Dangerously Dark

A chocolate expert tries her hand once more as an amateur sleuth. Globe-trotting chocolate maven Hayden Mundy Moore has inherited a fortune contingent on her traveling at least six months a year. While she's in Portland, Oregon, for the engagement party of her college friend Carissa Jenkins, she enjoys the chocolate specialties of the famously foodie city. Her financial adviser, Travis Turner, a mystery man with a sexy voice, has arranged a lovely house rental, though her equally sexy protection expert, Danny Jamieson, arrives on the scene a bit concerned with her mental state after her very recent involvement in solving a murder in San Francisco (Criminal Confections, 2015). Carissa's ice cream business, Churn PDX, is part of a group of food carts called Cartorama, which feature chocolate in every form. When Carissa's fiance, Declan Murphy, is killed by the liquid nitrogen used to make ice cream, Hayden goes into sleuthing mode. She quickly learns that the diverse group of cart owners were not all that fond of Declan, who'd annoyed many of the male members by sleeping his way through the females. Carissa begs Hayden to stay on and help run the chocolate tour that Declan had just begun. That gives Hayden a chance to spend more time with all the suspects, including Carissa, who seems strangely unmoved by Declan's death. A minor mystery supplemented with romance, a brace of recipes, and a loving description of the food scene in Portland. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.