Arsenic and Adobo is book one in a new series. Lila (Lee-la not Ly-la) has moved home to help her aunt and grandmother with their struggling restaurant. When her ex-boyfriend, Derek, ends up dead after eating there, Lila and family are prime suspects. Throw in a prescription drug ring, shady health inspector, and Derek’s habit of writing horrible restaurant reviews, there are a lot of suspects.

What I liked: this book is fun and I’d definitely read book two!

I really liked learning more about Lila’s culture and the food they cook. Her struggle with family expectations and what she wanted, not correcting people when they pronounced her name wrong and constantly being set up by her aunties was eye-opening and relatable, even if we come from different backgrounds.

What didn’t work for me: there are a lot of characters and potential motives. I wasn’t always sure how Lila figured out some things - like who was sleeping with Derek.

Lila’s love interests are a little underdeveloped and secondary to the main storyline.

Who should read it: fans of cozy mysteries, if you’re looking for a lighter take on murder-mystery (it’s not graphic)

I am sorry for not reviewing fully but I don’t have the time to read this at the moment. I believe that it wouldn't benefit you as a publisher or your book if I only skimmed it and wrote a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for not fully reviewing!

This who-done-it dives into Filipino food, families, and relationships. With mouthwatering descriptions of the family restaurant, readers will be relieved to find recipes waiting for them at the very end.

This story had it all - humor, mystery, family dynamics, romance, crime, recipes. A good introduction to the Filipino culture for those not familiar. Can’t wait to read about Lila’s next sleuthing adventure.

I had never read a cozy mystery before so I wasn't really sure what to expect! But after reading Arsenic and Adobo I can see why that phrase fits it so well. While the mystery is central to the story, it's not super suspenseful (although I was still surprised by the outcome!) and you know things will end well, similar to expecting a happily-ever-after in a romance. Between that and all the nods for Filipino food and culture, it truly was a cozy, fun read for me!

Lila Macapagal has come back home and thrown herself into saving her Tita Rosie's failing restaurant. (Note: Tita means Aunt!) But at the same time, Lila is recovering from a bad break-up, dealing with well-meaning but nosy aunties (oh how I related to this), and just trying to figure out what's next. When her hometown ex-boyfriend and infamous nasty food critic drops dead at the restaurant after eating their food (and having a confrontation with her), the mystery aspect kicks in. The cops are treating Lila and her family like the suspects and Lila decides that she needs to take matters into her own hands to find out the truth.

Again, the story was just fun! I loved seeing the aunties and their unsurprising gossip skills help Lila with her investigation. Lila's best friend is also a big part of the book and not only did I enjoy their friendship, but I also enjoyed the banter between them as they decided to be their own little Sherlock and Holmes duo. There was even romance in the book, which you know is always a plus for me. And most importantly of all, I thought the author did a great job of weaving in Filipino culture throughout.

This is a sassy little cozy mystery with a heaping helping of Filipino culture and cooking added for your reading pleasure. And I definitely took a lot of pleasure in reading the mouthwatering food descriptions that the author sprinkled generously throughout the book! This is a little bit of a chick lit book too, and the author lampshades that at the very beginning when she points out that her life has turned into a 90's romcom- she's the girl who went to the big city but ends up coming back to her hometown and getting back together with her old boyfriend.

Lila has come back to help her aunt's struggling cafe, and the boyfriend doesn't last long. He's a food blogger who seems to have a lot of power in this little town, plus he's the dead body in the aunt's restaurant who throws the whole plot into motion. Lila needs to figure out how he died, because the cafe might not make it at all if it's shut down as a crime scene for any length of time, plus she might just be a suspect. You know, all the usual reasons why a cozy mystery main character starts snooping around.

Lila has her best friend, a lesbian Pakistani barista extraordinaire, to help her, as well as her best friend's hunky lawyer brother. It seems like the author wanted to get all of her favorite foods into this one, because information gathering expeditions end up in Mexican, Polish, Japanese, and American diner restaurants. I didn't mind. The author knows her stuff! From duck mole to pierogies to sushi to pie, I would go to all of these places. Please write more stuff like this, Ms. Manansala!

There's a love triangle, lots of diverse rep, a sassy heroine who I was rooting for, a dive into Filipino culture and food that I really appreciated. This is a great book for vacation, beach reading, or just a weekend when you need a pick-me-up. Did I know who the murderer was right away? Yes. Is the clue-finding maybe just a little bit too convenient? Sure. Therefore four stars instead of five, but honestly the point of this book to me wasn't the murder investigation. It was Lila's relationships with her aunties and friends, the food-blog-worthy- descriptions of mouthwatering meals, and enjoying spending time with Lila herself. I will gladly read whatever comes next from this author.

Actual rating: 4.5/5 stars

This was the perfect cozy mystery. I loved the atmosphere in this book and while cozies still deal with murder and darker topics, something about them makes me feel so warm and "cozy" on the inside.

