Okay so I think this book is the definition of a “cozy thriller”?! I think it might actually be the first cozy thriller I’ve ever read and I devoured it! I wish I could also devour every delicious dish they talked about in this story 🌶Arsenic and Adobo is the 1st book in the Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery series and I can’t wait for more!

Synopsis from Goodreads: Lila Macapagal moved back home to recover from a horrible 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 moment after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case.

I absolutely loved reading all of the delicious food and coffee descriptions 🥘☕️ I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me hungry at times... This was such a fun, lighthearted (although definitely a murder mystery), super witty and enjoyable story!

I really liked how this book had different aspects from different cultures. I particularly liked learning about the Filipino culture and cuisine. Spoiler Alert 🚨 There are recipes at the end of the book!! 🤤 Another awesome thing is that the author included a glossary and pronunciation guide at the beginning of the book which was super helpful!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the eARC and opportunity to read this one before publication! #ArsenicandAdobo #NetGalley

Make sure you have snacks on hand when you decide to sit down and read this story. You will start salivating because of the foods described within these pages (good news: there are recipes at the end!)

This was a very food related story (mostly centred around Filipino foods) that’s also filled with quite the interesting family dynamic. I can only aspire to be as badass as some of the older ladies in this book.

The mystery itself was enjoyable and well thought out. The amount of suspects was actually quite fun.

It was kind of an easy mystery to solve if you follow the clues, but it didn’t hinder the fun I had while reading.

An absolutely delightful mystery. It packed the perfect punch without dragging out the plot. The characters were great and I adored all the food mentions. I wasn’t very familiar with Filipino culture prior to reading this and this book provided great insight into the culture and it’s food. I’m really excited for the next one in the series!

The reason I picked this book to read this month was the beautiful cover!! I loved Shady Palms and the main character Lila Macapagal. I am not a huge fan of cozy mysteries and don't read them often -- but I was thrilled with this one and thought the ending was absolutely perfect!! I loved the entire last chapter and especially the last paragraph. Very fun.. I think everyone is going to love Lila for a long time.

What a fun, foodie murder mystery! After returning to her hometown to help with her family's struggling restaurant, Lila finds herself being framed for her ex-boyfriend's murder. The guy did die right in front of her at the table she was serving, so her case isn't looking too good. Lila, her friends, & a gaggle of gossiping aunties are determined to clear her name & save the restaurant. But the real murderer is still out there--& bodies are starting to pile up.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, even as someone who doesn't read a lot of mystery. I think that's in large part because it mixes mystery and humor so well. Part of why I picked it up was the comparison to Knives Out, which I think is very apt for that reason. It's enjoyable from start to finish, and I'll definitely be reading the next book in the series and whatever else Mia Manansala writes!

Remember that old ad “Let’s get Mikey to try it. He hates everything.” Well, I’m the Mikey of cozy mysteries. Yet, when a book comes out featuring Filipino cooking, I had to give it a try. Good, news, Mikey likes it. Yes, I knew who the murderer was early on, but that didn’t keep me from enjoying Lila and her lola and busy body titas who all are involved in running Tita Rosie’s. restaurant. When a hated food critic, formerly Lila’s boyfriend drops dead at the restaurant, Lila, her extended family and her best friend are out to prove Lila didn’t do it. Of course, there are new romantic interests for Lila enmeshed in the story. If you are a cozy mystery lover, you’ll enjoy the story. In fact, I think this book could be the basis for a Hallmark channel series. There are so many interesting characters to develop.

I received a gifted galley of ARSENIC AND ADOBO by Mia P. Manansala for an honest review. Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review!

Publication Date: 5/4/2021
Rating: 3.5 / 5

ARSENIC AND ADOBO follows Lila, a young woman who has moved back home to help her Tita Rosie’s failing restaurant. Her life seems to be gearing up for prime rom-com material with a return home, matchmaking godmothers, reconnecting with her ex… Unfortunately it makes a big turn off the tropes when her ex turns out to be a jerk of a food critic winds up dying right in front of her. Suddenly she and her family are suspects in the murder and the restaurant is shut down. Lila takes on the task of getting answers so she can clear her name and get her family’s restaurant back on track.

