Arsenic and Adobo

My Review (Spoiler Free)

What a gorgeous book. Arsenic & Adobo is a cozy, food themed, murder mystery. Don’t get this confused with your mom’s cozy mysteries, though! This is a fully fledged cozy mystery for millennials. It centers on Lila Macapagal, a Filipino-American woman who has moved back home after briefly living and studying in Chicago to help out her aunt’s (Tita Rosie) restaurant, Tita Rosie’s Kitchen. The restaurant is soon closed after a locally notorious food critic drops dead in the restaurant after eating a huge meal. The police have a history of doing a less than stellar job where minorities in the community are concerned, so Lila teams up with her best friend, who is a local barista, and her best friend’s lawyer brother to solve the case and make sure the police have the correct information. Things soon take a turn as more problems than solutions are uncovered and more murders are committed. 

Manasala has a wonderful writing style that allows the reader to sit back and enjoy the twists and turns as the case unfolds before them. While there are a few tropes that readers will predict the ending to, it is a cozy mystery at its heart and that is to be expected. That is not to say that the whole book is predictable, however, as Arsenic and Adobo packs more than its fair share of surprise punches. What sets this book apart is the focus and inclusion of minority characters, culture, and especially food. Readers are given a stove-side seat to the many Filipino dishes that are created and served up in this book, leaving your mouth to water while you read. Don’t worry though, Manasala graciously provides recipes to all the food mentioned in the book. At the end of the book, readers should come away with a new appreciation for food and especially Filipino culture. A handy pronunciation guide at the beginning of the book allows the reader to fully immerse themselves in the crazy life of the Macapagal family. I am eagerly waiting Manasala’s follow-up, Homicide and Halo-Halo and the rest of the Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries series.