Arsenic and Adobo, by Mia P. Manansala
This fun, fluffy cozy centered around a Filipino family restaurant is an Anthony Award nominee for best first novel.
Lila Macapagal moves back home after a breakup, along with her dachshund Longanisa (sausage), aka Nisa. When her high school boyfriend and restaurant-extorting asshole critic drops dead at their restaurant, Lila becomes embroiled in a truly incredible number of crimes, all of which the local cop accuses her of. She starts investigating, mostly by eating at local restaurants and interviewing the owners. Cue food porn.
This is a fun, lighthearted cozy with lots of nice food and cultural details. The writing is a bit clunky due to either the author or her editor thinking she needs to define every single term that might not be familiar to white Americans ("I took a bite of pan de sal (Filipino bread rolls)"), and the plot isn't the most plausible even for a cozy. For instance, Lila gets framed for some extremely serious crimes, but hangs out with her friends and the Korean-American dentist she's semi-dating rather than freaking out or pointing out that she has an alibi for some of them. But the hanging out is great and I'd happily read a whole book of that.
If you can overlook the implausibilities, it's quite charming and enjoyable. I read it in a day.
Currently $2.99 on Amazon
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Lila Macapagal moves back home after a breakup, along with her dachshund Longanisa (sausage), aka Nisa. When her high school boyfriend and restaurant-extorting asshole critic drops dead at their restaurant, Lila becomes embroiled in a truly incredible number of crimes, all of which the local cop accuses her of. She starts investigating, mostly by eating at local restaurants and interviewing the owners. Cue food porn.
This is a fun, lighthearted cozy with lots of nice food and cultural details. The writing is a bit clunky due to either the author or her editor thinking she needs to define every single term that might not be familiar to white Americans ("I took a bite of pan de sal (Filipino bread rolls)"), and the plot isn't the most plausible even for a cozy. For instance, Lila gets framed for some extremely serious crimes, but hangs out with her friends and the Korean-American dentist she's semi-dating rather than freaking out or pointing out that she has an alibi for some of them. But the hanging out is great and I'd happily read a whole book of that.
If you can overlook the implausibilities, it's quite charming and enjoyable. I read it in a day.
Currently $2.99 on Amazon
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[image error] comments
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