I love Molly the Maid! I didn’t think this book was as good as the first, but sequels seldom are. I liked seeing the growth Molly has made. It was fun to read and learn more about Molly’s childhood. Juan Manuel was on a trip during the book and I missed reading about him and Molly. The murder mystery part was good. The LAMBS brought some comedy to the book.

I really enjoyed The Maid so I was excited to read The Mystery Guest. I loved Molly's character in The Maid and I was excited to read more of her story. I was so happy that we got a glimpse into her past and her grandmother's past. While this is a thriller, I find it to be more of a cute fun read. The thriller/mystery aspect of this book is not the best. It is pretty predictable with a lack of twist an turns. If you go into it looking for a cute read, you will enjoy it way more than if you are looking for a suspense-filled thriller. At times, I felt this book was a little too similar to The Maid. I actually found myself enjoying the chapters on Molly's past more than the present. Overall, a very entertaining and enjoyable read. 3.5 stars.

I truly could not have been more excited to get approved for and start reading this sequel to one of my favorite reads of the last two years, The Maid. Molly is one of my absolute favorite fictional characters, and I was really grateful to get another book with her!

Even though this book is a sequel, there is a lot of information explained from The Maid in the early chapters of this one, so it could totally be picked up and read on its own. I especially liked that in the “Before” chapters we are given glimpses into Molly’s childhood growing up with Gran. Her character has developed so much since the beginning of this series!


This book felt like part mystery, part fantasy- specifically in the chapters that took place during Molly’s childhood. I enjoyed solving the main mystery alongside Molly, and was definitely surprised by a few of the twists thrown in. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Mollys future and really hope there will be a third book in this series!

Thank you so much to the author and Netgalley for my copy to read and honestly review.

It was fun to revisit Molly the maid in this second book, which of course had a new murder. Learning more about Molly as a child was enlightening and the chapters alternated between past and present. There were some great new characters introduced in this sequel- the LAMBS in particular (the Ladies Auxiliary Mystery Book Society members, a fan club of mystery author J.D. Grimthorpe), quirky busybodies that hovered around every corner.

In this second novel, Molly has grown and is better at navigating social interactions and I missed her constant misinterpretations and comical mishaps. I felt this book was missing some of the humor I enjoyed so much in the first book. The mysteries turned out to be fairly predictable. Overall, this was a sweet cozy mystery and I would read another book featuring Molly.

I think I enjoyed this sequel better than the original. Molly seems a bit more self-assured and in place. I hope that the series continues with Molly pursuing other avenues that were hinted at towards the end of the book. The mystery itself wasn't as engaging, kind of a repeat of the previous one but I really enjoyed the parallel stories of Molly's childhood and her experiences with her Gran and other characters in her life at the time. It does give you another interesting look at the complexity of Molly as a character too.

I loved The Maid and at first I was worried it was a one-off, this sequel was harder for me to get into. However, I was pretty quickly swept up by Molly and the Regency Grand crew. The twists and the flashbacks to learn more about Molly and her Gran were fabulous and I hope to hear more from them! Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for the advanced copy!

Molly The Maid captured my heart from the very beginning!
I was able to feel her pain when picked on, awkwardness when not understanding the conversation happening around her, and Oh! how she loved her Gran. I would love to have the opportunity to show her what having a true friend is like.

Molly AGAIN becomes a murder suspect. I thought that detective learned her lesson last time but nope! As usual she teaches everyone around her a thing or two, including GRACE!

Fingers crossed that we get to see more of Molly’s life journey 🤩!!

Thank you so much Random House Publishing - Ballentine, Nita Prose, and Net Galley for giving me the opportunity to read and honestly review this book.

💭Like having tea with a good friend, The Mystery Guest is charming and delightfully cozy. Once you sit down to read it, you'll want to curl up until you turn the last page.

📚 The Mystery Guest
✍ Nita Prose
📖 fiction/cozy mystery
⭐4/5

➡When bestselling mystery author J.D. Grimthorpe suddenly drops dead in the sparkling tearoom at the Regency Grand Hotel where Molly Gray serves as the Head Maid, she must get to the bottom of what happened to preserve her job and the integrity of the place she loves. With help from an endearing set of co-workers, Molly must leverage her childhood experience with Grimthorpe himself to unravel the secrets of a true man of mystery and find his killer before the hotel's reputation is tarnished forever.
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🙏 Thank you to NetGalley, Ballantine Books (Random House) and Nita Prose for the advanced copy of The Mystery Guest. All opinions are my own.

