Mia Manansala on humor, queer joy, and representation in cozy mysteries

If you haven’t heard of author Mia P. Manansala, she’s known for writing cozy mysteries, a genre she describes as “Hallmark movies with dead bodies.” Although her books often feature murder cases that her characters are trying to solve, the stories are more about how these murders affect the characters and their relationships.

Manansala’s latest book, Death in the Cards, her first young adult cozy mystery, drops today, while Death and Dinuguan, the final book in her Tita Rosie’s Kitchen mystery series, will be released Nov. 25.

I recently sat down with Manansala to learn more about Filipino and queer representation in cozy mysteries, the significance of food and community in her books, and what’s coming in her next books.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Aleenah Ansari: Did you always know you wanted to be an author of cozy mysteries?
Mia Manansala: I’ve always been a lifelong reader, but I didn’t know that I could have a career in writing. To me, books were things that magically turned up at the Scholastic book fair. I studied English in college and went on to teach English in South Korea. When I came back home, I started to feel stuck. I remembered how much I loved writing, so I decided to take a one-day mystery writing workshop. My family was a huge fan of mysteries, but I didn’t see myself writing them. 

The idea that I came up with during that workshop became my first finished novel, which focused on a queer Filipino American Millennial solving a murder mystery at Chicago Comic Con. When my teacher read the initial draft, she said, “I think you’re a mystery writer.”

AA: Tell me more about the genre of cozy mysteries. What tropes did you embrace as you started writing the Tita Rosie’s Kitchen mystery series?
MM: I often say that cozy mysteries are Hallmark movies with dead bodies. This means that there’s no graphic language, there is always a happy ending, and there’s no harm to children or animals. A lot of cozy tropes are romance tropes. Most cozy stories have a romance subplot, and the person solving the mystery is a regular person. My debut book, Arsenic and Adobo, opens with a character who has to move back to their hometown and works at her family’s failing restaurant—except her ex-boyfriend has died. She’s the main suspect of the murder, and she’s trying to figure out what really happened.

AA: What do you love most about cozy mysteries?
MM: My mom loves reading cozy mysteries. One day while shelving books at the public library, she discovered the book Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (by Joanne Fluke), which combined two of our favorite things: food and mystery. I decided to read it with her so we’d have something to talk about, and I’d visit the library after work to check in with my mom and find new books to read. I knew that if I ever were to write something, I wanted to put my own spin and see my world reflected in my writing.

AA: How does that representation of your community show up in your books?
MM: The Tita Rosie's Kitchen mystery series is set in a fictional town outside of Chicago, and I wanted it to center on the lives of people of color and queer people as main characters. They get to fall in love, solve problems, and be their own heroes. Chicago is a diverse city of neighborhoods, and I wanted to explore it through the restaurant owners, who are suspects in Arsenic and Adobo after a food critic dies. In traveling to each restaurant, I wanted to highlight what my world looks like as someone raised in the city and now based in a Chicago suburb. There are people of different classes, sexualities, and religious backgrounds all in one area. 

AA: Many of your books come up with recipes for dishes including chicken adobo, halo halo ice candy, mamon, and turon. What does food represent in your books?
MM: A common greeting in Tagalog is “kumain ka na ba?” Meaning “have you eaten yet?” And even if you have, I’ll probably make you something. Dinner time is often an opportunity for debriefing—it’s the literal sharing of tea. With a main character like Lila Macapagal, who’s a cookie baker and amateur sleuth, there needs to be a suspension of disbelief, but what makes her uniquely qualified to solve a murder that the police cannot? It’s her network, whether it’s her gossiping aunties or restaurant owners around the town.

AA: Your new young adult book, Death in the Cards, is coming out in May. What can you share about it?
MM: This book centers on Danika Dizon, who I’ve described as a queer brown Veronica Mars. Her mom owns a private detective agency, and her big dream is to follow in her mom’s footsteps. She does a tarot reading for an upperclassman that’s very ominous, and she goes missing shortly after. As Danika starts to untangle what happened, it’s a chance for her to take on her own case and prove that she has what it takes to work at the family detective agency.

Oftentimes, young adult authors won’t talk about parents on the page, but I wanted to introduce a dynamic where the parents are present and a driving motivator. Danika has a loving Filipino family, but there’s still friction there. I also wanted to ensure that this story had a positive portrayal of a Filipino father, something I didn’t have in my other series since it focused primarily on the mom and grandmother as heads of the family.

AA: As you wrote your books, how did it help you understand your own identity and queerness?
MM: I didn’t realize I was queer until I was writing my first book, Death Comes to Comic Con, with a queer character and asked, “Is this me?” That was much later in life. As the series went on, it became clear that Lila is filtered through my point of view. I never explicitly stated Lila’s sexuality, and I didn’t realize that the way she was describing other women was queer, which was something that my readers pointed out to me. I also explored queer joy that shows up in Lila’s two friends and business partners. In Death in the Cards, the main character Danika is a queer American teen. She also knows that gender isn’t something that particularly matters to her. Her family has always been the most important thing in her life, and she’s navigating many things for the first time.

AA: How do you use humor in your work?
MM: Because cozy mysteries are meant to be light, it’s easy to incorporate humor. Jokes are helpful when you need a breather, and I had to learn to pull back from jokes and let the uncomfortable feeling sit for the characters and readers. It’s a balance of wholeheartedly pouring emotions into the writing without being over the top. 

AA: What do you hope for readers of Death in the Cards?
MM: Sometimes, there are books you need because they came into your life when you were going through a tough time, and they provide entertainment and comfort or simply make you feel less alone. I wrote this book for younger me because if I had a book like this, maybe I would have figured out things sooner. I hope I can offer that to readers who encounter my books.

Get to know Mia P. Manansala through these rapid-fire questions

What’s your sign?
Scorpio. I always thought of myself as an un-Scorpio Scorpio. I’m also a Taurus rising, so I have a grounding earth sign along with a volatile water sign, which balances things out.

Favorite Filipino dish?
Kare kare, which is an oxtail and peanut stew served with rice and fermented shrimp. It’s so hearty and comforting.

Who are some of your favorite Filipino American authors?
I gravitate toward Dominic Lim, who writes gay Filipino romance, and Victor Manibo, who writes queer speculative fiction.

A trope or genre you’d like to explore?
My favorite trope is fake dating and its higher stakes counterpart, marriage of convenience.

How do you want people to feel when they read your book?
Hungry or entertained. At the end of the day, I just want them to have a good time.