Rutabaga's Reads 2026: Part 6

Welcome to this first edition of adult fiction titles for 2026. I actually have more adult fiction than usual plotted for this year, but some are saved under different nicknames and not specifically as adult fiction posts. Stay tuned, my fellow readers! I didn’t plot the post this way, but each of the short novels is from a Japanese author.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Nov. 17, 2020) by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.

   Geoffrey Trousselot, translator.

<This is the first novel in a series.>

Clang-Dong. Customers at Funiculi Funicula can go back in time, but there are unbending rules to be followed, including the one that states the trip will only last until the coffee gets cold. The cafe in Tokyo is small and unassuming, but it’s significant for four people one sweltering summer. She knows she can’t change the present, but Fumiko Kiyokawa still wants to tell her boyfriend Goro Katada how she feels. Kohtake, a nurse, wants to retrieve a letter from Fusagi, her husband battling dementia. Yaeko Hirai runs a successful bar after leaving her family’s inn, but is desperate to connect with Kumi, a sister six years her junior. Kei Tokita, the wife of proprietor Nagare Tokita, wants to travel to the future, but not to know if she’s alive. She knows her heart is weak, and she isn’t afraid of dying. They will be guided by Kazu Tokita, cousin to Nagare, and the only one who can serve the transporting coffee. There’s also a teenage girl looking for someone, but no one knows who she is when she turns up in that seat, the one normally occupied by the woman in the white dress (she’s a ghost). It remains to be seen if the travelers will find the answers they’re looking for, but one thing’s for sure -- they must all return before the coffee gets cold. Clang-Dong.

            The first in a series of the same name is a short, adult fiction, Japanese literature novel centering on magical realism and time travel. It’s as immersive as one’s favorite cup of hot coffee/tea/chocolate and is wistful, delightful and totally individual. It’s also heartwarming and heartrending, and it made me teary, but I can’t deny its charm and simple beauty. The story is engaging and highlights the power of human relationships and love. Based on one of the cafe’s rules, it reminds readers that you can’t change what’s already happened, but you can change yourself.

The Full Moon Coffee Shop (Aug. 20, 2024) by Mai Mochizuki.

   Jesse Kirkwood, translator.

<This is the first novel in a series.>

Welcome to the Full Moon Coffee Shop. There are no set hours, no fixed location, and it typically appears without notice. The shop is currently appearing under a Kyoto moon to people feeling lost who are also interconnected. The shop doesn’t have a menu, but guests will be served by talking cats who will discuss astrology and natal charts and say things like Mercury is in retrograde and With Venus in your fifth house. There’s Mizuki Serikawa, a scriptwriter down on her luck, Akari Nakayama, a director who isn’t as goody-goody as she presents herself despite the perfectionism she places on herself and others, and Satsuki Ayukawa, a lead actress crumbling under a public scandal. There’s Jiro, a stylist whom someone hasn’t admitted she has romantic feelings for, Takashi Mizumoto, co-owner of M Y Systems and its server security engineer who feels like things go wrong more for him than his partner, and Megumi Hayakawa, a hairdresser who’s made a rather impulsive career choice based on a dream. They will be served delectable, otherworldly treats like Astral Milk from the Milky Way, Aquarius Trifle, Mercury Cream Soda and Sunrise Syrup (none of which can be replicated with regular, mortal ingredients). It may be served by Master, a six-foot tall tortoiseshell cat; Caelus, a Singapura; Cronus (Saturn), a tuxedo cat; Venus, a Persian; or Mercury, a Siamese. With varying personalities and cryptic wisdom, these working lost will reclaim their paths.

            Although I don’t drink coffee, I do love cats, and with cats on the cover, I was drawn to this short, adult fiction novel of contemporary fantasy and magical realism. It’s a cozy Japanese literature story and a gentle one. Even though I’m not into astrology, this tale is charming and well-crafted. Reading it goes down smooth like a luscious milkshake and dazzles like diamond stars in the night sky. Clever celestial confections, unruffled fantasy and enchantment create a feel-good story, despite the woes of the human characters. The magical cats are a delight, too. I will be continuing this series.

The Restaurant of Lost Recipes (Oct. 8, 2024/US edition) by Hisashi Kashiwai.

   Jesse Kirkwood, translator.

