Arsenic and Adobo is my first true foray into the subgenre "Cozy Mysteries" and I enjoyed it! In a nutshell, cozy mysteries are like a clean / PG version of a regular mystery novel. You get the satisfaction of a traditional whodunit without the blood and gore. Usually there's an amateur sleuth and the book is commonly set in a small town or village. The amateur sleuth typically has smart friends or acquaintances at their disposal to help them solve the mystery. A friend of mine described Arsenic and Adobo to be classic Clue game but more cultural, as the MC and her family are Filipino, and I'd have to agree! Fair warning: don't read this book on an empty stomach because it will make you hungry!

Lila Macapagal moves back home to her small town called Shady Palms after a bad breakup and is tasked with saving her Tita Rosie's failing restaurant. Besides Tita Rosie, Lila's only family are her meddling aunties whom she has dubbed the Calendar Crew as their names are April, Mae and June! They mean well but like any asian auntie, they can be quite judgemental, and often try to play matchmaker - which Lila is NOT having.

One day when Lila is working at Tita Rosie's restaurant, a local nasty food critic drops dead right in front of her eyes (and right into the food she's served him). That is horrifying in of itself but the dead guy happens to be her high school sweetheart! And the dude her ex was dining with is not only his stepfather but also the restaurant's landlord - talk about awkward!

The cops are quick to treat her like a suspect and Lila realizes that she has no choice but to conduct her investigation. Luckily she has the Calendar Crew, her best friend Ameena (who works at a coffee shop right next door), Ameena's brother, Amir, who serves as her lawyer, and trusty dachshund, Langganisa, to help with the investigation. But the real perpetrator doesn't make things easy for her. As she uncovers the truth, more and more people end up getting hurt - and she happens to be there every time - making her look even more suspicious.

I thought this book was really fun! I loved that the MC and her family were Filipino and that the rest of the characters were diverse as well. Lila's dachshund, "Nisa," is super adorable and I wanted more of her in the book! I'm not sure if cozy mysteries are my thing (I prefer them darker and more complex - not sure what that says about me, lol), but I did enjoy this one! It was really entertaining with all the diverse characters and the witty banter. I did feel like there were some holes in the story and that the ending was a bit rushed, but hoping the author does a better job with that with the rest of the series!

Thanks to NetGalley, Berkley Pub and Mia P. Manansala for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review. (I did purchase the book through BOTM!)

Rating: 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4).

Lila Macapagal has moved back home to help her Tita Rosie manage her restaurant. Even though they serve some of the best food in town, the local food critic (who is also Lily’s ex-boyfriend) has been relentless in his criticisms. Then the unthinkable happens. He dies while eating at Tita Rosie’s restaurant and Lila is suspected of murder. How’s that for a homecoming?

Arsenic and Adobo is a debut novel with an interesting cast of characters. They are colorful group and the plot is well-developed. But, at times the story tends to drag a little, although the references to Filipino culture and food are delightful. My primary issue is with Lila. She seems to have been disconnected from her family when she lived away, yet there is constant mention about the closeness of Filipino families. There is also the angst about her best friend’s brother, the cute dentist in town, and high school relationships – topics that seem to be somewhat common in many cozy mysteries. I was hoping for something a bit different than that.

Nevertheless, this is a promising new series and it will be fun to see how it develops.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

Arsenic and Adobo
by Mia P. Manansala
Read an Excerpt
Berkley Publishing Group
You Like Them
Berkley
Multicultural Interest | Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date 04 May 2021 | Archive Date 04 Jun 2021

I was so glad to be able to read this book! It's a light-hearted cozy mystery and I needed a change from my regular reading. It is a thoroughly fun book to read and I loved learning more about her culture. I was hungry most of the time while reading this book because of the food descriptions. YUM! Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the digital ARC.
4star

This was book was so fun and made me hungry! Seriously, my mouth was watering almost the entire time. I was a little put off how Lyla just really didn’t seem to care that her ex boyfriend dropped dead in front of her. Other than that, I loved this book and did not see that ending coming! I’m so glad this is going to be a series, I’m looking forward to the next book!

While it is not the work for which she received the William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant for unpublished writers, Mia P. Manansala’s Arsenic and Adobo feels so authentically from her soul, readers will recognize how this is the novel Manansala was destined to write – as only she could.

Arsenic and Adobo falls squarely into the cozy mystery tradition with all the beloved tropes and expectations that come along with that designation, however, the focus on Filipino culture brings a fresh, new perspective readers will not have seen before – especially in the crime fiction genre.

