Murder & Mamon — Books, Beauty, & Buys

By: Mia P. Manansala
Published Year: 2023
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 304

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this book.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): When murder mars the grand opening for Lila Macapagal’s aunties’ new laundromat, she will have to air out all the dirty laundry in Shady Palms to catch a killer…

Lila Macapagal's godmothers April, Mae, and June—AKA the Calendar Crew—are celebrating the opening of their latest joint business venture, a new laundromat, to much fanfare (and controversy). However, what should’ve been a joyous occasion quickly turns into a tragedy when they discover the building has been vandalized—and the body of Ninang April’s niece, recently arrived from the Philippines, next to a chilling message painted on the floor. The question is, was the message aimed at the victim or Lila's gossipy godmothers, who have not-so-squeaky-clean reputations?

With Ninang April falling apart from grief and little progress from the Shady Palms Police Department in this slippery case, it’s up to Lila and her network to find justice for the young woman.

The Calendar Crew have stuck their noses into everybody’s business for years, but now the tables are turned as Lila must pry into the Calendar Crew’s lives to figure out who has a vendetta against the (extremely opinionated yet loving) aunties and stop them before they strike again.

First Impressions

I read and reviewed book 3 in this series, Blackmail and Bibingka in October last year. I enjoyed it and was excited to see another book in the series! I enjoy the bright pink of this cover and I think it makes a very strong first impression. You can pick this up without reading the other books in the series, but might have some confusion regarding the characters and their relationships.

What I thought

This book felt a little more serious than I remember the last one being, but I enjoyed it all the same.

Lila is back with the Calendar Aunties (her godmothers), her Lola Flor, Tita Rosie, and all of her friends at her Brew-ha café. When one someone targets her godmothers’ laundromat and someone windes up dead, Lila finds herself wrapped back up in a murder investigation. This time, her friends and boyfriend insist on helping her out.

I always laugh at these kinds of series because when you think about it, would you want to be friends with someone who keeps ending up with dead people around them? Or live in a town with multiple murders? But they make for such fun stories that I enjoy them anyway.

The best part of this series is Lila and all of her Filipino culture. She talks a lot about food and flavors and the culture in general. I did feel like sometimes it got to be a bit much in this book, but I understand why it’s essential to the story. It just seemed like every time they were at Brew-ha there was an intense description about what they were eating and why.

I enjoyed the Calendar Aunties in the last book, so it was interesting to see them become the center of the story. I have only read books 2 and 3, so it was interesting hearing about some of their past meddling and I wonder how much was in the first two books.

Of course, Lila’s friendships and family relationships are a strong point in the story and I loved how her boyfriend finally was like “girl, you need to stop doing these things by yourself. Just let me come meddle with you.”