I love how this started off very rom-comy: cheated by long time boyfriend so she left to start fresh. She is then summoned back by her aunt to help run her family's restaurant. Back in her hometown is her her ex who has since turned into a rude food critic who constantly slanders local restaurants, including her family's. But this book quickly turns sour when he ex boyfriend dies from poising after eating at their restaurant.

Seeing Lila's relationships with other characters in the book especially her family, was so lovely. I am not from a household that has any strong culture in it so it was really interesting to see how culture can seep into every aspect of a family. Being immersed in the Filipino culture in this book was just so amazing! I also loved her best friend and the other side characters. Some love interests were also introduced which always makes me 1000x more interested lol.

This book shined with its food descriptions from Sushi at a Japanese restaurant to American BBQ, Mexican dishes, and amazing Filipino recipes. Lila also loved to bake and her best friend worked at a coffee house next door so every food imaginable is in this mystery.

I never saw the end coming and the plot twists in this book were so perfectly planned, that everything made sense, had phenomenal timing, and were genuinely shocking. There were so many that had me reeling from surprise which is what a cozy mystery needs to do. If it can't shock you but also make sense, then it isn't doing something right.

I think a lot of people aren’t as big of a fan because this is their first cozy mystery and they’re more used to thrillers but I already had a bit of experience in the genre and knew what to expect going in which made me like it a lot more. I would highly recommend this novel if going in you understand this isn't a traditional thriller that's going to scare you or make your heart pound. It'll make you feel cozy while having a splash of murder.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing, Mia P. Manansala, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was surprised by my bookclub and received this book in the. mail on publication day so I got to experience this book in all its glory... and I mean all its glory as I have since attempted many of the recipes in the back! Let me tell you I am a bit of a wimp when it usually comes to murders and crimes, but I was so pleasantly comforted by this book. I know kinda weird as it was a book surrounded around a sort of who committed the crime... I just want to be in the kitchen with Lyla and Tita Rosie and experience the family and the chatter. I think cozy crimes and mystery are my new favorite forms of serotonin, especially this book in particular.Overall I am so glad I have a physical copy of my own as it is for sure my new comfort read. Mia Manansala is absolutely brilliant. I still cannot wrap my mind around the fact that she was able to combine so many different genres and make a book that should be intense simultaneously light hearted and familiar. I absolutely adored this one.

Arsenic and Adobo is the first book in the new Tita Rosie Kitchen cozy mystery series. As an avid cozy reader, this was a great new addition to the genre. Lila was a young woman home to help her Filipino family at their restaurant. I haven't read about a Filipino family in any of my mysteries and I appreciated the new point of view.

Critics of this book have mentioned that they talk too much about food but those familiar with this genre will know that it is an integral part of the formula. Especially since the title is food based and takes place in a restaurant, you should expect a good deal of the book will be about food. Lila is a food lover and chef so what else would she be talking about? The food sounds amazing and I don't feel like it took away at all from the story. The rich, cultural significance of the Filipino food was relevant to the story.

I also felt the mystery was strong. I did not figure out who the murderer was until the very end. I will recommend this title to all my mystery fans. Especially those looking for something new.

This book was laugh out loud funny, which was exactly what I needed at the time! Not to mention, I absolutely loved learning more about the culture. I ended up grabbing a hard copy of this one as well, just because I felt it deserved a spot on my shelf since it’s quite a bit different from my usual reads. 3.5 stars rounded up! Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Sweet and cozy mystery. It’s not the most realistic or well-plotted, but there’s a fat dachshund named Longganisa, so that’s a plus.

This was such an enjoyable read! Now I see what the "cozy mystery" genre is all about.

I finished this book in less than two days, and quite literally couldn't put it down. It was a quick read in the best way, and felt like a refreshing break from heavier, more complex reads. Learning about several different Asian cultures, new words, foods, and customs, as well as family dynamics, was so interesting to me (a white woman born and raised in the U.S.).

I loved the glossary of terms and recipes included, especially since I'm a lover of words and cooking. Their inclusion felt just perfect to me. The mystery was just enough to keep me guessing, as I truly changed my mind on who committed the murder multiple times. Getting to know Lila's family and friends left me jealous that they weren't my own. I will absolutely keep my eye out for more books in this series. Well done!

First the title caught my attention, then that eye-catching cover, and then the blurb sealed the deal. I was all set to have a good time with the start of a new cozy mystery series. Diversity, family, food, and murder- what more could I ask?

Arsenic and Adobo introduces the main character, Lila Macapagal, a Filipino American woman who left her small town in Illinois to attend culinary school in Chicago. She has big dreams of her own restaurant, but that fell through when she caught her chef boyfriend cheating on her and her aunt asked her to come home and help in her restaurant before Lila finished school. Tita Rosie is the loving woman who inspired Lila and family is everything so she sets her dreams aside to come home only to get swept up in a murder when her high school ex dies after eating at the restaurant and she’s the prime suspect. Returning home was out of duty and she feels like a failure, but at least her bestie works in the coffee shop next door to the restaurant and there is her delicious older brother to secretly crush on when Lila isn’t up to her aunt’s adobo in murder.

