This rather unusual mystery takes place in a futuristic London. The royals are out and the country has a president. While this book can be read as a stand-alone, not having the background on the state of things could be a mite confusing. The title grabbed my interest, and I bypassed the first two books in the series. Catching up on things wasn’t too difficult, but it would have been better to read from the beginning of the series. In this novel, the country is in a state of coffee deprivation, and Howie Pond is trying to locate the government’s secret store that has gone missing. Meanwhile, his journalist wife Britt is trying to locate her own missing party: one of the royals is now a runaway fugitive. There’s a scary moment or two and plenty of humor in this adventure. Just make sure you have a cup of coffee, and keep your eyes open, because you never know. . . ( )

London, 2045. Three months into the Coffee Wars, and Britain's caffeine supplies are at critical levels. A secret Government coffee stockpile could save the day . . . but then mysteriously disappears overnight. Secret Agent Howie Pond is asked to unravel the missing-coffee mystery. And he's in desperate need of a triple espresso. Meanwhile, his journalist wife, Britt, is hunting royal fugitive Emma Windsor on the streets of the capital. Can Howie save the British Republic from caffeine-starved chaos?

The story switched back and forth between Howie and Britt. Howie was amusing as he bumbled through interviewing various quirky or uncooperative people about the missing coffee. Britt was amusing as she talked herself into and out of various situations using different identities to uncover the hiding place of Emma Windsor. I liked that this was humorous without being too silly. ( )

So here we have Britain in the 2040s as a Republic, with the Royal family exiled in the New States (USA). There is a Coffee War, with the British president imposing a Caftax, and the coffee producing countries refusing to accept it and arranging a coffee embargo against Britain. The caffeine deprived Brits are suffering.
As well as trying to figure out how to deal with their bumbling president and almost always intoxicated vice president, the National Security and Intelligence Service has to go into trouble-shooting mode when the secret stockpile of coffee beans disappears. Enter Howie Pond, secret agent and his wife, investigative reporter Britt Pond.
The characters are well drawn and likeable, the plot has its twists and turns, and the writing is not over the top, as could happen in a comedic tale such as this.
This is the first of the series I have read, but I will be taking a long look at the earlier and later titles.
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