Barbacoa, Bomba, and Betrayal (2023) Raquel V. Reyes (A Caribbean Kitchen Mystery) What did I like about this story? “No te olvides de tus uvas,” Mami warned me. It was a tradition practiced in many Latinx and Hispanic homes. You had to eat twelve grapes for good luck before the clock struck to signal the […]

Calypso, Corpses, and Cooking (2022) Raquel V. Reyes (A Caribbean Kitchen Mystery) I read Mango, Mambo, and Murder and Mia P. Manansala’s Arsenic and Adobo very close together, and have spent the past year confusing the two, because cozy mystery with food and a female lead are what I remembered. To be clear, I liked […]

Mango, Mambo, and Murder (2021) Raquel V. Reyes (A Caribbean Kitchen Mystery) Miriam Quiñones-Smith has finished her PhD in food anthropology, but instead of becoming an author or education, she has moved back to Miami, where her husband was able to find a better paying job closer to support from his family. “I’m a food […]