January 30, 2022

Series Sunday: Arsenic and Adobo

(Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery #1) 


Series Sunday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.
  • Read an installment of a series.
  • Share your review/recommendation below.
  • Include the title, author and series name.

My Series Sunday pick is Arsenic and Adobo, the first book in the Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery series by Mia P. Manansala. In this fairly new series, we are introduced to Lila Macapagal and learn she is a member of the Disappointment to the Asian Community Club (DACC). She left the small town instead of staying to help with the family restaurant. She shacked up with a boyfriend then returned home without a degree. Now she works in the family restaurant that is struggling to stay open and now the scene of her ex-boyfriend's murder.

"Oh, come on. Would it kill you to say something nice for a change?" ~ 8%

Famous last words! Spoken by Lila's ex-boyfriend before he face-plants into rice poisoned with arsenic at Tita Rosie's Kitchen. Not only is Lila trying to save the restaurant from closing but she also needs to prove her innocence. Oh, what a ride with a colorful cast of characters!

I see why Arsenic and Adobo was awarded one of the best cozy mysteries and breakout debuts of 2021. The author created a good host of characters in the Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery series. The main character, Lila Macapagal, is a hoot! The first line lets us know her life is a rom-com cliché. But there are serious themes in the book which the author warns readers of: evidence planting, police intimidation, drug use, fatphobia, racism and domestic violence.

Arsenic and Adobo features an Asian-American lead in a cozy mystery/crime fiction. This type of book is right up my alley. Hence why I enjoyed it so much and looking forward to the next installment of the series titled Homicide and Halo-Halo. Look for my review next Series Sunday!

Author: Mia P. Manansala
Published: May 2021
Pages: 280
Edition: eBook
Genre: Cozy Mystery/Crime Fiction
Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤

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