The Cocoa Conspiracy by Andrea Penrose

Overview:

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 about the incident until they attend a gathering on a country estate, where her assailant reappears and turns out to be 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 world of intrigue. To unmask the real 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 . . .

My Review:

This is the second installment of the Lady Arianna Regency Mystery series and while it took me quite a while to get my hands on it, it was definitely worth the wait.

Arianna is browsing in a bookstore for a birthday gift for her husband, Saybrook, and has just picked up a rare book of engravings on chocolate when a stranger tries to take it from her by force.  Arianna prevails and buys the book but soon discovers a secret hidden within that could bring down the entire British Empire if it fell into the wrong hands.  

Arianna and Saybrook are sent to a house party to gather information and Arianna finds herself face to face with the stranger who had attacked her in London who turns out to be a Russian diplomat.  When the book is nearly stolen again and Saybrook is shot at by an unknown assassin, the pair are sure that Renard - the mysterious puppet master they encountered in the previous book, and are quickly sent to Vienna to a peace conference to try and unmask him and prevent a World War. 

This book is full of historical details and I love that.  I also love the setting from the country estate in England to the glittering ball rooms of Vienna.  Penrose is able to draw the readers in to this wonderful world and when you're done with the story, it's almost disappointing to be back in reality.  

The characters are well fleshed out and though we mostly get the story from Arianna's eyes, we also get to see just enough of Saybrook's side to gain a deeper understanding of both of their inner demons and the struggle both are having in trying to figure out their new marriage.

At the beginning of each chapter, we get a chocolate recipe and I have every intention of typing them up and putting them in a binder so I can start trying them because they look fantastic!  

Overall, I really love this series.  As of now, it is just a trilogy but according to the author's website, there is a novella and she is supposed to be making an announcement on another full length novel in this series.  I really hope she continues this series because it is one of my favorites!