<This is the second novel in a series.>

In this second helping, Chef Nagare Kamogawa and his adult daughter Koishi continue running the unassuming but incredible Kamogawa Diner and the Kamogawa Detective Agency, respectively. Nagare’s turned his past as a former detective and his passion for food into a culinary sleuthing business. He serves a mouthwatering set menu to first-time customers. They might be served miso-marinated pomfret, deep-fried Manganji peppers, hamo eel and chilled tofu, but they seek lost recipes. An Olympic-level swimmer looks for nori-ben (nori seaweed on a bed of rice) made by his estranged father as a gray pantsuit-ed woman always in a hurry looks for a Japanese-style hamburger steak recipe that she thinks her father made. A couple who run a traditional bakery are hoping for a Western-style Christmas cake as an offering for their young son’s shrine (he died in a car accident six years ago) while a model friend longs for fried rice made by her deceased mother. A managing director of a printing company seeks ramen from a yatai (food cart) existing during his university days over 30 years prior and a singer pursues ten-don (tempura served over a bowl of rice) she once had after her one hit from a restaurant that’s no longer open. Each of these characters longs for lost recipes. They need help finding them again.

            When you’re on Karasuma and reach Higashi Honganji temple, turn onto Shomen-dori to find the tucked away Kamogawa Diner. The second novel in the Kamogawa Food Detectives series is as comforting as rich hot cocoa and as healing as any balm. The adult fiction, cozy mystery highlights the marvel of delectable food. I love the details of the served food as well as the found food. This short novel is easy to devour with a lot of flavor and nourishing to boot. The only unfortunate part isn’t the story, but the lack of any Japanese restaurants near me.

            Book One: The Kamogawa Food Detectives

"Arsenic and Adobo" by Mia P. Manansala

Arsenic and Adobo (May 4, 2021) by Mia P. Manansala.

<This is the first novel in a series.>

Big city life in Chicago was the dream and still is, but Lila Macapagal is back home with Tita (Aunt) Rosie and Lola (Grandmother) Flor. The Calendar Crew of aunties not by blood (Mga Ninang April, Mae and June) give her a hard time for leaving for three years, showering her with love and judgment, as Lila is back working at Tita Rosie’s Kitchen. When the particularly unpleasant, self-proclaimed food critic in Shady Palms, Illinois (population around 20,000), drops dead soon after a wisecrack from Lila about, “Would it kill you ...,” her life tilts. Not only is the deceased her ex-boyfriend, but Detective Jonathan Park treats her like the only suspect and is convinced of her guilt based on evidence [definitely] planted in her work locker. Lila has no choice but to conduct her own investigation. She’s got a list of restaurants who’ve been targeted by Derek Winter (the dead guy), the nosy auntie network, her barista bestie Adeena Awan and her trusty, overweight Dachshund Longganisa. There’s also the family lawyer, Amir Awan, Adeena’s golden-child big brother and the guy Lila’s had a crush on for forever. And Dr. Jae Park, town dentist, has entered the picture. Both are attractive. Both are successful. Both are single. But first, Lila must figure out who killed Derek, framed her and brought further distress upon her family’s already struggling restaurant.

            The debut adult fiction novel in Manansala’s Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries series brings Filipino American food culture to the forefront of a cozy, culinary mystery series with a sizzling plot and mouthwatering dishes. It is ripe with sticky situations and satisfying snark, humor, hard work and heart. Lila is plucky and sarcastic and is definitely new to amateur sleuthing, flawed bits and all, but I rooted for this tight-knit (if sometimes overbearing) family and community of color. There is one moment where I really struggled with Lila, as she’s the one who’s bringing the “high school drama.” Not Adeena. Yeah, I realize she’s going through a lot, and while I have compassion for her, I have zero patience for bratty behavior. There is emphasis on culture and language (Tagalog) with the story tackling heavier matters like drug-dealing, racial discrimination and fatphobia. (There is a trigger warning.) I flew through this story like a contestant in a timed showdown (minus all the stress and the actual cooking or baking). There is food. There is murder. It is cozy and culinary with the right amount of drama. It’s a little sweet, a lot salty, but all the mentions of food balance it out and keep me hungry. Now, how about a plate of ube crinkles?

            P.S. This library checkout was my Blind Date with a Book this month.

            P.P.S. There are recipes at the back of the book, including a recipe for those ube crinkle cookies!

Rutabaga's Reads 2025: Part 10

Here I am with a second adult fiction compilation for 2025. I didn’t purposely aim for variety, but in this post, you’ll find magical realism, a cozy, contemporary mystery and domestic (or women’s) fiction.

The Cat Who Saved the Library (Apr. 8, 2025) by Sosuke Natsukawa.

   Louise Heal Kawai, translator.

