The Mystery Guest

I just finished The Mystery Guest, Molly the maid book 2 by Nita Prose and I have to say, the PR box I received from @penguinhouseca was a real winner for me! A tissue for your issue... I don't wanna use them haha

Anyway, here is my review!!

Molly Gray isn't like you and me. Her talents lie in the small details and correct etiquette that befits her position as head maid at the 5 star regency grand hotel. Molly's life couldn't get any better. A man who loves her, a job she adores and her life is structured just so. When novelist JD Grimthorpe decides to use the hotel to make a big announcement, Molly springs into action to make everything perfect. What she couldn't have planned is his death during his speech.

Detective Stark is on the case much to Molly's chagrin and it soon becomes clear that JD was murdered. Too many suspects and so little time... Could it have been Lily, the new trainee who served JD before he died? Or his surly assistant who disappeared before he hit the floor? Maybe Mr Preston who seems to know JD and cannot hide his disdain for the man.

Molly races against the clock to figure out who killed him before the detective finds out that her Gran used to work for him when she was a child and there are many dirty secrets hidden there too.

Ah Molly! I have missed you so! I grew to love her character in the maid and seeing how much she has grown a few years later was magnificent to see. I love the hotel too so I was so glad to find the book was also based mostly in the hotel and with the flashbacks of Molly working with her gran at JD Grimthorpe's home. Seeing the struggles Molly had growing up with her obvious neurodivergent tendencies, was so well done. I have neurodivergent kids so seeing the author use their talents to help show a person with difficulties succeed.... I loved it. The book was beautifully written and I devoured the whole book in one sitting.

I do hope there is another book in the near future. I liked the idea that Detective Stark had about a career change for Molly with her skills of near perfect attention to the smallest detail, she could be anything she wants to be. I missed Juan in this book. I would have liked to have seen more of them together instead of him being away and the little twist at the end with Mr Preston.... OH MY HEART!!!!

I thought the mystery was so clever and I never guessed who it was so I was super surprised at the end and how clever Molly was to figure it out by.... HA! I'm not going to spoil it. Read it for yourself because you will not be sorry.

5 stars! I also got a digital copy of this book from @netgalley so thank you for my gifted copy too!

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Deel 1 was even wennen, eigenlijk leren kennen van Molly. Deel 2 was heerlijk meespeuren en genieten van haar levenswijsheden

Even better than “The Maid.” This book was not disappointing. For a more detailed rating with commentary, see my post on Substack.

https://davidsines.substack.com/p/the-mystery-guestbook-review?r=1yhj5f

3.5

Molly is still delightful and I loved getting to find out about little girl Molly and her life with her grandmother. There were a few frustrating parts, especially the bits with Cheryl (get rid of her already!) and I missed Juan Manuel. I think what I liked most about the first book was the teamwork and how they brought Molly out of her shell. This was missing a bit of that, but Molly held her own.

I like this flavor of cozy mystery

I have never been able to understand the trend of cozy mysteries until now. Recently, I was feeling a bit down, and so I decided to finish reading the “The Mystery Guest.” I had read “The Maid” last year and enjoyed it. The protagonist, Molly, is a unique character, and I liked how the books in the series feel self-contained. The book I just finished is about the murder of a mystery book writer, and reading it was an engaging process. There were two well-done plot twists, several clever details that sparkled because of Molly's autism rather than despite it, and a well-paced and timed ending that left me with a smile on my face. The book radiates a sense of warmth and comfort in the best way possible.

A quick read, and a good mystery with a twist or two. The time shifting was well done, and over all the story flows well, with interesting characters and a plot that is seems to be a bit far fetched for real life, but fits perfectly well in a murder mystery universe.

4 Stars

I love a cosy mystery, and The Mystery Guest was the perfect read. This is the second book in the series featuring Molly the Maid, whom I adored in The Maid. This time, Molly is head maid and finds herself in a new mess, with a new mystery to solve.

The book is written in a dual-timeline, going back in time to Molly's childhood, where she first encounters Mr Grimthorpe. Here, we get a true insight into Molly's life and how the events of her past have shaped her into the person she is today.

In The Mystery Guest, we meet new characters but also some familiar characters found in the previous novel. There are some shocking revelations along the way, as well as a few red herrings. Making this a real page-turner.

Highly recommend if you love character driven novels combined with a cosy mystery.

Fantastisch feel good verhaal / cosy over een jonge vrouw in het spectrum. Geestig, goed geschreven. Kan niet wachten op deel drie.

Really love this series!

I've not read the first in the "Molly the Maid" series, so I was unfamiliar with the main character and her prior adventures. It took me a bit of reading to realize that the main character is neuro-diverse. This discovery added to my enjoyment of the story as I appreciate novels which feature characters with "superpowers" which come from the unique way their minds work. I liked how the mystery in the present connected with Molly's past - and her relationship with her grandmother. It was a quick and enjoyable read with a mostly satisfying conclusion.

i really like nita prose's books. the plot twists aren't anything mind-blowing but i love her writing.. it's so comforting and cosy. and molly, i love molly too.

I received an ARC for this through Netgalley, the publisher and the author Nita Prose. Thank you to all of them. This book is a sequel to The Maid and follows Molly the Maid on another adventure at the Regency Grand Hotel. It has all the same characters in it that we loved in The Maid and a few new ones. In this novel, a famous novelist comes to the Regency Grand to make an announcement, but he is killed before he has a chance to do so.

Molly has a connection to this man from her past, and the story goes between the past and the present. Although the story is great, I didn't find it as engaging as the first one. The last half of the book was wonderful and makes it all worth while, but I did find the first half dragged a little as we learn more about Molly as a child. Overall though, another good read from Nita Prose and I give it 4 stars.

I read The Maid last year and there was admittedly a lot I didn't like about it. However, there was enough that I did like that I was interested in reading this next installment. I'm so glad I did!    Molly Gray finds herself entangled in another murder of a Regency Grand Hotel guest. Though not under immediate suspicion this time around, her trainee, Lily, is. Moreover, Molly had been acquainted with this guest, a renowned author, in her youth. Going back and forth from then and now, Molly aids in catching the killer.    I was super into the ‘before' part of the story. I loved getting to see more scenes between Molly and Gran and particularly seeing Molly as a child. Everything tied in nicely as well. The present part of the story didn't captivate me quite as much until near the end. I enjoyed the reading experience much more this time, which tends to be the case in series for me anyway. I'm officially hooked and look forward to any future installments!    A huge thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC of the book! 

Molly the maid is back! If you enjoyed The Maid by Nita Prose, you'll be happy to know that in The Mystery Guest we get more of Molly's background story as well as a new mystery at the Regency Grand Hotel.

Molly Gray takes her job very seriously as Head Maid at the Regency Grand, so she is shocked when she is witness to another death in the hotel. J. D. Grimthorpe, famous mystery author, has dropped dead shortly before making what was supposed to be a major announcement. It's up to Molly and her friends to prove that it's not “always the maid” who is to be blamed yet again.

I loved The Maid after finally getting around to reading it earlier this year. Molly's story is refreshing, interesting, and written with care. It's easy to sympathize with Molly as she navigates her job as a maid at the Regency Grand. Her passion is cleaning, and she relies on solid advice from her late Gran to navigate the world. She's excellent at what she does, if sometimes misunderstood, but to know her is usually to come to love her. It was great seeing another mystery with Molly at the center.

Thanks to Nita Prose for this unique mystery story. The characters in The Maid series are fun to get to know, and I hope Molly will continue to return for more new adventures!