🎯What I loved: This was so readable and relaxing. To me, it felt like the definition of a cozy mystery. The characters all worked together to solve a murder, but nothing felt sinister. After loving The Maid, it was fun to dive further into Molly's backstory and the origins of her passion for cleanliness as she stepped into the mystery solver role.

🙅‍♀️What I didn't: Like I said, this was ultimately a sweet whodunnit. While it didn't jump off the pages or keep me holding my breath until the final reveal, it was happy and fun.
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Read if you love:
*sweet, endearing characters
*cozy mysteries w/ Neurodivergent characters
*dual timeline mysteries
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See also: A Deception Most Deadly, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Turn of the Key,

The Mystery Guest: A Maid Novel
by Nita Prose

A few years after meeting Molly and company in the first book, we now get to enjoy Molly's words of wisdom in The Mystery Guest. Molly is Head Maid now and she loves her job. She's even written A Maid's Guide and Handbook to Housekeeping, Cleaning, and Maintaining a State of Pinnacle Perfection. The handbook is referred to often (mostly by Molly) and if you memorize it and the sayings in it, you too can sound just like Molly. In fact, her handbook is like an entire language which allows you to communicate through Molly's sayings if you really understand what they mean. Even maid in training, Lily, a young woman who is so shy she can barely speak a word, has learned to attempt communication through Molly's wise words of wisdom (all handed down by Molly's clever and beloved Gran who paved the path to great maid-hood and living by passing down her wisdom to Molly).

Business is going well at the Regency Grand Hotel now that several years have passed since a murder there. They have a beautiful new tea room now and this is where J.D. Grimthorpe, the world-renowned mystery author, has a special announcement he is going to make to his fans. That is, until he drops dead after he is served his tea in front of the adoring crowd, after getting extra honey from the tea cart that poor Lily provided for him. The hunt for the murderer is on!

Detective Stark is back again, so very suspicious of Molly and her weird ways of acting and speaking. But Molly doesn't let Stark get her down, she's grown in self confidence and she has a job to do, to take care of the hotel and her maids. Molly knows more than she is telling and we get wonderful fairytale-ish trips back to the past when Molly and her Gran worked at the Grimthorpe mansion when Molly was a child. There we get to see Grimthorpe in action and get a glimpse of just what those who came into contact with him had to endure. This is not a nice man and it seems there are a huge number of people who might wish him dead.

Molly has a knack for detecting but I don't see her ever giving up her career at the Regency Grand Hotel. I look forward to what comes next for Molly and her friends. She's grown since the first book and has been a great help to the good people around her. As with all cozies, happenings are not realistic but I enjoy them all the same.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for this ARC.

4.5 ⭐️

AS DELIGHTFUL AS THE TINKLING SOUND A SILVER SPOON MAKES AS IT TAPS AGAINST A REGENCY GRAND TEA CUP. 🫖☕️

It’s been seven and a half years since Molly Gray was a “maid in training” at the Regency Grand Hotel, but she has held the title of”HEAD MAID” for three and a half years now, proudly wearing that name tag right above her heart.

Not only has she written a manual of standards for the maids, and been put in charge of training the new staff-including “Lily” (a quiet misunderstood girl who reminds her of her younger self) but she has also been tasked with overseeing a VERY special event in the 5 star boutique hotels newly refurbished tea room.

J.D. Grimthorpe, the International best-selling and award winning author of twenty novels including “The Maid in the Mansion” and “The Mystery Guest” will make a rare public appearance and make a mysterious announcement to fifty-five VIP guests, including the LAMBS-(Ladies Auxiliary Mystery Book Society members) who have booked the 4th floor of the elegant hotel.

Would he be announcing that he has written a new book-or that he has written his last?

It turns out-he has “most definitely” written his last, as he drops dead before he can read his cue cards, after sipping the tea, just served by our newly hired maid, Lily.

Now, the entire staff is under suspicion for MURDER-and it isn’t going to help Molly’s cause when Detective Stark learns that Molly had met the reclusive author when she was just a young girl who used to accompany her Gran who worked as a maid at his mansion.

Fortunately, Molly still hears her Grans advise in her ear-all of those proverbs and idioms that the two lived their lives by.

The story unfolds with chapters from both the present day mystery and chapters from BEFORE-when Molly was that small girl. The BEFORE chapters had a magical quality to them, almost “Wizard of Oz” like, with an ordinary man hiding behind a bookcase this time, instead of a curtain, but instilling fear in all! I really enjoyed meeting young Molly this way.

