Arsenic and Adobo, published on May 4, 2021, is the first book in Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mysteries by Mia P. Manansala.
Lila Macapagal returns to her hometown of Shady Palms after a broken engagement to help out at her aunt's restaurant. Her high-school ex-boyfriend, Derek Winter, comes by to lambast yet another dish in the restaurant but passes out and dies in the hospital. The police are quick to accuse Lila for the murder, so she goes around town to investigate people whom Derek has wronged.
This book is followed by Homicide and Halo-Halo and Blackmail and Bibingka.
Arsenic and Adobo contains examples of:
- Asshole Victim:
- Derek Winter may have been Lila's ex, but she thought he was at most a nuisance until she learned that he was involved in a drug ring and a restaurant health-inspecting scam.
- It's already hard to feel sorry for Edwin Long, but it's revealed that his wife killed him after he caught her overhearing his plan to kill her son.
- Clashing Cousins: While they're not blood-related, Lila and Bernadette (her godmother's daughter) have grown up together as rivals.
- Clear My Name: Lila is the prime suspect for Derek's murder and as a drug kingpin, so she goes around investigating other people who might have had bad blood with Derek.
- Five-Token Band: Filipino, Pakistani, Korean, Japanese, Mexican, black, and white families live in the small town of Shady Palms.
- Food Porn: Lila tends to describe everything she's eating with paragraphs of detail, even when she says she's too rattled to taste the details.
- Gossipy Hens: The Calendar Crew is so full of gossip that Detective Park has to make them swear to secrecy whenever he reveals anything about the case.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Derek tried to turn away from the drug world and become Detective Park's informant, but Kevin poisoned his last cup of coffee.
- Karma Houdini: The last murder is officially unresolved. Nancy Long killed her husband after he caught her overhearing his plan to kill Derek and attacked her. Lila lets her get away, and Edwin's murder is pinned on the comatose Kevin.
- Love Triangle: Lila has reciprocated feelings for Amir Awan (her best friend's brother and her lawyer) and Dr. Jae Park (her dentist), but she chooses not to commit by the end of the first book.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: Adeena doesn't want Lila to date Amir even though they have a mutual attraction, but she eventually gives her blessing.
- Mystery Magnet: Lila witnesses a murder, discovers a comatose assault victim, finds her family's restaurant trashed, and finds one more body after the funeral. Detective Park even asks her why she's always at the crime scene.
- Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: Lila and Adeena have a falling out when the former doesn't want to help the latter open up her dream shop.
- Police Are Useless: The police are eager to pin crimes on Lila, and they're slow to respond when her life is in danger.
- Sympathetic Murderer: The final killer, Nancy Long, kills her husband after finding out that he attempted to kill her only son. Lila lets her run away without telling anyone.
- Theme Naming: Ninangs April, Mae, and June are called the Calendar Crew due to being named after months.
- To Be Lawful or Good: Once Lila finds out who killed the last victim, she lets Nancy leave Shady Palms without telling anyone that she killed her husband since she just wants to start a new life away from the drama.
- Two Dun It: Regarding Derek's murder, Kevin directly caused his death, but Edwin had also been poisoning him slowly.
- You Are the Translated Foreign Word: Characters have a tendency to repeat Tagalog phrases in English.
