Guilt and Ginataan: A Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery

Café owner Lila Macapagal attempts to clear her best friend and business partner’s name in Manansala’s diverting fifth cozy set in Shady Pines, Ill. (after Murder and Mamon). The town’s annual harvest festival takes a chilling turn when Yvonne Reyes, wife of the mayor of nearby Shelbyville, winds up dead in the corn maze. Suspect number one is Lila’s bestie, Adeena Awan, who wakes up next to Yvonne’s corpse with a bloody knife and a case of amnesia. Lila, convinced of Adeena’s innocence, investigates alongside her boyfriend, hunky dentist Dr. Jae Park, and Jae’s older brother, a former cop. The trio’s chief suspects include the mayor’s jealous assistant, a crooked state politician, and even the mayor herself. While the mystery plot is a bit paint-by-numbers, Manansala brightens the proceedings with mouthwatering Filipino recipes and winsome check-ins with Lila’s extended network of aunts, grandmothers, and female mentors. It’s a good bet for fireside reading on a fall night. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary. (Nov.)