Murder and Mamon
Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries
Mia P. Manansala
304 pages
Berkley
published September 19, 2023
This is such a fun series. In addition to the cozy mystery, I like the characters, the Filipino culture and all the food and drink references. Lila is such a likable character and I am always rooting for her and Jae.
There are always enough clues to give me a good guess of who did it as Lila works to solve it. I love the friendship represented by Lila and her friends and the calendar crew. There is a lot of support shown in the books. It has a great balance of personal life and sleuthing. All the great descriptions of food made me so hungry.
For anyone, like me, not familiar with Filipino, there is a glossary of characters, food and words in general to refer to that helped me with pronunciation and to remember everything. And while I have not yet tried any, I also love the recipes at the end. This would be a perfect book club book where you could try a recipe or two for the meeting.
I flipped back and forth between reading and listening to this one and loved Danice Cabanela’s narration. It was high octane and made the story that much more enjoyable. I was almost sad when I was somewhere I could not listen.
This is a great cozy series that highlights Filipino culture and perfect not only for cozy fans, but for those trying to diversify their reading.
About the book
When murder mars the grand opening for Lila Macapagal’s aunties’ new laundromat, she will have to air out all the dirty laundry in Shady Palms to catch a killer…
Lila Macapagal’s godmothers April, Mae, and June—AKA the Calendar Crew—are celebrating the opening of their latest joint business venture, a new laundromat, to much fanfare (and controversy). However, what should’ve been a joyous occasion quickly turns into a tragedy when they discover the building has been vandalized—and the body of Ninang April’s niece, recently arrived from the Philippines, next to a chilling message painted on the floor. The question is, was the message aimed at the victim or Lila’s gossipy godmothers, who have not-so-squeaky-clean reputations?
With Ninang April falling apart from grief and little progress from the Shady Palms Police Department in this slippery case, it’s up to Lila and her network to find justice for the young woman.
The Calendar Crew have stuck their noses into everybody’s business for years, but now the tables are turned as Lila must pry into the Calendar Crew’s lives to figure out who has a vendetta against the (extremely opinionated yet loving) aunties and stop them before they strike again.
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