I had some mixed feelings about this one and in the end it was really just probably not a great fit for me. The narration in this one is written from Lila’s POV and it is very casual and very conversational in nature, full of slang. Lila is in her early to mid 20s and the narration is therefore appropriately young in nature and that isn’t really a style of reading that I look for in a book. Lila was also very impetuous, prone to making snap judgements and bad decisions that could be frustrating at times.

I do love a good food based book and this book definitely lived up to my expectations on this front. This isn’t a book that you should be reading hungry! There are some great sounding recipes at the back of the book as well! The cultural representation in the book was also fantastic to read. There were also a couple of twists I didn’t predict which was great!

There are a lot of glowing reviews for this book, so I encourage you to check those out. I think for those who enjoy a casual narrative style and love a good food based cozy mystery, this is a book to keep on your radar!

Lila Macapagal has returned to Shady Palms after a stint in Chicago. She's tasked with saving her Tita Rosie's restaurant. An underhanded food critic, who happens to be Lila's ex, drops dead while eating at the family restaurant and Lila becomes the prime suspect. The cast of characters is a delight! Lila and her best friend set off to figure out who actually did it. This book is filled with rich and detailed descriptions of food, a love for the restaurants that sustain community, and the importance of, well, family. Plus there's recipes for some of Lila's favorite foods at the end! I dearly hope this becomes a series because I want more!

This is a cozy mystery that begins as a patron dies while dining at a restaurant. We find out that it's Lila's family's restaurant and Lila dated the deceased, Derek, back in high school, The story takes off from there as Lila has been accused of poisoning Derek.

This reminded me of a Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Series! It must be the cozy aspect of it but I could totally see this translating to the TV screen well. When the book started, it felt like I was put right into it without much background. I think because of this, I didn't connect with the characters too well. I also felt like it was a tad repetitive but I did feel like by the last 1/3 of the book, it found its groove and I really enjoyed the ending. I believe this is planning to be a series so a few things didn't wrap up like I was hoping but that just makes me excited to read the sequel.

*Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. Opinions are my own.

I just finished Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala and I. couldn’t have loved this cozy culinary mystery more. It was full of that sweet small-town vibe AND it included such diverse characters. I loved Lila, her grandmother, and the “aunts aka the Calender Crew,” especially Tita Rosie.

Lila has come home to lick her wounds after a bad breakup but manages to get herself in some hot water pretty soon after arrival. Her ex-boyfriend Derek shows up to eat at her family restaurant and falls over dead, face first into his ginataang bilo-bilo. His step-father who is also the restaurant’s landlord immediately claims he was poisoned by Lila. Soon she is under arrest and determined to prove her innocence so her family doesn’t lose their restaurant and their home.

Lila uncovers more secrets and schemes than you’d think possible during her amatuer sleuthing. More than one person dies in this mystery and ladies there was even a little romance.

I give this one ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for representing the Filipino culture, making me hungry, and for being laugh out loud funny!

📍Here is an important tip, don’t read this book on an empty stomach or you will eat all the snacks in the house.

Thank you to @berkleypub and @netgalley for my digital copy! Once again I bought a physical too because I loved it so!!! This is the first in a series so I can’t wait for the next one!!! This is available now through BOTM and everywhere on Tuesday April 4.

Wow, I didn’t know it could be this possible to crave food you’ve never even tried before. This was a really fun, small town, cozy murder mystery. I don’t often read books of this genre but the cover and title really drew me in. I also saw there would be a subplot of romance which really drew me in!

The culture and family dynamic was really lovely. Watching Lila and her family work around one another felt really authentic. You could tell the author has experience with large families because I truly could picture all their get togethers to vividly.

It took me a little while to get into this book and I think that was because I felt a lot of criminal aspects of it didn’t feel super believable. I think the fact that Lila was so unworried about her situation made it feel less authentic. Her family had a lot going against them and her sleuthing just didn’t always seem super realistic. There also just seemed to be such unconcern for all the murders and attacks happening. Like, no one seemed super shaken by it all which would not be the case normally.

I also wasn’t a big fan of the Detective. I think the author could have had a lot of fun exploring his relationship with Lila or even given us more of his backstory, but instead we got his brothers back story which felt a little random. I think my romance loving heart would have preferred the hint at relationship to be between Lila and the Detective vs Lila and her dentist (or even Amir!). This is just my romance loving heart speaking and I know this wasn’t marketed as a romance, but since there was talk of some romance I think this dynamic might have provided a bit more tension and interest to the story!