Our main character – and eventual amateur sleuth – is Lila Macapagal, who has returned to Shady Palms, Illinois after a particularly difficult break-up only to be challenged with helping to save her Tita Rosie’s Kitchen, which is a family-run restaurant suffering a downturn in traffic. When one particularly vicious food critic – who also happens to be Lila’s ex-boyfriend – dies in the restaurant, Lila’s bad times suddenly get even more complicated. Fortunately for Lila, Filipino families stick together; no one is going to leave her out in the cold for a crime she didn’t commit. And Lila is not going to let the Kitchen close!


Lila’s family and friends are people readers will want to spend more time with. Notice that this did not say characters, and that is because Mia P. Manansala has that elusive gift that allows her to truly bring her fictional creations to life – as though they are occupying the house next door. Particularly delightful is the bantering, yet loving nature exhibited by the trio of April, Mae, and June (the Calendar Crew), the reciprocated loyalty of her best friend, Adeena, and the “required for a cozy” pet, the endearing doggie, Longganisa. Manansala could have easily settled on the diversity that the Filipino family brings to the table, but instead she populates her world with a rainbow’s worth of varied individuals representing many backgrounds and experiences. Sort of like the real world, huh?

Mia P. Manansala also respects the intelligence of her audience. When she uses terms that may be unfamiliar to readers, she finds clever ways to get the meaning across without having to spoon-feed each definition to her audience. The descriptions of the food alone are going to have readers seeking out the nearest Filipino restaurant for dinner…which they will eat without putting the book down. Arsenic and Adobo is a fast and fun read, with a mystery that plays fair without being too obvious and just enough romantic tension to offset the murder. Readers will be clamoring for their next meal at Tita Rosie’s Kitchen, so anticipation for the next in this series will be high.

When Lila Macapagal moves home after a breakup to help with her family’s struggling restaurant, harsh food critic and ex-boyfriend drops dead face-first in his food and Lila becomes the prime suspect. With the help of her gossipy godmothers, best friend and her handsome lawyer brother, Lila sets out to find out the truth.

I was drawn to this book because of the gorgeous, bright cover and fun description. The first page gave me hope that this would be a quirky mystery that would right up my alley. Unfortunately as the book progressed I lost interest and was often checking how much of the book remained. I really enjoyed the rich descriptions of food (and it made me extremely hungry!), but I wanted more from supporting characters like the aunties, best friend, and attractive barely explored romantic interests. Storylines and relationships eemed underdeveloped, repetitive and I didn’t quite care about the main character Lila. I see this is set up to be a series, but I don’t think I’d be rushing to read book two.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for this e-book in return for an honest review.

A little murder, mixed with Filipino cooking, and some truly amazing characters, this is definitely a cozy I would recommend! And fair warning, this book will make you hungry 😉

I truly enjoyed the theme of love of family and friends throughout this book. It made the story feel authentic in nature, mixed with a bit of sleuthing.

And while I might have figured out the whodunit a little past the halfway mark, it really did not take away any of my enjoyment of the story. This book was really about so much more than just the cozy mystery aspect. I will definitely be reading any other books that come out in this series, or by this author for sure!

Also, can we talk about this cover?! 😍 I was scrolling through Netgalley (which is always dangerous) and came across this cover and ended up requesting solely for that reason. So happy I read this one and think everyone should pick up a copy when it releases May 4th!

I was lucky enough to nab an early copy of Mia Manansala's debut cozy mystery, ARSENIC & ADOBO, and I loved it. The main character, Lila, and her titas (Tagalog for aunts) were entertaining. Manansala did a great job of incorporating Filipino culture and food (yummy!) throughout the story.
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I enjoyed following along with Lila Macapagal’s amateur sleuthing as she tried to find out who poisoned her ex-boyfriend. She also had to deal with whether to fulfill or family obligations or follow her own desires.
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I am looking forward to Mia’s next cozy book. I highly recommend this story for folks who love cozy mysteries set in small towns with diverse themes and characters. Well done!
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Arsenic & Adobo releases on May 4, 2021 (very soon!) So you want to pre-order this book today.
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Thank you to Net Galley & Berkeley and Penguin Randomhouse for a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Lila Macapagal has moved home to help out at her aunt's Filipino restaurant. Well, and to get over a bad breakup. Too bad another of her exes, Derek, is such a jerk. Not only does Derek come in and continually give her aunt's restaurant bad reviews, his stepfather, Edward Long, owns the building her aunt's restaurant is in and he seems to be trying to kick her out. It's just rotten luck that Derek falls over dead while eating there. And Edward is quick to point the finger at her family. So now Lila has a a shady ex, her family restaurant is under an aura of suspicion, and they can't even try to earn enough money to make the next rent because the police had shut them down
This was a really fun story immersed in the Filipino culture. We get a glimpse of Lila's past and know that she's picking herself back up which will be fun to watch. I'm really hoping that the potential love triangle is wrapped up quickly because most series pull it out for far too long.

