So Colorful and Cute!
Arsenic and Adobo
by Mia P. Manansala
When Lila Macapagal moves back home after a breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She's tasked with saving her Tita Rosie's failing restaurant, and she has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties who shower her with love and judgement.
But when a notoriously nasty food critic(who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case. Armed with the nosy auntie network, a barista best bud, and her trusted Dachshund, Lila takes on this twisted case and soon finds her own neck on the chopping block.
"My name is Lila Macapagal and my life has become a rom-com cliche."
With that opening line, we get a taste(ha) of the author's humor. She knows the common tropes used in a cozy mystery series and she's not afraid to wield them: meddling aunties, a cute dog, a best friend with a secret, a cop treating her like she's the only suspect, and two cute love interests to choose from. Plus some food. Oh the food! One dish is described as the Filipino equivalent of hygge. I would argue that it all sounded like the Filipino equivalent of hygge.
The main character is in her mid twenties, so don't go into this expecting her to be fully matured. There is still a bit of high school drama with a formal rival. There's also a bit of whining about familial responsibility. However, Lila experiences real growth through this book and I look forward to seeing her continued growth in the next book.
The relationship between Lila and her best friend, Adeena, is so realistic. It perfectly shows the way two best friends react to each other's issues and the way they support each other, but aren't afraid to call each other out. Also, the closeness and the ability to communicate without words. There was one particular instance when I actually took a screen shot from my kindle and texted it to my best friend because the scene was exactly the way we are.
It had been a while since I read a cozy mystery and this book definitely reminded me of why I love this particular genre. A five star read that I highly recommend.
**There is a trigger warning in the front of the book regarding evidence planting and police intimidation, as well as mild drug use, fatphobia, racism, and domestic violence. These are all mild as this is a cozy, but it's still a crime novel. Please be aware going into this book. I am personally glad that the author addressed these right from the beginning.**
About The Author:
Mia P. Manansala is a book coach and the author of ARSENIC AND ADOBO (Berkley 2021), the first in the Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery series.
She uses humor (and murder) to explore aspects of the Filipino diaspora, queerness, and her millennial love for pop culture.
She is the winner of the 2018 Hugh Holton Award, the 2018 Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award, the 2017 William F. Deeck - Malice Domestic Grant for Unpublished Writers, and the 2016 Mystery Writers of America/Helen McCloy Scholarship. She's also a 2017 Pitch Wars alum and 2018-2020 mentor.
A lover of all things geeky, Mia spends her days procrastibaking, playing JRPGs and dating sims, reading cozy mysteries, and dreaming of becoming best buds with Wonder Woman and Kamala Khan.
When she’s not sassing her ever-so-patient husband, she’s cuddling her dogs Max Power and Bayley Banks (bonus points to those who get the name references) at her home just outside of Chicago.