I love seeing that more and more diverse cozy mysteries series are appearing out there and I was particularly excited that this one was a family of Filipino multigenerational women running a restaurant. The author infused the story with culture and food so rich that I was always hungry reading this one. She also generously attached some of the recipes.

This was a first book in the series and it did spend time on introductions. I loved the group of characters including the ‘Calendar Girl’s who had been her mom’s best friends, her grandmother, her aunt, and even her bestie, but I struggled with Lila herself. She was a little all over the place for me between her personal concerns, her emotions, two guys interested in her, and the murder.

The mystery was not a strong point for a few reasons. Detective Park and the police handled the investigation as if Lila was the only possibility and did a few guesses and surface level looking around. Lila was arrested on little more than circumstantial evidence and even the hard evidence had more than one explanation for it that a good lawyer would sweep aside. I cut Lila some slack as the amateur trying to get herself off the hook. What really was a true niggle was the way her investigation bogged down the story. When Lila investigated the list of suspects she and her group put together, she asked the exact same sequence of questions at each interview and got the exact same no-help answers. This went on a half dozen times. I wish the author had written those interviews in such a way that maybe she came away from each one gleaning a different tidbit to help or the interviews would have been summarized after the first one.

Sure, this is a light, cozy mystery and fun at times particularly when Lila was with her family and they were cooking or cooking up investigation plans. I liked the book enough to want to give book two a go and see if things get better. I think cozy mystery fans who like a strong foodie element, quirky family and friends circle, and a light touch of romance with an easy mystery tone might want to check this new one out.

Well this was one amazing cozy mystery! Lila was so relatable. Loved to learn about the culture of Philippines specially the food. Lord. The. Food. I can’t wait to see where the story is going with the second book but I’m definitely here for it! Also, including the recipes at the end…. Thanks Mia!!

I don't usually go for cozy mysteries, but every now and then I need a break and Arsenic and Adobo was the perfect reset for my brain.

This was a cute cozy mystery with an emphasis on family and friendship. Adult Nancy Drew vibes for sure!

My only complaint is that it was slow to start and I was so hungry reading this book I think I may have drooled on my Kindle..

It felt a bit slow getting going, I had to restart-read the first two chapters before I felt like I had a grasp on the plot. Appreciated the focus on heritage and culture.

Arsenic and Adobo is the first novel in the Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery series, a brand new culinary cozy mystery from author Mia Manansala. The book’s premise is fairly simple: Lila Macapagal’s daily life of figuring out a way to save her Tita Rosie’s struggling restaurant and dealing with matchmaking titas is upended when a nasty food critic (also her high school ex) drops dead in the restaurant moments after a heated confrontation between them. The Macapagals are now the prime suspects in a murder mystery, and, on top of that, their landlord is just about ready to kick them out and shut down the restaurant for good. It’s up to Lila to figure out what actually happened and who is to blame before it’s too late.

I said this in my Goodreads review as well: I’m no cozy mystery connoisseur. Arsenic and Adobo happens to be the first one I’ve ever read and, for a time-time cozy reader, I’d say it was an overall positive experience (though I’m not convinced that this is the genre for me). After some light Googling, I’ve learned that cozies are generally characterized as crime fiction where: 1) sex and violence don’t happen on page, 2) the detective is an amateur sleuth and 3) the setting is usually a small, socially knit community. Arsenic and Adobo certainly hit all those marks! I liked getting to know a little bit about this small town and the folks in it. And it was fun following Lila as she tried to unravel the mystery (which felt reminiscent of my younger years reading Nancy Drew), though I didn’t necessarily feel very strongly about the mystery, the details or the resolution. The highlight, though, was seeing a fairly realistic portrayal of the Fil-Am experience integrated into the book, especially when it came to the food (I had cravings while I was reading, thank you) and the familial dynamics (I’m always amazed when authors write relationships in ways that make me think of my own family). In conclusion, I did ultimately find Arsenic and Adobo pretty enjoyable while I was reading it!

I really loved this book! It has all the things I love in a funny romance mystery! The family dynamics were awesome and the story line and plot had me hooting and laughing so hard at times!!! I cannot wait to read more from this author!!!

This was a cute murder mystery. I loved the emphasis on family and friends. I was in a constant state of hunger with the mention of all the Filipino foods/dishes. I can't wait to see what the next book has in store!

From the very first page of this book, I was completely hooked. I loved this book and could not put it down. This book is the perfect mix of cozy mystery and scrumptious food. I felt like Lousie Penny met Jenny Colgan to write this book

When Lila moves home to help her family with their restaurant, she never dreamed that she would be put in the middle of a murder investigation.

Thank you so much to Berkley Publishing for my copy of this book. All thoughts are my own