Homicide and halo-halo

Even while she is working with her business partners to open a café next door to her aunts' Filipino restaurant, Tita Rosie's Kitchen, Lila Macapagal takes on judging the Miss Teen Shady Palms Beauty Pageant. The pageant is a big deal in the downstate Illinois town, with several events leading up to the finals on Founder's Day. Before the first event, Detective Park tells Tita Rosie that a threat has been made on the pageant. Though there are some rough spots, the first pageant event goes smoothly. But while jogging the next morning, Lila finds the body of Rob Thompson, CEO of the firm sponsoring the pageant. In addition, Lila's cousin, who had been seen arguing with Thompson, is a prime suspect. The close-knit Macapagal family springs into action, using their penchant for tsismis (gossip) to find clues and feed them to Detective Park, usually over a meal. With mouth-watering descriptions of Filipino cuisine, a diverse cast of supporting characters, and an agreeably curly plot, as well as some romantic sidebars, this second in the series is another winner. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.

Even while she is working with her business partners to open a café next door to her aunts' Filipino restaurant, Tita Rosie's Kitchen, Lila Macapagal takes on judging the Miss Teen Shady Palms Beauty Pageant. The pageant is a big deal in the downstate Illinois town, with several events leading up to the finals on Founder's Day. Before the first event, Detective Park tells Tita Rosie that a threat has been made on the pageant. Though there are some rough spots, the first pageant event goes smoothly. But while jogging the next morning, Lila finds the body of Rob Thompson, CEO of the firm sponsoring the pageant. In addition, Lila's cousin, who had been seen arguing with Thompson, is a prime suspect. The close-knit Macapagal family springs into action, using their penchant for tsismis (gossip) to find clues and feed them to Detective Park, usually over a meal. With mouth-watering descriptions of Filipino cuisine, a diverse cast of supporting characters, and an agreeably curly plot, as well as some romantic sidebars, this second in the series is another winner. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.

Lila Macapagal can't bring herself to tell her partners that she's not ready for the soft opening of her dream, the Brew-ha Café. She's still traumatized by a murder and being held by a killer several months ago. She ignores a police detective's suggestion to go into therapy; instead, she agrees to be a judge for the biggest local event of the year, the Miss Teen Shady Palms Pageant (Lila was a former winner). When she finds the body of the pageant sponsor, who's a fellow judge, Lila's cousin Bernadette is the primary suspect. Bernadette had just argued with the man over his predatory behavior toward a teen. Lila and Bernadette have always been rivals, but Lila is willing to look for the real killer, until, once again, she becomes a target. VERDICT While the follow-up to Arsenic and Adobo is a cozy mystery, it's darker, dealing with PTSD, predatory behavior, dismissive attitudes toward mental health, and other issues. Filipino American food and culture, as well as family and community, remain essential elements in the story.—Lesa Holstine Copyright 2021 Library Journal.

Upon opening her new café, Lila Macapagal stumbles into unpleasantness when the head judge of a local beauty pageant is murdered and her cousin becomes the main suspect, in the second novel of the series following Arsenic and Adobo. Original.

"Death at a beauty pageant turns Tita Rosie's Kitchen upside down in the latest entry of this witty and humorous cozy mystery series by Mia P. Manansala, author of Arsenic and Adobo. Things are heating up for Lila Macapagal. Not in her love life, which she insists on keeping nonexistent despite the attention of two very eligible bachelors. Or her professional life, since she can't bring herself to open her new cafâe after the unpleasantness that occurred a few months ago at her aunt's Filipino restaurant, Tita Rosie's Kitchen. No, things are heating up quite literally, since summer, her least favorite season, has just started. To add to her feelings of sticky unease, Lila's little town of Shady Palms has resurrected the Miss Teen Shady Palms Beauty Pageant, which she won many years ago-a fact that serves as a wedge between Lila and her cousin slash rival, Bernadette. But when the head judge of the pageant is murdered and Bernadette becomes the main suspect, the two must put aside their differences and solve the case-because it looks like one of them might be next"--

Death at a beauty pageant turns Tita Rosie's Kitchen upside down in the latest entry of this witty and humorous cozy mystery series by Mia P. Manansala.Things are heating up for Lila Macapagal. Not in her love life, which she insists on keeping nonexistent despite the attention of two very eligible bachelors. Or her professional life, since she can't bring herself to open her new café after the unpleasantness that occurred a few months ago at her aunt's Filipino restaurant, Tita Rosie's Kitchen. No, things are heating up quite literally, since summer, her least favorite season, has just started. To add to her feelings of sticky unease, Lila's little town of Shady Palms has resurrected the Miss Teen Shady Palms Beauty Pageant, which she won many years ago—a fact that serves as a wedge between Lila and her cousin slash rival, Bernadette. But when the head judge of the pageant is murdered and Bernadette becomes the main suspect, the two must put aside their differences and solve the case—because it looks like one of them might be next.