Table Of Content

BERKLEY PRIME CRIME Published by Berkley An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC penguinrandomhouse.com Copyright © 2021 by Mia P. Manansala Excerpt from Homicide and Halo-Halo copyright © 2021 by Mia P. Manansala Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader. BERKLEY and the BERKLEY & B colophon are registered trademarks and BERKLEY PRIME CRIME is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Manansala, Mia P., author. Title: Arsenic and adobo / Mia P. Manansala. Description: First edition. | New York: Berkley Prime Crime, 2021. | Series: Tita Rosie’s kitchen mysteries Identifiers: LCCN 2020050117 (print) | LCCN 2020050118 (ebook) ISBN 9780593201671 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780593201688 (ebook) Subjects: GSAFD: Mystery fiction. Classification: LCC PS3613.A5268 A88 2021 (print) | LCC PS3613.A5268 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020050117 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020050118 First Edition: May 2021 Cover art and design by Vi-An Nguyen Book design by Kristin del Rosario, adapted for ebook by Kelly Brennan This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book. pid_prh_5.7.0_c0_r0 To Daddy, Thanks for giving me my height, a great head of hair, and most of all, a passion for food. Your love was apparent in every bite. Wish you could’ve seen this. Miss you. Mahal kita Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Author’s Note Glossary and Pronunciation Guide Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-one Chapter Twenty-two Chapter Twenty-three Chapter Twenty-four Chapter Twenty-five Chapter Twenty-six Chapter Twenty-seven Chapter Twenty-eight Chapter Twenty-nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-one Chapter Thirty-two Chapter Thirty-three Chapter Thirty-four Chapter Thirty-five Chapter Thirty-six Chapter Thirty-seven Chapter Thirty-eight Chapter Thirty-nine Chapter Forty Chapter Forty-one Acknowledgments Recipes Preview of Homicide and Halo-Halo About the Author Author’s Note As a Filipino American born and raised in Chicago, I’ve written about experiences that are true to me. While Lila is a fictional character and very different from me, her perspective is still filtered through me and my worldview. There are scenes in this story that I considered to be harmless mystery genre tropes, especially tame since this is a cozy, but I was viewing this through the lens of an American. A homeland Filipino sensitivity reader pointed out that those scenes had a triggering effect on her because they hit so close to home regarding the way the PNP (Philippine National Police) enforces President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war. For the sake of my readers, I’d like to provide content warnings for indications of evidence planting and police intimidation, as well as drug use, fatphobia, racism, and domestic violence. Arsenic and Adobo has a deliberately light and humorous tone, but it is still a work of crime fiction. It would be a disservice to my readers and any survivors of these listed issues for me to gloss over these problems or treat their concerns in a flippant manner. To learn more about Duterte’s drug war, please check out these resources recommended by my sensitivity reader: DrugArchive.ph: the repository of a drug war research consortium composed of Ateneo, La Salle, and UP researchers On the President’s Orders: award-winning documentary on the drug war Paalam.org: a remembrance site for the victims of the drug war “Summary & Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines”: report submitted to the UNHRC on the drug war Glossary and Pronunciation Guide HONORIFICS/FAMILY (THE “O” USUALLY HAS A SHORT, SOFT SOUND) Anak (ah-nahk)—Offspring/son/daughter Ate (ah-teh)—Older sister/female cousin/girl of the same generation as you Bunso (boon-soh)—Youngest in the family Kuya (koo-yah)—Older brother/male cousin/boy of the same generation as you Lola (loh-lah)/Lolo (loh-loh)—Grandmother/Grandfather Ninang (nee-nahng)/Ninong (nee-nohng)—Godmother/Godfather Tita (tee-tah)/Tito (tee-toh)—Aunt/Uncle FOOD Adobo (uh-doh-boh)—Considered the Philippines’s national dish, it’s any food cooked with soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, and black peppercorns (though there are many regional and personal variations) Almondigas (ahl-mohn-dee-gahs)—Filipino soup with meatballs and thin rice noodles Baon (bah-ohn)—Food, snacks or other provisions brought on to work, school, or on a trip; food brought from home; money or allowance brought to school or work; lunch money (definition from Tagalog.com) Embutido (ehm-puh-tee-doh)—Filipino meatloaf Ginataang (gih-nih-tahng)—Any dish cooked with coconut milk, sweet or savory Kakanin (kah-kah-nin)—Sweet sticky cakes made from glutinous rice or root crops like cassava (There’s a huge variety, many of them regional) Kesong puti (keh-sohng poo-tih)—A kind of salty white cheese Lengua de gato (lehng-gwah deh gah-toh)—Filipino butter cookies Lumpia (loom-pyah)—Filipino spring rolls (many variations) Lumpiang sariwa (loom-pyahng sah-ree-wah)—Fresh Filipino spring rolls (not fried) Mamón (mah-MOHN)—Filipino sponge/chiffon cake Matamis na bao (mah-tah-mees nah bah-oh)—Coconut jam Meryenda (mehr-yehn-dah)—Snack/snack time Pandesal (pahn deh sahl)—Lightly sweetened Filipino rolls topped with breadcrumbs (also written pan de sal) Patis (pah-tees)—Fish sauce Salabat (sah-lah-baht)—Filipino ginger tea Suman (soo-mahn)—Glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk, wrapped in banana leaves, and steamed (though there are regional variations) Ube (oo-beh)—Purple yam OTHER Diba (dih-bah)—Isn’t it?; Right?; short for “hindi ba” (also written as “di ba”) Macapagal (Mah-cah-pah-gahl)—A Filipino surname Mga ninang—In Tagalog, you don’t pluralize words by adding -s at the end. You add “mga” (mahng-ah) in front of the word Oh my gulay—This is Taglish (Tagalog-English) slang, used when people don’t want to say the “God” part of OMG. “Gulay” (goo-lie) literally means vegetable, so this phrase shouldn’t be translated. Tama na (tah-mah nah)—That’s enough; Stop; Right/Correct (depends on context) Tsinelas (chi-neh-lahs)—Slippers/sandals Utang na loob (oo-tahng nah loh-ohb)—Debt of gratitude (though it goes much deeper than that)