Manansala’s highly-anticipated novel is the first in the “Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery” series, so expect more captivating stories that tie in her experiences as a Fil-Am in the diaspora and of course, food.įor the author, writing and the influences that would lead her to a path of mystery and crime fiction were present early in her life - from watching crime dramas like “Murder, She Wrote” and “Matlock” with her grandparents and reading the “Encyclopedia Brown” series. True to the culinary cozy mystery subgenre, “Arsenic and Adobo,” which will be released on May 4 (Berkley/Penguin Random House), features recipes, including Lila’s ube crinkles and Tita Rosie’s chicken adobo. In the novel’s some 300 pages, readers meet the many characters in Lila’s Shady Palms life, from her Dachsund named Longanisa to her band of nosy titas dubbed “the Calendar Crew.” It becomes an Agatha Christie-type case in which Lila, who is the one and only suspect, must use her amateur sleuthing skills to piece together what happened and how exactly arsenic got into Derek’s system. Though Derek is now a vicious food critic who has beef with Tita Rosie’s restaurant and on the day he comes in for a meal and has a confrontation with Lila, he drops dead on top of the food. To fill her days, she pitches in to help her Tita Rosie’s struggling Filipino restaurant and “in the trope of all tropes,” she reconnects with Derek Winter, her high school sweetheart. The leading lady, who this time happens to be a Filipina American named Lila Macapagal, moves back to her suburban hometown of Shady Palms, Illinois after breaking up with her cheating fiancé. Manansala, read like a typical romantic comedy. The opening lines of “Arsenic and Adobo,” the debut novel from Chicago-based author Mia P.

Photos courtesy of Jamilla Yipp Photography and Berkley/ Penguin Random House “MY name is Lila Macapagal and my life has become a rom-com cliché.” Manansala’s debut novel “Arsenic and Adobo” will be released on May 4.

Adobo and arsenic