Molly is the housekeeper for a psychoanalyst, who appears to be quite happy living and working in a small village. As it turns out, Molly is not much of a housekeeper, but she is a gourmet cook and devoted to her employer. Because she's an orphan, he has been her only family.

When the doctor's nephew is murdered and a valuable painting is stolen, Inspector Paco arrives to look for clues. Molly, being a good hostess, serves him a cup of "decapitated coffee." Molly is truly a wonderful character with a unique way of talking. Her malapropisms made me laugh because they often seem oddly appropriate. Coffee purists might well think of decaffeinated coffee as being decapitated coffee. I found myself looking forward to Molly's next malapropism.

Although they appear on the surface to be mismatched, Molly is also smart and observant, and she and Inspector Paco hit it off. He spends a lot of time at the psychoanalyst's home checking for clues and talking with Molly. Together, they unravel not one, but several mysteries, such as who killed the nephew, who stole the painting and a heavy jeweled key, and how all this ties into the murder and what all these crimes have to do with the old local mansion being turned into a museum.

Paco and Molly not only solve the present day murder, but solve an old mystery up at the mansion. Hidden rooms and sneaky bad guys. At times it read like an old fashion melodrama and I throughly enjoyed it. Usually, I have figured out who the killer is well before the end of the book, but this one surprised me. I am looking forward to reading the next book featuring Paco and Molly.