This is one tasty novel, rife with mystery and humor. Plus it's a series?? I can't wait to read more!

I loved Lina as a character and her reactions to the mystery unfolding. She's so relatable and I found myself laughing at her inner monologue. Add to that the delectable food descriptions and focus on family and culture, and you have a perfect book.

I appreciated the disclaimer at the beginning acknowledging some potential triggers and topics that were brought up during sensitivity reading. While they weren't an issue for me, I appreciate the care that went into it.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

So great to discover new author and a new cozy mystery series that features a multi-generational and multicultural cast of main and secondary characters. Lila returns home to Shady Palms, Illinois and works in her family's restaurant. When her former high school boyfriend stops in for a meal, he ends up having a medical emergency and is taken away by the EMTs. We discover that he was poisoned, and suspect number one is Lila, via poisoned food. Unfairly targeted, she resorts out of necessity to playing detective to find out who the real killer is. Fun -- and with recipes included.

This was a perfect cozy mystery--wacky family members, love interests, food, friendship, and a murder. Lila was a great protagonist who you keep rooting for throughout the book. I loved learning about Pilipino culture and their food. The mystery was a true "who done it" and it kept me guessing until the end. Recommended.

A fun, fresh take on the culinary cozy mystery, featuring a 25-year-old Filipino American woman whose life has become, in her own words, a rom-com cliche. After a bad breakup, Lila leaves culinary school in Chicago and returns to her small Illinois hometown to help out at her aunt's restaurant. In true cozy mystery style, Lila takes it upon herself to investigate when a customer (who is also an ex) dies of apparent arsenic poisoning after giving the restaurant bad reviews.

Lila is an appealing and relatable character, surrounded by a diverse cast of friends, extended family, godmothers, and a few potential love interests. She also has a cute dog who neither dies nor takes part in solving crimes. The mystery is well crafted, with with a few early clues for the observant reader hinting at the killer's identity.

The food is of course a highlight, with not only a variety of mouth-watering Filipino dishes described, but also an array of other ethnic cuisines as Lila visits local restaurants targeted by the victim. Naturally there are recipes at the end.

Recommended for anyone who likes cozies and foodie fiction, and especially for libraries seeking to diversify their mystery collection.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

Arsenic and Adobe was the perfect cozy mystery filled with my favorite things! Food, murder, and a diverse culture I got to learn about!

I fell in love with this Filipino family! The family dynamics was amusing, heart warming, and everything you could wish for! There were many “I love my family” but would also like to smother them sometimes, moments which made it feel real and raw.

I loved the book as much as I hated it! I was so enraged at the treatment of this family, and other minority families in the book! It made my heart hurt and I was so sad to think that people can be treated this way due to their ethnicity.

I loved Lila and her Tita, her Lola, and her crazy nosy Ninang’s. They were the perfect female family unit! Strong, stubborn and the kind of generous we all strive to be. Her best friend was a rock star and I loved that even though their relationship was not perfect they loved each other fiercely anyway.

This is more than a book. It was an author sharing her world. She shares recipes, her customs, her experiences, and her family.
This was such a pleasure to read. I took so much away from this book, and I want to thank the author for sharing such amazing insight into her culture.

If you love food, mystery, murder, and family you need to read this one!

This is a cute cozy mystery with a large and ethnically/culturally diverse cast of characters. Readers who like cozy mysteries of similar structure will enjoy this, too.

The elements I disliked were things that are very common among the cozy genre-- over-fixation on describing every single thing so that awkward terms have to be included to keep the paragraph from having the same couple of words repeated too often; missing time, as in, the cast sits down for a meal, there are 4 lines of dialogue, and everyone is immediately done eating; etc. These are not unique to this book.

While the main and side characters were very diverse-- Filipino, Japanese, Muslim, Hispanic, Black-- not much space was given to other types of diversity; the main character's best friend is lesbian and vegetarian, and the main character is larger than her family would like while not specifying body-diversity (focusing more on the annoying family aspect).

Recommended for all public libraries were large-cast cozy mysteries are popular.

This fast-paced debut cozy mystery will make you laugh, cringe, and salivate simultaneously.

Lila's returned home to help with the family's failing Filipino restaurant. Unfortunately, Shady Palms is a small town and she can't escape her food blogger/restaurant reviewer ex who seems to have it out for the restaurant, consistently giving it bad reviews. Because that's not stressful enough, the landlord who wants the restaurant off his property is her ex's new stepdad. Yikes!

When the landlord and the ex come to eat lunch, Lila's ire is up and she makes no bones about being angry with the ex constantly criticizing the restaurant in his reviews. And then he ends up facedown in his dessert. Dead from poisoning which makes her the prime suspect.

