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Reviewed by Sharon Boehlefeld | The Observer
For some traditional Filipinos, it’s already Christmas time.
“In the Philippines they have the longest running Christmas season,” says Mia P. Manansala. They celebrate during “The ‘ber’ months — September, October, November, December.”
Manansala, who is a Filipina-American, launched her debut novel, “Arsenic and Adobo,” the first of her Tita Rosie’s Kitchen series, last summer.
A Chicagoan by birth, her culinary cozy mystery features a culturally diverse cast of characters, including her protagonist, Lila Macapagal, who with her faithful Catholic Filipina aunties, runs a restaurant in a fictional town about two hours outside of Chicago.
“There are several reasons I choose to center the series around food, but I feel like the fact that (for Filipinos) ‘Have you eaten?’ — it’s like the first thing out of their mouths” is a big reason, Manansala says.
“It’s like feeding people, providing sustenance, is an act of love. It’s part of history, it’s culture, it’s connection, it’s love. It’s bringing you in. Sharing food was one of the most natural ways for me to show” that part of Filipino culture, she explains.
There are, of course, dead bodies in her cozy mystery, but — like a Millennial’s version of “Murder, She Wrote” — the violence is “off stage,” the language is clean and, while there is romance, it’s the kind she would feel comfortable letting her own aunties read.
Manansala, who is a youth services librarian in Forest Park, went to St. Genevieve School in the northwest side Belmont-Cragin neighborhood in Chicago before attending a public high school. Grade school tuition, she said, was a gift from her grandparents to all the children in her family.
“The fact that my protagon-ist is Filipino-American shapes her and how the world sees her, but the story is ... almost like a coming of age story. I feel like you’re an adult, and you feel like you should have accomplished things,” Manansala says.
“She had big dreams. But due to poor choices and a cheating fiancé, she has to return home. But she also feels love and loyalty for her family and she wants to save the family restaurant. Home and community are what really ground her,” she adds.
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Manansala learned cooking from her father.
“We grew up helping him prep things, but he did all the major cooking. He passed away in 2018. … My mom, bless her, is not a cook. She introduced me to mysteries and cozies,” she says.
One of the features that makes a cozy mystery culinary is including recipes in the book. Manansala includes some that are Midwest adaptations of traditional Filipino dishes, although everything that’s popular in the Philippines isn’t as popular in the U.S.
“Canned goods like Spam — it’s like a national food — (and) canned evaporated or condensed milk” are staples in many Filipino homes, she says.
In addition to the recipes, though, she has also included a glossary of the Tagalog words sprinkled like extra spices throughout the book.
Manansala has been lucky with her first book. It was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection when it debuted in August, and she’s had mentions in media as diverse as Bon Appétit magazine and The New York Times.
Now that “Arsenic and Adobo” is on the shelves, Manansala is awaiting the release of her second book, “Homicide and Halo-Halo,” on Feb. 8, 2022. And in the meantime, she’s working on the third book in the series.
She says the story takes place around Christmas time — those ‘ber’ months — and may just include a bit of Simbang Gabi in the action.
— “Arsenic and Adobo” by Mia P. Manansala was published by Penguin-Random House and is available in paperback for $16.)
