphere in post–Cold War Poland, a country undergoing massive change right after the fall of the Soviet Union. The story brings together a straight FBI agent and a gay Black CIA officer, Kurt Crawford, who work together to solve a gruesome case involving radioactive contraband, corrupt government officials and unconscionable greed. The U.S. ambassador to Poland gives Porter and Crawford wide latitude to solve the case as they see fit, and even steps in at times to offer his assistance. The Last Rhino Robert Gribbin, iUniverse, 2020, $13.99/paperback, e-book available, 218 pages. Reformed hunter Philippe returns to Africa to help manage Garamba National Park and bolster conserva- tion efforts. Replete with wildlife and big game, the park is a natural para- dise, but is not without threats. Beyond the wildlife, Philippe must contend with many of the violent actors that inhabit the park, including aggressive poachers, regional soldiers and the vicious Lord’s Resistance Army. Briefings from locals and United Nations peacekeepers make it clear that he has his work cut out for him. Among his priorities is protecting the rare white rhinoceros, which has been hunted almost to extinction. After Philippe visits a small community sheltering some of the last white rhinos in Africa, he ponders how he can best protect this endangered species. If word gets out that this small community of Wayamba is protecting white rhinos, all sorts of actors may swoop in, from international conservationists to regional governments, and from sightseers to—perhaps worst of all—poachers. When Philippe receives reports that poachers are killing off elephants and penetrating into the grounds of the park, he must arm himself to defend against the worst, and seek out more firepower to ensure the threat is stopped for good. Ambassador (ret.) Robert Gribbin spent many years in