There was definitely quite a few unanswered questions left which I’m assuming will be answered down the line with other books in the series. There were some characters and plot points left open which I would have preferred having answered, but I guess you have to leave some things open for further instalment.

Overall, it was cute and easy to read while highlighting an incredible culture. I love the addition of recipes in the back and absolutely plan on checking them out.

"I also know that when things go down and life is against me, my family will always have my back. We all take care of each other in our own way. Yours is the same. How many people can say that and actually mean it?"

Actual rating: 4.5/5 stars

I received an e-ARC copy of this book from the author & Caffeine Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.

My Filipino heart soared and was very entertained! Nothing will attract me more to a book if it features a Fil-Am main character with her entire family still deeply immersed in the Filipino culture that is written by a Filipina author. And of course, the dog on the cover.

Arsenic and Adobo is a light and cozy mystery story about Fil-Am Lila Macapagal going back to her home town to help save her family's restaurant business. Little did she expect that she and her family would find themselves in a lot of turmoil when Lila's ex-boyfriend suddenly drops dead while eating at their restaurant. I'm not well-versed in the mystery-thriller genres since I only read a few books in it, but the author really a good job in keeping things light and easy to read, while still providing a good mystery thrill. It was pretty straightforward and a bit predictable at times, but it is enough to keep you guessing on what is really happening.

One of the absolutely great things about this book was how the author had depicted out the representation of Filipinos in this book so well. As a Filipina, it was very satisfying to see our culture so blended nicely into the story, and that even with Lila growing up in the US, her family's culture was still deeply ingrained into her. Any Filipino reader will really enjoy all the references and easily get it, such as:

1. The food. This book is very food-based, descriptions of all the Filipino food was so spot-on that it just made my mouth water and crave for the dishes - all the way from the famous pork and chicken adobo to all the kakanins. Even the way Tita Rosie and Lola Flor preparing a huge amount of food for visitors and guests and making them have take-outs after is just so classic Filipino. What was even more amazing that Lila named her dog Longanisa and my heart is just exploded.

2. The strong yet flawed family values. Filipinos are known for their close-knit family ties, and Lila's relationship with her family (and extended family) was clearly depicted on the pages. But like any other Filipino family, there are some not-so-good qualities to it such as the nosy titas and judgmental and close-minded relatives. Despite the many faults of the people within the family, a lot of Flipinos could definitely relate to Lila's relationship with her own.

Well, this was a bit disappointing.

I liked Lila well enough. She’s passionate about food and it really shows. Her inner monologue is filled with whats she’s eating or baking or thinking about eating or baking. There are loads of other characters here, but this story is firmly Lila’s. I especially liked Adeena.

Plot wise, it’s sort of a mess. There are pages and pages and pages of food descriptions, which I found simultaneously awesome and annoying. And I don’t think it’s a secret that I’m always here for fluff, but apparently not in my murder books. There wasn’t any tension or sense of urgency and no one seemed upset about all of the murders and/or assaults. On top of that, it seemed liked there were several unfinished plot threads.

Overall, I loved the idea of this, but couldn’t get into any part of it. I don’t think cozy mysteries are for me.

**Huge thanks to Berkley for providing the arc free of charge**

Delicious, light, mouth watering, multi-cultural, comforting, and fun!

Arsenic and Adobo was such a cosy and comforting read. I was so happy while reading all of it! This is one of those fast and breezy books that you can read really quickly and have a great time. Those books are the absolute best sometimes! I loved the descriptions of food, and the diversity within this book. It really made me feel like we can come together over food and everything will be just a little bit better.

Arsenic and Adobo follows Lila, a girl who has come home to recover from a horrible break up, to work in her family restaurant. While home, she has to deal with meddling aunties and saving her Tita Rosie's restaurant. Everything starts to fall off the rails when an annoyingly rude food critic drops dead immediately after eating Lila's experimental dessert. And of course, since Lila served him, the detective seems to think that Lila is the only suspect, unless she can find the true killer and clear her name!