Four stars
This book comes out May 4th, 2021
ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

This was a lot of fun- a bit of a cozy mystery with a romance, or two, fun Filipino family dynamics and a lot of laughs. I really enjoyed this one even though I did figure out “who-done-it” but I didn’t have all the pieces!

3 tasty + cozy+ quirky stars to this food and family orientated whodunit mystery novel! Lila is a small town waitress who works at her Tita Rosie's restaurant, serving Filipino food and creating new dessert recipes. She dreams of opening up a coffee shop with her best friend, Adeena. She and her family find themselves in hot water when her ex-boyfriend, Derek, drops dead in their restaurant in the middle of his meal. Who killed Derek and why? And why did he have a vendetta against all the small family owned businesses in their town? With the help of her friends and aunties, Lila seeks to find out these answers and clear her family's name to save their restaurant. This book was deliciously quirky- full of lots of yummy food references and laugh out loud mix-ups. I did wish that the characters had been developed a little bit more to fully take advantage of this amazing plot; I also wish the ending was a bit more flushed out , it felt rushed. I really enjoyed learning about the different cultures explored in this book and am looking forward to a sequel. Thank you to Berkley Publishing + Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This my be an unpopular opinion buuuut.... I finished Arsenic & Adobo last night and it was only just ok. I think that the ‘cozy foodie mystery’ isn’t for me! Maybe it’s because I like thrillers so much so this didn’t seem as exciting and fast paced? Oh drat.

Lila reluctantly moves back to her hometown to help out at their family restaurant. When a local food critic (who also happens to be Lilas ex boyfriend) drops dead at their restaurant of apparent poisoning, this restaurant needs saved more than ever. Of course Lila is suspect number one! Duh. She tries to solve this mystery with the help of her friends as she tries to avoid jail time.

The dialogue was a bit corny at times and the ‘wrong place at the wrong time’ scenario was a bit overdone. Also, I think the words ‘enveloped in’ were on every other page. Ok maybe not that often but enough for me to notice that she was ‘enveloped in smells/flavor/aromas’ constantly.

I did enjoy the family dynamic though! The family was gossipy and judgmental but at the same time extremely loving. I also liked how the Filipino-America culture was portrayed. ALSO. Lila has a dachshund and so here is mine. She really wanted a part in this photo! (NOT). Her name is Lena, she barks a lot and has seasonal allergies.

I think this is a book that a lot of people will enjoy, it just wasn’t completely my cup of tea. Arsenic & Adobo comes out May 4! Thank you to @berkleypub for sending me the @netgalley for this digital copy!

I loved this fresh and modern culinary cozy mystery! There is so much delectable food description and the family ties are just lovely. Please please let this be the beginning of a long series I can depend on because I definitely need more Lila and her world in my life.

I really enjoyed this new cozy mystery with a culinary twist!

Lila is a fresh new sleuth on the cozy mystery scene. She is such a refreshing character and adds so much depth to this cozy.

The mystery was complex enough that I thought I knew who the murderer was, but I was wrong!

There are some romance elements here that are going to be fun to explore in further series.

To top it all off, there was an added bonus of delicious-sounding food and recipes!

So, why don’t I read more cozy mysteries??

I really enjoyed this one. It follows Lila and her family after they’re accused of murder. I really liked how the story weaved Filipino culture with the mystery/investigation. Be prepared to want all the treats when reading this.

I will say there are some things about the characters that aren’t completely explained. And there are story arcs that are just left, but I hope things will pick up during book two.

There are a lot of trigger warnings, and I also appreciate how the author wrote a note before the book starts.

Overall, a very enjoyable book. Looking forward to what comes next for this family. Definitely recommend for fans of the cozy mystery.

I am constantly endeavoring to get myself into mystery novels, after a lifetime of reading almost no mystery novels, and my results have been… mixed. Not because I’ve read mysteries that were my enemies, but more because I have a hard time, when I’ve picked up one mystery novel, remembering to go back and pick up another. But I am undeterred! If I keep trying, eventually I will alter my reading habits and then I will love mysteries. It worked with spinach and it’s going to work with mystery novels.

