BLACKMAIL AND BIBINGKA

Lila Macapagal and the gang at and around Tita Rosie’s Kitchen return for a third round of murder most savory.

Even before he left the home of his mother, Lila’s Tita Rosie—the most celebrated Filipina restaurateur in Shady Palms, Illinois—Ronnie Flores was nothing but trouble. Now that he’s breezed back into town with plans to open a winery specializing in Filipino vintages, he promises more of the same, as an anonymous note about “Ronnie Flores and Co.” demanding $50,000 from Tita Rosie “or the world will know what they did in Florida” darkly hints. This time, though, the trouble seems to be centered on the “they” Ronnie’s gathered around him: his engaged partners, charming Isabel “Izzy” Ramos-Garcia and taciturn Pete Miller; his principal backers, Xander Cruz and his fiancee, Denise Sutton; and their assistants, Olivia and Quentin March, who also happen to be Denise’s stepchildren. Wasting no time after their arrival, Denise concludes a welcome party by collapsing with a dose of alcohol poisoning that Det. Jonathan Park suspects is something even worse. He’s right, of course: Denise has been treated to a fatal dose of methanol, and it’s up to Lila to take time out from her nonstop baking for her Brew-ha Cafe to mingle with the suspects, ask nosy questions, and figure out which of them most wanted Denise defunct before anyone else follows. The mystery, as in Lila’s first two cases, is upstaged by a parade of food and drink so exquisite that most readers, even before peeking at the four sumptuous recipes that are the real climax of this drama, would happily share Denise’s last libation even if it meant risking her fate.

Hands down the tastiest whodunit you’ll consume this year.