The absolute best part about this book was the food. Not just the mouth watering descriptions of food, which were borderline irresistible, but the wide variety of foods! I absolutely loved that on this journey Lila and Adeena travel to restaurants featuring food from different parts of the world. The descriptions of the foods from so many different countries was so comforting. Especially to read all of those descriptions in the context of a single book! It was absolutely stunning. How often do you see such a mix of cultures and foods? Not often!

I also really loved how light the tone was. This is my first cosy mystery! Can you believe it! It inspired me to write a list of diverse cosies for my blog, because it seems so hard to find them! I love that the tone is light, and it's full of silly twists and turns. It's delightful, full of action, and comforting all at once. It had me guessing who was the killer the entire time, and I loved the silly mistakes that Lila made throughout. She's only an amateur sleuth after all!

Summing it all up

Arsenic and Adobo was a delightful read. If you're in the mood for something light, full of twists and turns, and comforting all at once, this is the book for you! The blending of so many foods from so many different places had my mouth watering the whole time. It made me feel like food can really bring us together. If only just a little bit.

I'm pretty sure this is what a cozy mystery ought to be. ALSO, I AM SO HUNGRY NOW.

In this light but not without depth adventure, I loved how family and friendship sat right in the center of it all. Lila has returned home to small town Illinois to support her aunt in the family restaurant, putting her big city dreams aside after a traumatic break up with her fiancee. When the restaurant's biggest critic (aka Lila's high school sweetheart) dies right in front of her, both she and the restaurant are under suspicion. If she can't sleuth out the real murderer, the restaurant may never reopen, and Lila may find herself on trial.

Lila calls on her community connections to find the truth. As her Filipino godmothers ferret out relevant information in the gossip mill, Lila questions fellow restauranteurs and reconnects with high school friends and enemies. All the characters have that cozy mystery quirkiness without feeling cookie cutter. Also, Lila is a believable amateur detective in terms of her motivation and her ability to uncover secrets, whereas some in the genre push those bounds in distractingly unrealistic ways.

I love that this mystery doesn't glorify the police, addresses racism head on, and discusses the opioid epidemic without demonizing addicts. It includes a diverse cast of characters representing different cultures and experiences. In terms of queer representation, Lila's best friend Adeena is a Pakistani American lesbian, her love interest is a bi Latina, and a minor character is referenced with they/them pronouns. I feel that this story is opening the doors of cozies to welcome in more people, and I hope this is the start of a long overdue trend.

This was so much fun - think "Clue" from a Filipino POV with lots of great food, fantastic diversity, & a really great cast of characters. I'm all in for Tita Rosie's kitchen mysteries!

This was my first real experience with a cozy so I didn't quite know what to expect, but I really enjoyed it! It's very clean & family friendly, but that didn't take away from the mystery at all, in my opinion - in fact, I thought the way everything played out was really smart! I had no idea who the killer was & the motivation made sense, it wasn't far fetched in any way - she did a great job of placing suspicion on tons of people, throwing you off throughout. I just loved the diverse cast of characters, this was full to the brim with people we don't often see represented within the mystery genre - I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about Filipino food & traditions, you'll be so hungry throughout this! (& shoutout to the Calendar Crew, they were hilarious!)

All in all, this is a great way to start this series - there's tons of great setup for where things can go (love triangle w/ Amir & Dr. Jae?! & more Adeena, please!), & I'm really looking forward to the next book! Thank you so much to Mia P. Manansala, NetGalley & Berkley for providing an ARC in exchange for a honest review!

Calling all mystery lovers! This is the start of a new cozy mystery series and it is so good. The main character Lila needs to solve the mystery of her food critic ex-boyfriend’s death. He dies after eating at her aunt’s restaurant, where Lila ran off to after she caught her fiancé cheating on her. Since her ex died at her aunt’s restaurant after eating a dessert Lila made, she finds herself as the main suspect. This is awful for Tita Rosie’s restaurant- she’s already been losing business after Derek’s terrible food reviews. Lila has a short amount of time to clear her name and starts taking to the other restaurant owners that were affected by his scathing reviews and the adventure follows.

