I grew up in a working class, majority Latinx neighborhood of Chicago, but most of my parents’ Filipino friends were in middle class suburban areas. Wow, thank you so much! This might sound strange, but Lila’s creation was kind of a Nature vs.

She’s probably one of the most interesting, real, and complex characters I’ve ever read about. Aw Mia, I’m so glad my feedback was helpful! Let’s talk a little bit about the MC, Lila Macapagal. I pulled out my phone to write it down, knowing there was a story idea there, and was able to come up with the first page of the story by the time I got to work. Then one day I was riding the train to work and the first line popped into my head, fully formed. “They’re like rom-coms with dead bodies!” I remember saying. The idea came to me shortly after my mentor, Kellye Garrett, and I were joking about how so many of the contemporary cozies we’d read shared similar tropes to rom-coms and Hallmark holiday movies. However, when I started reading them, there wasn’t a ton of diversity in the stories and I knew I wanted to put my own spin on the genre. My mom introduced me to the genre and we both absolutely devour culinary cozies. Thank you so, so much for agreeing to be my sensitivity reader! I constantly get messages from people thanking me for including the Author’s Note and content warnings, and it never would’ve occurred to me without your assistance.Īs for the process behind writing it, I love cozy mysteries. Can you tell us a little bit about the process behind writing it? How did you come up with this idea? As your sensitivity reader I may be a little biased, but I genuinely think it’s one of the best cozy mysteries I’ve ever read. Anything else, I can’t talk about yet since nothing is official/announced, but I’m hoping to have exciting news to share by the end of the year! Sounds so exciting! And congratulations on Arsenic and Adobo.

My debut, Arsenic and Adobo, came out in May, and I’m currently editing book 2 in the series, Homicide and Halo-Halo (Feb 8, 2022), and drafting book 3 (untitled, Nov 2022). I’m primarily an Adult mystery writer, and I use humor and murder to tackle themes of family, food, and culture. Manansala (she/her), a queer Filipino American writer from Chicago. Tell us a little bit about yourself and any upcoming projects you have.

Mia manansala author