Book Review: Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manasala

About the Book

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.

My Review

Cozy and colorful, the second installment in the A Tita Rosie’s Kitchen series brings the drama. With the Miss Teen Shady Palms Beauty Pageant as our setting in the town of Shady Palms – and with the head judge is murdered – Lila finds herself once again thrust into an investigation. When her cousin Bernadette is the main suspect in the murder, Lila and her family launch their own ways of investigating the case to clear her name and find the real killer. I have not read the first in the series, Arsenic and Adobo, so there were a few times I felt behind on the characters or some of the scenes that were taking place. It was still easy enough to pick up on personalities and the murder kept me interested to see how it would be solved. I come from a pageant background so I’m keen to read novels that feature them, and the food scenes – well, this book will make you hungry that’s for sure. I loved the vivid descriptions and learning more about the Filipino culture was an added bonus for me. If you enjoy a light-hearted cozy mystery with a side of yum, this is a good one for you.

4 stars