The descriptions of the food had me so hungry, so read it with a snack handy! The setting at Tita Rosie’s kitchen is so atmospheric, there is a good dose of humor, the plot moves along well and the supporting characters made it all so fun. I enjoyed learning more about Filipino American culture and food. I loved the aunties and the dog Longganisa! This is also one of my favorite covers this year! Love how colorful it is. Can’t wait for the next one in the series.

Thank you to Berkeley Pub and NetGalley for the gifted ARC.

A huge thank you to PRH International and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Arsenic and Adobo is about Fil-Am Lila Macapagal coming back home to Shady Palms to help out with their family business but things take a surprising turn when her ex-boyfriend drops dead while eating at their restaurant.

This was my first time reading a book immersed in Filipino culture by a Filipino author and as a Filipino myself, this book had my heart and I thoroughly enjoyed it as I I felt so represented through Lila’s character 🥺

This book was overflowing with Filipino culture in terms of the language, traditions and family dynamics, values and traits! I love little bits and details, both good and bad, that makes this so reminiscent of my own life. It’s so relatable seeing how tight-knit Filipino families are and how much they value their relationships and traditions and at the same time, seeing how flawed they can be from the way relatives can be nosy, close-minded and judgemental. Ultimately, fellow Filipinos will definitely relate to the Lila all throughout.

My favorite part in this book has to be the food!! There wasn’t one moment where I wasn’t craving and the best thing about it is that I have immediate access to these kind of food food like I could either just buy right now or ask my mom to make it for me 🙈 I loved that I shared Lila’s love for desserts so those scenes where she would bake was such a delight to read 😋 They were so accurately described from the ingredients used, preparation, way of cooking and even to the way Filipinos can be snobby and pushy when it comes to feeding others. Also, Lila naming her dog “Longganisa” is the best, most adorable thing ever! And the recipes at the end was such a nice addition 😍

The plot was light and fast paced and the mystery aspect was investing enough to make me keep reading and theorizing and guessing all throughout as to who the killer might be. The side characters were all interesting and engaging so it was being able to get to know so much of them and exploring more of their relationship with Lila.

The issues I had was that the writing felt cheesy and rushed at times. Especially with the language use, I’m not sure if this is really how Fil-Ams speak with each other but it just felt too “conyo” for my liking and the use of Filipino words felt exaggerated. The characters felt disconnected and unfeeling when it came to all the deaths involved. The twists were predictable and towards the end, it felt flat. There were so many unanswered questions as well which I’m hoping will be addressed in the next installments. The romance especially was disappointing in this book in particular because there were so much build up and a promising love triangle but it wasn’t brought up again in the last chapters.

Overall, this was such a fun, light read with a side of mystery! Highly recommend for Filipinos who’d like a taste of home! And I mean that literally 🤪

During the early nineties and nones, I spent a lot of my time reading about how caterers, bakers, innkeepers and teashop owners had clients drop dead of murder at their eateries/events/hotels and then went about solving the crime before the incident ruined their business. Stepping into that long standing tradition of combining delicious food with clever heroines who know how to cook and hunt down killers is Mia P. Manansala with her delectable début, Arsenic and Adobo.

Until the murder of her ex, Lila Macapagal’s return to her hometown of Shady Palms feels like the setup for a made-for-TV rom-com. Girl goes to big city full of hopes and dreams? Check. Girl finds love and success in her new life? Check. Girl moves back to heart-warming midwestern locale after it all crashes and burns around her? Check.  Girl’s interfering Aunties begin setting her up so she can find a new love? Check.  Girl finds herself trying to save family business while dealing with all the men she loved in the past? Check.  It’s the script to every Hallmark Christmas movie except that rather than rediscovering her affection for everything she left behind Lila finds herself fighting the same old battles with the same old people. Her cousin Bernadette still sees her as a rival, her best friend Adeena’s brother Amir is still off limits (even though it makes her heart soar just to look at him) and Derek, her ex from high school, seems to still hold a grudge against her even though he was the one to cheat on her.  In fact, Derek has taken his antagonism to new heights, making it a point to write scathing reviews of the meals served at Tita Rosie’s restaurant. When he comes in to check out their latest lunch specials, Lila can barely stand to be polite to him as he practically licks his plate clean in front of her and then goes on to critique every aspect of the food. At first, when he face-plants into the dessert plate, she thinks he’s making some kind of joke, but when he fails to respond to her vigorous attempts to revive him, she realizes every restaurateur’s worst nightmare has just occurred -someone has gotten very sick while eating their food.

