…Opening Chapter
Molly left her two canes in the car and, instead, hooked her hand into the crook of Paco’s strong left arm, content that he would keep her steady and upright until they got through the supermarket door. Inside, Molly wedged herself onto one of the store’s electric scooters, Paco grabbed a grocery cart, and they headed into the produce department. He began to pick oranges from a bin and drop them in a plastic bag.
Molly shook her frizzled mass of gray curls. “No, not those squeezers. We get the peelers with the belly buttons.” She picked one out of the adjacent bin to show him.
“Ah, of course, a navel orange,” he acknowledged as his bushy brows shot up and down. “The fruit designed especially for me.” His lips made a smacking sound.
She knew Paco liked to peel an orange and pull the sections apart before eating, and he did the same with his grapefruits.
Molly beamed. “I’ll get some of those nice nextorines over there beside the peaches.” She loved catering to her husband’s every need, sometimes overdoing it, and Paco gently reminded her to stop mothering him. After all, he’d lived alone for almost seven decades before he met her.
Maybe she enjoyed fussing over him because they married so late in life, a marriage she never saw coming. What had Molly seen in this five-foot-ten, 160-pound man in his late sixties with the bony-plain face? She liked the natty way he dressed, his expressive eyebrows. His cute tush, too. But especially the kindly way he talked and really listened to her.
And what did Detective Paco see in this five-foot-one older woman with glassy blue eyes, a face round as a full moon, and a beach ball body? Her sugar cookies. Yes, the warm bagful she handed him on the day he came to Dr. Avi Kepple’s house to investigate a suspicious death. From then on, Paco simply inhaled her gourmet cooking, respected her shrewd insights, and loved the way she talked—the sound-alike, humorous misuse of words that somehow had other meanings. These choice malaprops became known as Mollyprops among her family and friends. Nobody, not even Dr. Avi, knew whether they were intentional or not.
An hour later they exited the store with Paco pushing the cart down a line of parked cars and Molly following on a store scooter. Suddenly, Molly braked. “Paco, we’re in the wrong row! There’s our blue Shovelay in the next row, nosed into the curb. You’ll have to mosey ’round the corner to the next row to get to our car. You can’t get across this island with that heavy cart so full of food and stuff.”
“I sure can get over it,” Paco retorted. “I’m not that old and weak, Mol.”
With the cart safely in an empty stall next to their blue Chevy Malibu, Paco took a deep, painful breath. Slowly his legs gave way under him, and he sank down to the asphalt surface.
THE MOANING LISA – A “Paco and Molly” Mystery, Book 4
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: October 2025
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link
If Paco and Molly LeSoto captivated you in Locks and Cream Cheese, Hot Grudge Sunday, and Boston Scream Pie, you’re sure to love The Moaning Lisa—their fourth murder mystery with a smidgen of humor.
Now in their eighties, Paco and Molly have moved into Gilded Gates, an assisted living community in Maryland. They expect their golden years to be blissful. They are dead wrong. Some residents are missing and no one knows what has happened to them.
One suspicious resident is a sleepwalker and claims to have heard mysterious moaning during his night walks, but for the life of him he can’t figure out where the anguished sounds are coming from.
“Inspector Paco” has retired as head of the Black Rain Corners police force. But many residents of Gilded Gates fear they might be next on the list of the missing. They beg Paco to investigate.
Naturally, Molly also pokes her keen nose and shrewd insights into the baffling disappearances.
Meet the author
Rosemary and Larry Mild, cheerful partners in crime, live in Honolulu, Hawaii, where they have collaborated on 22 published books, including mystery and suspense novels and short story collections—with more to come. The Milds recently received a 2024 Elliot Cades Award for Literature, Hawaii’s most prestigious literary honor. Larry grew up in New Haven, CT and served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. He graduated from American University and spent most of his post-military career designing electronic equipment for the U.S. Government. Rosemary, a Smith College graduate and former assistant editor at Harper’s magazine, grew up in Milwaukee, WI. In The Moaning Lisa, their newest novel, Paco and Molly move into The Gilded Gates, expecting a blissful retirement. They are dead wrong. Visit the Milds at www.magicile.com for a taste of all their books.