Arsenic and Adobo was a perfect mystery to help me dip my toe back in the mystery novel waters. It’s got a very classic Agatha Christie-ish set-up, with a large community of people who had a motive to kill the dead guy, plenty of red herrings, and every indication that its protagonist will become an amateur sleuth going forward. Lila has moved back home to be with her family and help her Tita Rosie run her restaurant. In a total rom-com move, she reunites with her college boyfriend, Derek. Except it turns out he’s a jerk now, and he’s been writing terrible reviews of every restaurant in the area, including Lila’s. So when he dies in the middle of a meal at Tita Rosie’s Kitchen, Lila is immediately cast under suspicion, and she’ll go down for murder if she can’t find the person who did the deed.

cover of Arsenic and Adobo, by Mia ManansalaAs I’ve mentioned, I always feel such a sense of hope and possibility when I see an author setting up a new genre series. (See also: every romance novel ever.) Lila has a large community of Filipino relatives, friends, and frenemies, and over the course of the book, she also forges connections with the other restaurant owners in her area. Maybe it’s just quarantine getting to me — I haven’t dined in a restaurant in over a year — but the idea of a whole bunch of restaurant owners being good bros and supporting each other and giving Lila an assist in solving crimes just feels immensely heartwarming and correct. Plus it’s already been established that Lila has this huge network of family connections in all sorts of jobs around the city, so I know that she will have lots of leads for any mystery she needs to solve in the future.

Reading Arsenic and Adobo made me truly yearn for restaurants. Because Lila’s family owns a restaurant and she makes a bunch of restaurant-owning friends over the course of the book, we necessarily are given SO MANY and SUCH LUSH and GLORIOUS descriptions of food. I want to eat those foods. I appreciated Manansala’s explanatory commas for foods I wasn’t familiar with — she manages very smoothly to include information about ingredients and preparation without sounding didactic or interrupting the flow of the story.

Finally, I loved that a central conflict of the book is Lila’s relationship with her best friend, Adeena. When they were younger, they dreamed of opening a coffee shop in Chicago together, and now Adeena is dropping hints that she wants to open the shop in their hometown of Shady Palms — where Lila has no interest in living longterm. Neither of them is quite ready to discuss it openly, so Lila’s nervousness about changing plans and Adeena’s frustration with Lila’s avoidance undergirds most of their interactions. Though Lila meets some romantic prospects (and I’m sure that will get explored in future books), the main emotional problem that this book’s interested in resolving is the tension between her and her best girlfriend. I really loved it! I see it so rarely!

'I almost said “just friends,” as if romantic partnership was superior to platonic friendship, but stopped myself. Adeena hated that term and idea. And I’d learned, time and again, she was right about that. There was no hierarchy to love.;

!!! YAY FRIENDSHIP.

Okay! So! Now can you please recommend me some other small-town cozyish mysteries by authors who aren’t white? I desire more. Please and thank you.

Note: I received this book for review consideration; this has not impacted the contents of my review.

3.5 stars

Likeable debut novel featuring Lila Macapagal, a Filipino chef and baker who moves home from the big city after a romantic breakup to help her aunt and grandmother out in the family restaurant. Their business was hurt by a series of nasty and inaccurate reviews posted by Lila's old boyfriend. When he dies from poisoning after lunch there, Lila and her family fall under suspicion.

The strength of this novel is the great immersion in Lila's family, with a crash course in Filipino cuisine and a glimpse of family relationships. Much of the backstory occurred when Lila was in high school, which gives the plot a juvenile feeling at times, leavened with humor. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks Penguin Random House Inl for providing me a digital galley of the book!

Overall, I read it in almost one sitting. I’m not saying it’s an easy read with all the content warnings, but Mia Manansala’s writing is very casual and the cast of characters made it an entertaining experience. There’s a balance between mystery, humor and narration. Plus factor for all the food and recipe included! You might want to get yourself a snack before reading this. I swear I felt hungry with all the cooking scenes!

A food-centric cozy mystery with diverse representation? Yes, please!

After her ex-boyfriend, a notorious food critic, suddenly drops dead in her family’s restaurant, Lila gets on the case to clear her own name and protect her family.

This was such an enjoyable read; I raced through it in two days. With family being the foundation of the novel, food is definitely the cornerstone. As Lila works her way through the suspect list and all the gossip of her family, we get a literal taste of Filipino culture as well as dishes from Mexican, Japanese, Polish, and American BBQ restaurants. There are even recipes in the back of the book for Filipino dishes that emerge in the novel.

There are some times of implausible lack of emotion after tragedy and the findings can get a bit repetitive, but the diverse cast of lovable characters more than makes up for it. The writing is also able to maintain a lightheartedness, despite addressing deeper themes of identity, drug abuse and love.

Full of heart, this novel explores the importance of family through food, friendship and romance, from the perspective of a twenty-something Filipina American trying to figure out her next steps in life amidst a crazy string of crimes.

I am thrilled that this is the first book of a series, and I cannot wait for the next installment from author Mia P. Manansala.

A huge thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and Net Galley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I am sorry this book is just not for me. It’s cute enough but it just does not hold my attention. Maybe I am just not the right demographic for this book?