<This is a sequel book.>

The local library is 13-year-old Nanami Kosaki’s home away from home. Her books are her best friends, though she does have one human friend, a straightforward classmate named Itsuka Imamura who’s often seen carrying her archery bow. Nanami, with her “wild horse” asthma, can’t do physically exerting things, and she’s had limited exposure to the outside world. But her world is in the books she reads, so it’s troubling when she notices that some of her favorite books are disappearing from the library’s shelves. There is a mysterious man taking them, but maybe more mysterious is Tiger the Tabby. He’s a talking cat. There’s a passageway that glows blue, and the General tries to convince her that books are extremely dangerous, the Prime Minister tells her that imagination is the worst evil of all, and the King only seems to understand power. There’s also Rintaro Natsuki, a.k.a. Mr. Proprietor, who helps Nanami and Tabby out of a tight spot. Rintaro owns Natsuki Books, and he understands what Nanami and Tabby are trying to do. Save books.

            Whether someone reads one genre or multiple, all readers understand the transporting power of good literature. In a time where book bans are at an all-time high (or it certainly seems so), this contemporary fantasy, magical realism story is needed. It’s a story where faceless gray soldiers led by a changeling menace (who happens to take the form of men in authority roles) are stealing books to try to erase them from humans’ minds. They are taking away the freedom to choose, but Natsukawa writes the story in a way that’s warm and wise. The fleeing scenes don’t have the intensity of an action-adventure or suspense novel, but it doesn’t diminish the seriousness of the situation. We are reminded to think for ourselves and be intelligent about it. “We need to see things with our heart as well as our mind, but that view can easily become clouded” (Rintaro, p. 67).

            Book One: The Cat Who Saved Books (haven’t read as of this posting)

The Kamogawa Food Detectives (Feb. 13, 2024/US edition) by Hisashi Kashiwai.

   Jesse Kirkwood, translator.

<This is the first novel in a series.>

The Kamogawa Diner exists past the Higashi Honganji Temple in Kyoto, Japan, down a quiet backstreet. The restaurant has no sign and no listed menu and those customers looking for the Kamogawa Detective Agency typically have naught to go on but one line from an ad in Gourmet Monthly magazine: “We Find Your Food.” Koishi Kamogawa and her father, Nagare, run the unique restaurant, serving delicious food on high-quality dishes with top-brand chopsticks. But the reason for their ad proclaims them to be “food detectives.” Koishi takes the initial information, but it’s Nagare who does the bulk of the research and creates the lost recipe, treasured by the customer. One customer wants tonkatsu that her ex-husband used to make for her. Another wants Napolitan spaghetti that she once ate with her grandfather when she was five years old, but she has no recollection of where they ate it or the name of the restaurant. The unassuming restaurant is one of lost recipes waiting to be found – and eaten – again.

            Reading “The Kamogawa Food Detectives” (TKFD) is like being enveloped by your favorite comfort food and warmed up by a steaming bowl of soup. Each of the six chapters follows the same recipe (a.k.a. setup), and each meal is worthy of a Michelin star. TKFD is completely charming. Koishi and Nagare are so warm and welcoming, that I wish this was a local restaurant that I could frequent. It’s beautifully crafted and completely off-beat compared to other mystery stories. You’ll find no dead bodies or major scandals, but good company, great cuisine and culinary history for each of the found-again foods. It’s an ode to nostalgic food; it’s umami for the soul. Remember to savor each bite (a.k.a. page)!

The Memory Library (Dec. 3, 2024) by Kate Storey.

<This is a standalone novel.>

Every year, on July 11 at midnight, Sally Harrison adds a new book to a special bookshelf with a personal note to the daughter who hasn’t been home in 21 years. Ella, Sally’s only child, fled from the U.K. to Australia after angry words were exchanged, and she’s had nothing but cursory contact via phone with her mother. Ella and Charlie’s daughter, Willow, doesn’t properly know her own grandma, who’d love to dote on her. When an accident prompts Ella to grudgingly return to the home she grew up in, she learns critical lessons about herself that are hard to learn, like how judgmental she’s been -- to her mother and to Nathan, one of her mother’s next-door neighbors. Something precious of Sally’s has been ruined because of the accident, and Ella may find it within herself to do something positive about it.

            While I wasn’t specifically looking for a domestic fiction story, this one’s large print edition cover and “Library” in the title caught my attention. As gathered from the title, this lovely novel celebrates books and libraries (and notes that libraries these days do so much more than simply house physical books), but also emphasizes the importance of family, compassion and love. There’s the rekindling of love between spouses who’ve let life drift them apart, the understanding of the unconditional love of a parent while accepting the misunderstanding of youth that led to a false accusation toward said parent whose love never wavered, and the love of friendship that’s grown dusty with time. Ella’s not an easy character to like in the beginning, but as her awareness grows and understanding seeps in, the complexity of her and Sally’s characters really stand out. A touching story, full of heart and hope.

