Arsenic And Adobo

Filipino author, murder mystery, new series

⭐

from GoodReads

When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She’s tasked with saving her Tita Rosie’s failing restaurant, and she has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties who shower her with love and judgment. But when a notoriously nasty food critic (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case.

With the cops treating her like she’s the one and only suspect, and the shady landlord looking to finally kick the Macapagal family out and resell the storefront, Lila’s left with no choice but to conduct her own investigation. Armed with the nosy auntie network, her barista best bud, and her trusted Dachshund, Longanisa, Lila takes on this tasty, twisted case and soon finds her own neck on the chopping block.

I really really wanted to like this mystery novel by a Filipino author. Unfortunately, I hated it, really really hated it. *Sigh*

A lot of Filipino food are mentioned throughout the book and a few recipes at the end. It is understandable because the main character Lila works in her Aunt's Filipino restaurant. But the food got too distracting. 

What I didn't like

• The writing style and first person narration.
• The author tried too hard to make Lila witty and funny. I didn't find her witty nor funny. Lila comes out as character who lacks empathy by making light of someone's death that happened right in front of her. The scenario is utterly unnatural. She barely reacted to the second death and the head injury of her frenemy.
• Lila's lawyer and the detective investigating the murder are both incompetent and inconsistent. 
• Lila mentioned a few characters related to her and her current circumstances but they never showed up nor were explained further.
• The author tried to add romance into the murder mystery with boring people.
• The author's wokeness which is in-your-face obvious with the "diverse" characters, just like several  insufferable Hollywood movies that include all races in the universe for inclusiveness. The author probably had a checklist of all the necessary people aside from Filipinos that she believed should be in her first book: Japanese, Pakistani brother and his lesbian sister, lesbian Mexican, mixed Korean/White, Black, Greek. 🙄🙄🙄
• The baddies are pure white which she emphasized very early on. Yes, she said pure white. Sheesh! Two of her ex boyfriends are no-goodnik white people, one was the murder victim. Remember, white people are bad, bad, bad. Others are fine, noble, and if flawed, are redeemable.
• Story is not compelling; no real tension; amateurish. 

Do not read if you like murder mysteries. It is awful and will give you a headache due to excessive eyerolling.