This book was so much fun to read! Lila is likable and relatable - trying to figure out what she wants, feeling pressure to meet her family's expectations. I loved her interactions with her extended Filipino family - grudges going back to grade school but knowing that they'd have her back when it mattered. The imperious gambling grandmother was terrifying and hysterical. I loved that the huge colorful cast of characters was diverse in all sorts of ways - ethnicity, religion, sexuality and even eating habits. The author did a great job of giving each character their own voice and quirks.

The food descriptions were amazing! Lila's bestie works at a coffee shop and her drink concoctions sounded so good. The book includes recipes and chicken adobo is happening!

The mystery was well done - lots of layers and interlocking pieces, several suspects with believable motives. Plus there were hints of a love triangle - hopefully, that gets explored in future books.

If you enjoyed Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto, you'll love Arsenic and Adobo! I can't wait to read book two.

Diverse cultures and religions, LGBTQ+ rep

Utterly charming! Loving this cozy-millenial trend. Perfect for fans of Dial A For Aunties. A recommended purchase for collections where mysteries are popular.

Arsenic and Adobo is a cute cozy mystery with an ever-increasing body count. It stars Lila Macapagal who leaves the big city to return home to Shady Palms to help out at her failing family restaurant. The supporting cast includes her grandmother, Lola Flor, and many other members of an extended family plus those who are family by custom and/or acquaintance, like the Calendar Trio, three spunky women coincidentally named after months: April, May, and June. Lila’s best friend is a vegetarian Pakistani Muslim with a to-die-for brother, Amir, who Lila has had the hots for for years. The characters are genuine—with hints of those relatives you love, but who can sometimes be a bit possessive and restrictive.

There’s a bit of romance too—a failed one with Derek (one of the accumulating bodies), Amir, and a dentist, Jae. Conflict comes when Lila starts to like-like Jae, but his brother is the infamous Detective Park, out to convict Lila of murder and drug-running.

The descriptions of food are amazing and read as good-enough-to-eat, with recipes in the back of the book.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and partial review.

I love cozy mysteries but they are usually in small, predominantly white/Christian towns. This was a refreshing change and I am very excited to read more by this author! I also loved that the author used specific content warnings in their author's note. All fans of cozy mysteries should read this book!

A debut cozy mystery with a smart and complicated protagonist under the age of 30, a diverse cast, and mouthwatering descriptions of a variety of cuisines alongside the murder? Yes please!

A warning: don't read ARSENIC AND ADOBO unless you've already eaten, or you'll have to take a break to try one of the recipes in the back of the book (or if you're an indifferent cook like me, visit your local Filipino restaurant for takeout).

Other things I loved about this book: the fact that the killer (no spoilers) has a relatable and even sympathetic motive; Longganisa the dachshund (who, despite what the book’s cover might imply, is not an accessory to murder); and the teases of backstory the book gives about Lila, which make me glad cozy mystery series feature the same protagonist so we can learn more about her in the next book!

Oh no! I’m literally craving for more this fantastic Filipino family adventures! Why good things end so fast!!!

Let me introduce you the stars of this journey briefly:
The threatening, tough grandma Lola Flor, sweetest Tita Rosie, entertaining and smart Calendar Trio(sharp tongued April, negotiator May, smart June) our witty, brave, kind hearted, stubborn, tough heroine Lila who has impressive investigation and culinary skills and let’s not forget her loyal bestie Adeena who create hell of dreamy drinks and her love interests hot, sweet dentist Jae and charismatic old time crush lawyer Amir.

Riveting whodunnit cozy mystery, fantastically witty, adorable, genuine characters and lots of mouth watering foods including Japanese kitchen to American BBQ, Mexican dishes and to die for Filipino recipes: yes, I died and directly went to heaven ( which is impossible: not dying part, the latter) This book is dreamy combination of foodie, coffee addict and thriller fan like me!

Lila Macapagal’s story started like romcom cliche: cheated by long time boyfriend, summoned by aunt Rosie to return back to her hometown Shady Palms she ran from for bigger dreams in Chicago to save her family restaurant and her ex lover Derek turns into mean, vindictive food critic who does everything to destroy their business with his slandering reviews.

This part sounds like a romcom opening or Nora Ephron romance beginning, isn’t it? You think enemies to lovers theme help two ex lovers resolve their issues and fall in love again! Nope! You couldn’t be so wrong!

Because Derek passes out as soon as Lila serves him her special dessert and this is not usual pranks he throws at! He gets poisoned and wait for it : he dies at the hospital because of poisoning and Derek’s stepfather who is also their vindictive landlord blames the family to poison his son! Yes, see the transition from Nora Ephron story to Agatha Christie’s whodunnit page turners !

