The Foreign Service Journal, November 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2021 59 Rossio Square N.°59 , the author’s debut novel, transports us back 70 years to a Lisbon in turmoil, full of spies for the fascist powers and the beleaguered Western democracies. The formerly sleepy capital suddenly finds itself harboring tens of thousands of refugees, who look to America as a new promised land. There may be few rooms available in Lisbon, but it does have space for two young people to fall in love. Jeannine Maia is fond of keys, diaries and anything that leads to unexpected journeys. Before moving to Porto, Portugal, where she now lives, she worked for more than 13 years in Brussels as a Foreign Service National in the public affairs section of the United States Mission to the European Union. Prior to that, she did stints as a journalist in Belgium and Washington, D.C., studied international relations in the United States and Italy (at the University of Virginia and SAIS Johns Hopkins, respectively), taught English in France, earned a creative writing master’s degree and lived in Cabo Verde. This book was originally published in Portuguese by LeYa/Casa das Letras as Praça do Rossio, N.°59 . The Serpent of the Nile Robert Gribbin, independently published, 2021, $13.99/paperback, e-book available, 165 pages. This taut thriller opens with Paul Sim- mons, a former Peace Corps volunteer who is now a Nairobi-based freelance journalist, being freed from captivity in South Sudan. Surprise: Someone doesn’t appreciate his dogged pursuit of stories of corruption, arms smug- gling and human trafficking in that wartorn nation, the newest in Africa. But who? And who, or what, is the novel’s titular snake? As Simmons gets caught up in the violence and intrigue that plague one of the world’s most desperate nations, Robert Gribbin introduces us to a kaleidoscopic cast that includes figures from the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army and some of their local victims, as well as government employees, British and American expatriates, missionaries and (fictional!) Embassy Juba personnel. Set against the grim reality and history of the region, and drawing on the author’s decades of diplomacy in Africa, this novel accurately portrays the despair, hope and aspirations of South Sudan’s beleaguered people. Ambassador (ret.) Robert Gribbin spent 35 years in East and Central Africa, first as a Peace Corps volunteer and then as a Foreign Service officer. He was posted to 15 African countries and served on delegations to the United Nations General Assembly and U.N. Human Rights Commission. He served as U.S. ambassador to Rwanda (1996-1999) and to the Central African Republic and occasionally takes on short-term assignments for the Department of State. He is the author of In the Aftermath of Genocide: The U.S. Role in Rwanda (2005), State of Decay (2012) and a novel set in the Congo, The Last Rhino (2020). Murder My Past: A Ross Agency Mystery Delia C. Pitts, BookBaby, 2021, $15.38/paperback, e-book available, 316 pages. As this fifth book in the Ross Agency Mystery series opens, Harlem private eye SJ Rook is in a good place in his life. He’s building a new life at a neighborhood detective agency, and in a solid relationship with his crime- fighting partner, Sabrina Ross. Then, for the first time in years, SJ hears from his ex-wife, Annie, who is visiting the Big Apple for a convention. Shortly after they meet, possibly rekindling their romance, Annie is murdered, forcing Rook to return to a place he never wanted to visit again: his past. There‘s no shortage of suspects, but his suspicions focus on a group of university professors in Annie’s circle. His quest for justice leads him to dig up campus secrets, past and present, while coping with violence. Rook’s investigation also uncovers clues to another mystery from the past, a case that strikes even closer to home. His boss’s wife was talented, volatile and troubled, vanishing without a trace 25 years ago. If Rook solves this ice-cold missing persons case, perhaps he can finally give his boss closure. Can he figure out the connection and bring the killers to justice before the past fades forever? Delia C. Pitts, a former Foreign Service officer, university administrator and journalist, is the author of the Ross Agency Mystery series, featuring private investigator SJ Rook. Previous installments include Lost and Found in Harlem (2017), Practice the Jealous Arts (2018), Black and Blue in Harlem (2019) and Pauper and Prince in Harlem (2020). She lives in central New Jersey with her husband.