Arsenic and Adobo is the first in the Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery Series. It 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), an old one with Amir, and a potential new one with a local 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.
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Arsenic and Adobo is available through:
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