            P.S. No, I don’t need large print books. My local library only has the large print edition, so I checked that one out vs. requesting the regular print from a different library.

Rutabaga's Reads 2025: Part 1

Here is my first adult fiction compilation for 2025 (I’m aiming for two). This variety includes a novel that features triplet sister serial killers, a novel that features stylishly decorated cookies and a novel that takes place in Seoul, South Korea.

How I’ll Kill You (Mar. 21, 2023) by Ren DeStefano.

<This is a standalone novel.>

Identical triplet serial killer sisters have descended upon a sleepy town in the Arizona heat. They all have names on birth certificates, but they do not go by those names. They were abandoned as newborns with their umbilical cords still visible and no names. They were shuffled through the foster care system and mostly not homed together. 25-year-old Sissy is treated like the youngest, and it’s her turn to find a man, then make him want her and love her, so she can make him dead. She’s always been the one cleaning up her sisters’ messes. Sissy introduces herself with her fake ID as Jade Johnson. Both Iris and Moody take turns playing the married twin sister who goes by Lisa Canter. When Sissy lays eyes on the man she later learns is Edison, she knows he’s the one. She often daydreams of how she might kill him. Edison is a widower, and Sissy’s caught off-guard when she realizes he has a stepdaughter (Sadie). Sissy doesn’t plan to kill her, but schemes to become a trusted adult in her life, which will be especially useful when Edison is dead. What really gets Sissy is when she realizes she’s in love with her mark. Considering anyone outside of her sisters to be a friend or found family is the ultimate betrayal. And if her sisters, who’ve killed thrice apiece, so much as suspect she’s fallen for Edison, will they merely push her to kill him quickly and leave before six months is up? Or might they plot her burial site, too?

            In DeStefano’s adult fiction debut, readers delve into the mind of disturbed sisters. Told from Sissy’s perspective, hers is a struggle of sisterly loyalty vs. betrayal, dispassionate actions trying to hide loneliness and a desire for love. It’s easy for someone who’s grown up well to think, Pull yourself together! This is a psychological thriller and a dark romance, but it’s also something of a bildungsroman, with Sissy discovering what type of person she truly isn’t and the type she wants to be. This novel is clever and malicious, filled with sinister scenarios and messy clean-ups, self-sacrifice and the emotional pain of wanting what one cannot have. “How I’ll Kill You” isn’t for the faint of heart, giving readers twisted love that has them rooting for a psychopath.

            Notable lines: “His hands have built and carried and created. Mine have dismembered and buried and destroyed.” (Sissy, p. 87)

            P.S. I checked this one out from the library as my Blind Date with a Book back in February 2024.

How the Murder Crumbles (June 20, 2023) by Deb Sennefelder.

<This is the first novel in a series.>

“Put that in your icing bag and pipe it.” Those are some of Mallory Monroe’s famous last words to Beatrice ‘Queen Bea’ Wright, food blogger and town menace, before she’s found dead on her kitchen floor, flour around her body and a bloodied marble rolling pin nearby. Because multiple people witnessed Beatrice accusing Mallory and Mallory’s late Aunt Glenna of stealing a cookie recipe, including Detective William Hannigan, Mallory has become suspect number one. This affects her sales, her two employees continue to butt heads, she catches her (now ex-) boyfriend with another woman, and that woman, Aspen Leigh, has suddenly relocated to Wingate, Connecticut, is living in the apartment over Mal’s bakery (which is owned by Mal’s cousin Darlene), and has apparently decided Mal’s her one friend in town. That doesn’t make sense to her, either, but what does make sense is initiating her own investigation in order to clear her name. The deeper she delves, the more obvious it is that the killer may be whipping up another murder.

            In the realm of cozy, adult fiction mysteries, this is a solid entry. There are a few cookie recipes included at the story’s end, and Sennefelder bakes up a whodunit that’s tasteful and tastefully decorated with dashes of humor throughout. I would absolutely want to visit Mal, Kip and even Claudia at The Cookie Shop, though no Almond Meltaways for me, please. I much prefer chocolate! It’s not a highly remarkable story, but it has well-rounded characters and a steadily-moving plot. Mal should definitely leave investigating to the professionals, and, while I know she’s desperate to clear her name, the way she demands answers from whichever hapless person she’s decided is her next murder suspect is really off-putting. I don’t expect to continue this series.

            P.S. This library checkout was my Blind Date with a Book this month.

If I Had Your Face (Apr. 21, 2020) by Frances Cha.

