While not as funny as some of the books in Smith's famous best-selling series, "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency," "Friends, Lovers, Chocolate" is still a delectable read. It's the second in Smith's latest series, "The Sunday Philosophy Club," but don't be dissuaded if you missed the first in the series: You can launch into this book without feeling lost. Isabel Dalhousie, Smith's divorced fortyish heroine, edits a philosophy journal, "The Review of Applied Ethics," in Edinburgh, Scotland. That sounds staid, but Isabel also is caught in a crush on her young niece's ex-boyfriend, a flirtation with an Italian traveler, and unexpectedly ends up playing detective in the curious case of Ian, a man who had memories that weren't his after receiving a heart transplant. Ian tells Isabel of his recurring visions of the disturbing face of a man with a high forehead, a man he feels sure he has never met: "This thing that is happening to me is very unsettling." He paused, staring down at his plate. "In fact, I'm worried that it's going to kill me." After Ian asks for help, Isabel jumps right in, perhaps further than he may have expected. "Isabel had firm views If one encounters the need of another and one is in a position to help, then one should do so." Isabel's well-intentioned efforts to find the identity of the anonymous heart donor lead her to turn her steely, skeptical intellect toward a local seance, into the living room of a bereaved mother under extremely awkward circumstances and finally to the truth. Along the way, readers learn Isabel's thoughts on everything from beaches to Bugatti cars, sprinkles of Scottish poetry, and interesting words such as akrasia ("weakness of will, by which we do that which we really want to do in full knowledge that we should be doing something else") and intromitter ("an old Scots law term describes somebody who gets involved").

I had hoped for more mention of chocolate in the book, and while there are some mouthwatering passages about Isabel's meals, imported Parmesan cheese, fish stew, and the like, the passages on chocolate were nice but a bit austere, such as "Chocolate involves major philosophical problems," she said. "It shows us a lot about temperament and self-control."

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