The Cocoa Conspiracy — Andrea Penrose

Chocolate mixed with conspiracy can be a recipe for death....

Lady Arianna Hadley, now the Countess of Saybrook, is settling into married life with her new husband. To celebrate his birthday, she finds the perfect gift: a rare volume of botanical engravings on Theobroma cacao, or chocolate. But she is forced to fight off a stranger who tries to steal it away.

Arianna and Saybrook forget the incident until they attend a gathering on a country estate, where her assailant reappears -- as a Russian diplomat. Events grow more ominous when Arianna discovers sensitive government documents hidden in the book's binding -- documents that suggest someone Saybrook and she hold dear is a traitor to King and country.

Murder, treason, money, power. Once again, Arianna and Saybrook are drawn into a web of intrigue. To unmask the villain, they journey to the Peace Congress in Vienna, where, amid the seductive pomp and pageantry of Europe's royalty, they must root out a cunning conspiracy -- armed only with their wits and their expertise in chocolate....