Lila Macapagal is back in Mia P. Manansala's second Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery. In HOMICIDE AND HALO-HALO, a beauty pageant and a dead judge take center stage. With spunk, sass, community engagement, and large family dynamics, this is an entertaining and endearing mystery.
Lila and her friends are getting ready to open the Brew-ha Café, when she is persuaded to fill in as a judge for the upcoming Shady Palm’s Miss Teen Beauty Pageant. Lila won the pageant years ago, and her cousin Bernadette won’t let her forget it. As Lila meets with the planning committee, she realizes one of the judges and sponsors, Rob Thompson, is a little too interested in the girls and female judges. When he winds up dead in the river, Lila wonders who killed him off. Lila’s cousin, Bernadette, looks like the prime suspect, but Lila knows that it must be someone else. Was it a contestant or judge? A momtestant or Rob’s angry wife? Or his sister, who never got a chance to run the family business? And what is the new yoga instructor in town hiding? So many questions to answer! As the competition ramps up, Lila realizes someone is out to win the crown, even if it means taking others down in the process.
This is a solid mystery with lots of great moments in Lila’s Filipino American family. Lila is juggling two possible love interests, meddling aunts, PTSD from her first mystery, and a bout of depression. She’s relatable and fun and has many missteps in trying to find her place in the world. She has a big support system and their genuine love for each other shows through. The mystery itself is well-constructed with enough colorful suspects and revelations to keep you invested and guessing. Delicious recipes such as Halo-Halo Ice Candy and Lila’s special iced coffee are also included.
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.
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