Though the motive for this murder was a bit suspect-I did enjoy catching up with Molly again, but if her story continues, I hope it DOESN'T do so in the manner suggested!

This was a joy to read. Molly’s engaging personality and Gran’s something "cheap and cheerful" advice from The Great Beyond kept me smiling as I navigated the many plot twists in this whodunit. I think it will be a hit with Molly's current fans and gain her some new ones.

This was really cute! I know it’s meant to be in the thriller genre, but it reminds me more of a cozy mystery type. There are flashbacks to Molly’s childhood that correlate seamlessly with what’s going on present day, and that I appreciate very much. Molly is such a great FMC because she is so different and has been treated as such her entire life- but her skills make her shine so bright in this second installation of the series. My rating has to do more with me knowing how it was likely going to end and the coziness in comparison to the first novel in this series. If you’ve read The Maid and like cozy mysteries- this one is for you! Thank you NetGalley and Random House for allowing me to read this early! Releases 11/28.

A sweet follow up to The Maid by Prose. I enjoyed the story of Molly at the Regency Grand and once again faced with a murder in the hotel. Fun new characters and I enjoyed the dual timelines.

Book: The Mystery Guest
Author: Nita Prose
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine Books
Pub Date: November 28, 2023

Molly Gray is back and we all know I love her. But….I didn’t love her as much this go around. This is now a “series” and series books are not my favorite. I always feel like they are repetitive and it’s the same story over and over. I felt the same way about this book. I’m not sure Molly needed a sequel or any more books that might follow. I do feel like you need to read The Maid first before reading this one. There are lots of references from the first book and you might get lost otherwise. Molly is now the head maid at The Regency Grand. Lily Finch is her maid-in-training and has quirks just like Molly does. Author J.D. Grimthorpe is at the Regency to make a huge announcement about a secret he has been keeping. As he is getting ready to announce it he falls over dead. This is a cozy, cute murder mystery and it’s a quick read. It’s just very similar to The Maid and there aren’t really any huge twists to it. I enjoyed the “before” story a lot more than the murder of J.D. Grimthorpe. Maybe if the book had just stuck with Molly’s childhood I would have enjoyed that more than another murder mystery. All of that said I still adore Molly and if there is another one then yes I’ll read it. It reminds me of the Finlay Donovan series and they are pretty predictable.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine and NetGalley for this sneak peak! Publication date is November 28, 2023.

I enjoyed The Maid, so I figured this would be a fun continuation of the series, but this was pretty slow and repetitive.

I loved the murder mystery aspect and the past and present day timelines. It was interesting learning about Molly the Maid’s past, but I found a lot of the book kind of bland.

Thanks NetGalley and publisher for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

This series is really fun! Molly is back solving crimes, working as a maid. I liked all the twists and the writing kept me turning the page.

Molly is back, and of course there is another murder in the Regency Grand Hotel. This time it is someone from Molly’s past. Even without anyone truly knowing the connection Molly and her maid in training Lilly are key suspects. Molly is just such fun. I love that this book brings Grandma back in some context. The reflections tie perfectly into the main story and everything builds perfectly into a delightful and cohesive story. I just adore reading these books, I know that others enjoyed The Maid. You will not be disappointed with this book.
Thank you so very much to Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book. I will be recommending it a lot.

I liked this one. It’s the second book about Molly the maid who finds herself in the middle of a mystery of who killed a famous author.
Molly has her quirks…I find them endearing…and, though they hinder her socially, they help her figure out what happened and whodunnit.
This was a quick read, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes to try to solve the mystery themselves when they read.
I got to read an ARC of this in exchange for my review of it, thanks to NetGalley and the author and publisher.

Contrary to popular opinion I thought even better than the first!
A charming, captivating story filled with endearing characters & heartfelt messages.
Hoping there will be more installments in the series!

With thanks to NetGalley & Ballantine Books for this e-ARC!

Molly Gray--the protagonist who captured readers' hearts in Prose's previous novel, The Maid--is hard at work in the posh Regency Grand Hotel, where she is once again tasked with tackling both grime and crime.

When well-known mystery author J.D. Grimthorpe dies suddenly at the hotel, Molly is swept up in solving a murder. Her investigation hits very close to home for Molly, who has a previous connection to the victim. Who killed Grimthorpe? Is it possible that Molly herself is a viable suspect?

With a long list of suspects and surprising plot turns, The Mystery Guest is a satisfying sophmore whodunit in the Molly the Maid series.