And Detective Perk, a skillful investigator takes the case and declare Lila as the main suspect! Lila is not only blamed to kill her ex, she’s also blamed on being the ring leader of drug trafficking in town! What???

And Detective Perk is so persistent to put her behind the bars which means Lila should conduct her own investigation to clear her name in two months ( till her court date) Thanks to Calendar Crew aunties’ suspect list: she starts talking with other restaurant owners who suffered the shitty reviews Derek has written to threat their business.

I don’t know you my friends but I would have a chance I could read at least three books belong to this captivating series at one sit. I became a true addict! As soon as I finished the book at record time and I started to cry like whining brat who craves more chocolate!

All of these characters in the book are like your own family members. Their genuineness warm your heart. They are so natural! You want to hang out with them drinking gallons of tea, munching snacks, having long conversations and observing their miraculous cooking!

I hope Ms. Manansala won’t let us wait too long for the sequel! I already started to miss this family as soon as I finished the last page!
I’m giving my five gazillion, family bonds, true friendship, mouth watering dishes, riveting mystery, best characters, perfect multicultural representation stars!

I’m telling you my friends, this is one of the best of best reads I’ve recently had! I highly recommend to all readers who are big fans of feel good fictions, laugh out loud dark comedy, unputdownable cozy mystery! This is FREAKING AWESOME!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing For sharing this fantastic digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions!

A debut cozy mystery, and throw in the added benefit of cooking Filipino. Lila's family owns a Filipino restaurant, and fills a niche for ethnic food. Lila, newly returned from Chicago; she went away determined never to come back to Shady Palms. Now she's back. The foods sounded yummy and the mystery and deaths could fill a book. Wait, they did! Lila can't leave a recipe alone - she has to make it her own. When a man dies in her family's restaurant, she and her family figure out there is a bigger story at hand. Think graft, shady contractors, drugs and murder. As the story progresses, we are reminded of the importance of home and family and the varieties of ethnic foods that some communities get to experience.

I think it's important to have more own voices (not diverse but actually written by by and about diverse authors - I am totally offended by white authors writing Asian stereotypes) so hooray to Berkeley for publishing this book! The actual mystery was so convoluted and made zero sense - the big info dump of whodunnit in the last chapter was kinda lame but otherwise I think this was a great first try!

Overall, I really enjoyed the first book in this new series from Mia Manansala. The family dynamic was a lot of fun to read and coming from a tight knit family I can relate. The food aspects were also a lot of fun and the addition of recipes at the end of the book was really nice to see. I thought that throughout the book something that Lila and Adeena needed to talk about was a possible spark in their relationship and I was a little disappointed when there wasn't. I felt that the end of the book was a little rushed, as though everything needed to be completed in a certain number of pages. But the twists and turns that the book took to get there I did not see coming. The book was funny, sad, uplifting and I would definitely recommend it to anyone that is looking for a new cozy murder mystery series to start.

An excellent cozy mystery that hits all the right notes and still manages to be modern and fresh. I hope this is the first in a series!

First of all, this book makes you hungry. All the descriptions of the food from Tita Rosie's Kitchen and all the other restaurants in Shady Palms were mouthwatering. The mystery, which I found to be a tad bit predictable and a little long, was still compelling and satisfying at the end. I think the strength here was the development of all of Lila's relationships.

A fun debut cozy mystery to help you get through the cold weather. Lila has returned home to help her aunt and grandmother with their restaurant. She can't figure out why an old boyfriend gives them bad reviews all the time, but eats in their restaurant numerous times a week. Then someone dies at the table she is serving. Lila knows she didn't do it, but who is responsible?

This was such a fun mystery! I loved Lila and her family, and felt her struggle between wanting to be true to herself and support her family was all too real. The voice is fresh and funny, and the food descriptions... well, don't read this book while you're hungry. I'm excited to spend more time with Lila and get to see the criminal underbelly of quirky Shady Palms (which, I admit, my brain consistently misread as Shady Pines - Golden Girls forever!).

This was my first time reading a cozy mystery!!

For one... I am obsessed with the cover. I absolutely loved the town of Shady Palms and Miss Lila Macapagal. This was quite the cozy mystery that stands out for the importance of family, full of heart, and tons of delicious food that I wanted to eat right out of the book.

What I absolutely loved? The Filipino culture!! And the cast of characters just absolutely loved. But, I have to say my most favorite is the dachschund Longganisa. Gahhh soooo cute!!!

Mia Manansala has a fresh voice exploring Filipino-American culture and food through a cozy mystery that made me laugh out loud so many times.

This definitely was a cute and fast read!!

4/5 stars

Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Pub date: 5/4/21
Published to GR: 6/4/21