Once the ambulance arrives and Derek is whisked to the hospital, Lila has a chance to think about what’s just happened and realizes that diabetic Derek had probably put himself into a coma by ordering a high starch meal and following it up with a sugary desert. But once the police determine Derek’s actually been poisoned and his family starts pointing the finger at Lila and her family as the likely culprits, Lila realizes she will need to get serious about mounting a defense. It’s clear the police won’t since Lila makes such a convenient suspect, especially when they find damning evidence in her work locker. Fortunately, Lila has experience investigating crime. She and Adeena had once solved the mystery of what happened to their school mascot, and this shouldn’t be much harder, right? With her bestie in tow, and Amir providing backup as her lawyer/only person authorized to access official information, she starts to search for the killer herself.

The novel starting with a reference to how clichéd Lila’s life has become seems eerily apt given how very formulaic the narrative feels. As mentioned above, I’ve been reading cozy mysteries which employ busy-body grandparents/aunts/godmothers etc. as sources of local knowledge and general wisdom for the last several decades. Food service workers who solve crimes cram bookstore and library shelves. Girl detectives have been around since Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden.  The author brings something new and fresh to the scene by adding a young ‘woke’ heroine, a lesbian best friend and a multi-ethnic cast but the characters aren’t quite fleshed out enough to be truly unique.

Take Lila for instance. In the past four months, I’ve read at least three variations of her personality – a bright young woman whose setbacks in life have been caused by her bad taste in men and who just longs for the world to experience her culinary creations/baked goods/wedding photography infused with her unique cultural heritage. Lila is, of course, hip, liberal, affirming, feisty, and independent. All terrific traits but not exactly original in today’s literary market. Nothing about her screams memorable or different.

We don’t learn enough about anyone else to really make judgments about them. Adeena and Amir, as well as Lila’s aunties, serve as back-up for our heroine but they don’t stand out from the crowd of secondary characters who typically people these novels. They are the quirky, supportive, loving family and friends you would expect to meet between the pages of fun, gentle mysteries.

Average and predictable, however, do not equal bad, especially not in this case. While the story has little that is new to offer, the author does do a nice job of making the familiar charming, especially in how she handles Lila’s love for Filipino cuisine -  I challenge anyone to read the first few chapters of this book without getting desperately hungry. The depictions of adobo chicken, rice, almondigas, suman, ginataang bilo-bilo and calamansi pie threatened to wreak havoc with my diet and had me dreaming of late-night snacks.   While the solving of the crime is utterly ridiculous (this is a given with cozies, not a critique) and completely dependent on people sharing their darkest secrets with complete strangers, the murder itself is fairly complex.  I was intrigued enough by the mystery to be fully engaged in the story and was pleased with the small twist at the end that I hadn’t seen coming.

For those looking for romance, there is some flirtation here and hints as to what might be coming in the future but nothing more than that. Amir and Lila never do more than gaze at each other longingly but another contender for Lila’s heart makes an appearance at about the forty percent mark and Adeena meets someone halfway through the story. All of the relationships stay firmly at the starting point.

While the familiarity of the plot and characters gives this a bit of a ‘been there, read that’ feel, fans of the culinary cozy are often looking for the comfortable and familiar. If you love this type of story, then I would definitely give Arsenic and Adobo a try. The multicultural flair and modern heroine add a nice touch of modernization to this classic genre.

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Lila left home to try her luck away from her family, but when her family asked her to help out with their restaurant business, she moved back home and got accused of her ex-bf murder because he died after eating in their restaurant. Hmm…

It’s a no-brainer that I will pick up this book and enjoy it. I love everything that showcases Filipino food and culture (. I love how intact Lila’s family and I can relate very well with her relationship with her tita’s and Lola. Aside from the Filipino dishes that made me miss the Philippines, I love her friendship with Adeena and the hidden feelings between Lila and Amir. I was a bit annoyed with the detective though I really can’t blame him because the situation is way too much of a coincidence. Anyway, this is an excellent cozy mystery with an easy-to-follow background and plot. It is intriguing and has that whodunit impact. I can’t wait to read more on this series!