I read a lot of books varying from different genres, but not once have I read one that featured a Filipino character as the main protagonist. That is not to say that there are no books featuring Filipino characters, but usually the ones I have come across are sidelined as the main character's sidekick, or their story is about a difficult subject matter. So, I was excited when I heard about Mia P. Manansala's "cozy mystery" debut novel, Arsenic and Adobo. The protagonist here is a female Filipino American and while it is a mystery involving a murder, it is lighthearted and filled with references to the Filipino culture, especially the food that is sure to make you hungry.
After going through a bad breakup in Chicago, Lila Macapagal decides to move back home to her small town of Shady Palms and help out her family's Filipino restaurant, Tita Rosie's Kitchen. Apart from dealing with her meddling ninangs (godmothers in Tagalog) and saving the failing restaurant, she also has to deal with recurring visits from her ex-boyfriend turned food critic, Derek Winters. After serving Derek one of her experimental Filipino desserts, he suddenly drops dead on the table.
Now, Lila has become the prime suspect in what the Shady Palms Police Department and their lead detective on the case, Detective Park, have deemed as murder. With the help of her family and friends, Lila must go on her own investigation and clear her name before anyone she cares about gets hurt.
As a Filipino, this book put the biggest smile on my face. Not the murder aspect of course, but just by all the Filipino references and familiar cultural tones sprinkled throughout the story. The Pronunciation and Glossary guide of Tagalog words and phrases in the front page already touched my heart because of how rare it was to see something that I knew and recognized. Even the interactions Lila had with her aunt, Tita Rosie, grandmother, Lola Flor, and her ninangs, who she secretly named as The Calendar Crew because of their names (Ninang April, Ninang Mae, and Ninang June) reminded me so much of some of my own relatives.
On a personal note, I sometimes consider myself a bad Filipino because of how I am not exactly a fan of some popular Filipino cuisines such as sisig, ube or halo-halo (I know - I'm a disgrace!). However, seeing all the other Filipino dishes mentioned such as lumpia, adobo, embutido, ginataang, and snacks like pandesal emitted a kind of nostalgia of growing up in my Filipino household and the taste of home cooked meals I would have - and still have - that was comforting. I will even admit that all the parts when Lila baked or ate her ube biscuits made me want to try ube again.
The story is a "cozy mystery," in that there is nothing violent, gory, or suspenseful in it apart from maybe the central crime that drives the narrative, which was refreshing to read. It reminded of Murder, She Wrote and Nancy Drew, especially how Lila is practically an amateur detective. The mystery surrounding who killed Derek had me curious at first, but as everything started to get revealed it took me out of the story a little bit. A lot of the revelations were the same or surprising in that it was unexpected based on how dark some of it was than I thought it would be, and that there was not enough build up to keep me anxious with anticipation. However, I think this could have been on me wanting some kind of huge reveal after what I had been used to in thrillers forgetting that this was a grounded small-town mystery with down-to-earth characters. Also, as this is the first book in a new series, some of the character or plot points mentioned could come up again and explored more.
Speaking of characters, I liked all of them including Lila but was absolutely frustrated with Detective Park. I was even texting my cousin while reading the book whenever Detective Park would jump to conclusions over something because he was so incredibly wrong. It annoyed me too how he would come off concerned with Tita Rosie and Lola Flor, and yet was willing to pin everything on Lila. Someone once said that based on what she has observed from true crime podcasts and shows, the police are often selecting their suspect based on the narrative they want to believe and less on the actual evidence. That was Detective Park in summary.
Based on how this novel ends, I am eager to see what happens next for Lila Macapagal especially as the cover and title for the sequel was revealed. February 2022 cannot come soon enough.
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