Book Details:
- Published Date: May 4, 2021
- Author: Mia P. Manansala
- Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Adult
When Lila Macapagal moves 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 judgment. 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.
With the cops treating her like she’s the one and only suspect, and the shady landlord looking to finally kick the Macapagal family out and resell the storefront, Lila’s left with no choice but to conduct her own investigation. Armed with the nosy auntie network, her barista best bud, and her trusted Dachshund, Longanisa, Lila takes on this tasty, twisted case and soon finds her own neck on the chopping block… (Amazon)
Arsenic and Adobo is the first book in this series. I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to read this when I first added it to my TBR, but it grabbed my attention enough to make me decide to add it to the list. After a break up, Lila decides to move back home. While trying to figure out what will be the next steps in her life, she decides to help her family out at their restaurant. An ex-boyfriend is a food critic in town and after and argument with Lila, he mysteriously dies. Of course she is being looked at as a suspect, so to avoid taking the fall, she decides to do her own investigation.
This book really dives deep into the culture of Filipinos. I actually enjoyed that aspect of this book. Of course the food is a major part of the book and who doesn’t love to read about food?!?! lol There was a lot of depth to the book and I enjoyed the fact that it didn’t seem to focus only on the mystery alone. This was ultimately what kept my attention. Some books focus solely on the mystery at hand and sometimes it can seem so dragged out that you lose interest.
Definitely a great book. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
My Rating:
Have you read Arsenic and Adobo? What were your thoughts?
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