<This is a standalone novel.>

Told from four viewpoints, this novel follows five young women making their lives in Seoul. Ara is a mute hairstylist; she’s been mute ever since she was the victim of a violent attack. Kyuri is the kind of beautiful that money can buy, working at a “10 percent” room salon (“a salon that supposedly employs the prettiest 10 percent of girls in the industry”), critical of herself, and utterly judgmental of anyone she deems ugly (which is most other women). Sujin, Ara’s roommate, is fixated on making her face beautiful so that she can work in a room salon like Kyuri. Kyuri’s roommate, Miho, is a talented artist who grew up in an orphanage, is the only one of them to venture to America (on a scholarship) and has a chaebol boyfriend who’s definitely unfaithful. Wonna, a floor below the other four, is the only one who’s married and is preoccupied with becoming pregnant, expecting that her child will love her like her physically abusive grandmother did not. All struggle financially, even Kyuri, who hides it well. Miho, whose current life Kyuri’s envious of, states, “… but I was the first to come to America. Without being adopted, I mean.” Each young woman is navigating an uneasy life in an expensive city, but friendship knits them together.

In previous novels I’ve read, it’s a glittering, shiny Seoul, but this Seoul is unflinchingly hard and sometimes downright brutal. It’s still a world with disturbing, impossible beauty standards (and the plastic surgery debt to go along with it), ruthless social hierarchies and K-pop obsession. The characters can barely afford to live for today, much less plan for tomorrow. This is an insightful, contemporary story of sisterhood and female friendship, provocative and biting, powerful and gripping. I did not expect to be swept up in the compelling realism of the story. Cha’s writing doesn’t only shine light on economic inequity, but the effects of classism and patriarchy on these young women. These aren’t women from chaebol families. Like most of us, they are working-class women, trying to succeed in a harsh world. Physical beauty will fade, but novels showcasing universal human challenges like this will not.

"The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches" by Sangu Mandanna

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches (Aug. 23, 2022) by Sangu Mandanna.

<This is a standalone novel.>

The more witches there are, the more magic will gather, so the witches of Britain keep their heads down and don’t meet up with each other out in the wild, but they do gather on the third Thursday of every third month. 31-year-old Mika Moon loves magic, so she has an online account (@MikaMoon) where she posts videos “pretending” to be a witch. Primrose Beatrice Everly, the “ancient and very proper head of the group” of witches in Britain, dislikes this bit of show, but Mika is still, mostly, following the rules, and she figures no one will take her seriously. Except former actor-but-always-thespian Ian Kubo-Hawthorn does, made obvious by the email he sends her with the subject: WITCH WANTED.

            Mika travels in the Broomstick (that’s her car) to Nowhere House, where the owner witch, Lillian, is said to be on an archaeological dig. She’s never around to care for the three orphan witches she’s saved (note: all witches are orphans). Rosetta is a 10-year-old Black child with very dark brown skin and thick coils of dark hair. She was found by Lillian in London at three months old after a fire killed her parents. She is sweet and really wants to be able to control her magic in the outside world. Terracotta is an eight-year-old with peachy skin and straight, shiny black hair. She was found in a tiny Vietnamese town at one year old after a fever decimated the town’s occupants, including her parents. Terracotta likes to loudly contemplate Mika’s murder. Altamira is a vivacious seven-year-old with [often messy] light brown hair and brownish gold skin a similar shade to Mika’s. She was found in the rubble of a Palestinian hospital when she was but a few days old. The adults that actually do inhabit Nowhere House full-time, in addition to Ian, include Ken, Ian’s husband, groundskeeper of Nowhere House. Ken is the calm to Ian’s cyclone-like chaos and Ian’s fondness for flamingo pink wool. Lucie is Lillian’s longtime housekeeper and friend. And then there’s Jamie (James) Kelly. He’s a handsome, prickly librarian in his mid-30s, and he definitely thinks it’s wrong to have Mika at their place. He sees her as a threat, albeit an appealing threat. Will the residents of Nowhere House come to trust Mika? Can Mika teach the girls enough to hold off their unpredictable magic from Lillian’s solicitor? Will Terracotta off Mika in a dramatic way? Has Mika finally found the found family she’s been too scared to hope for but has actually always wanted?

            This adult fiction, contemporary fantasy romance sparkles with everyday magic, quirky characters, found family and a grumpy (Jamie)/sunny (Mika) relationship. Mandanna manages to give readers a warm, witchy story that is wonderfully welcoming (except for Jamie). The author’s writing is suffused with bright banter within her well-paced plot. The story is charming and effervescent, and I’d happily befriend any of these dynamic characters (even Jamie, if his grumpy countenance can stand to make friends). If you like magical enchantment with layers of humor and heart, give this cozy book a read!