The Mystery Guest picks up four years after The Maid left off, with Molly having received a promotion to Head Maid. The Regency Grand Hotel is hosting an event for famous author J.D. Grimthorpe, who surprisingly dies as he’s about to give a big speech. Molly had been acquainted with Mr. Grimthorpe as a child, so the book goes back and forth between Present Day and “Before” as she helps solve the mystery of the author’s death.

Overall, I did not find this book to be as engaging as The Maid; however, I had a few philosophical/moral problems with the end of that book, and those themes are thankfully not present in this book. It is still an easy, cozy mystery that kept me entertained!

I was confused by the absence of Juan Manuel. I found it odd that he was out of town for the entirety of this book and therefore could not play a significant role.

I remember one s-word (there may have been a couple others, but the cursing was very light). There was also an attempted assault, but it was not described in detail and did not go very far.

Thank you to Random House/Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC!

I LOVED this. So much fun and so well wrought. I love a cozy mystery with a pinch of grit. This is a new instant series read for me. Molly is the besttttt

My only complaint: This book wasn't long enough!
Things I loved:
Looks like we will be getting another book so very excited for that!
Molly got more confident between book 1 and 2
Molly and Detective Stark built a sweet relationship by the END of this book
We get a lot more of Gran and Molly! I would love to meet Gran in real life! Sounds like Molly had a great one!
The LAMBs - such a fun cast of characters and I loved that there were some more characters trying to solve the murder other than Molly and the detectives. I hope Angela makes appearances in future books and sticks in her nose in more mysteries!


Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I actually liked this sequel better than the original. Molly's quirky personality still takes center stage, but there was a lot more backstory on her family, including her Gran who was referenced ad nauseam in the first book.

Some parts of the plot felt highly improbable (for one, how is the horrendous maid Cheryl still employed at the hotel?). And because of the parallel timelines, the story's pacing is slower and doesn't cover as much ground.

But it was still a fun book filled with interesting characters!
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This lovely little gem of a novel was so charming. It was humorous and yet it managed to be so poignant at times as well. The main character, as many are, is flawed. She might even be on what we call today, the spectrum. But charming she is! I loved the humor in the story too. And all of this was wrapped in a delicious murder mystery. I just couldn't put this book down.

This is the 2nd in Ms. Prose's, Maid novels. And you just know there has to be a 3rd down the pike. And I, for one, just can't wait to read it.

I was not expecting Molly to make a return in a second book, but I’m oh so glad that she did! I love a good cozy mystery and this one did not disappoint. It was the PERFECT vacation read. Molly still gives me Eleanor Oliphant vibes, which I love. Her candid personality really makes the entire book.

The book starts off with a new crime set at the Regency Grand Hotel. Molly is now Head Maid and extremely proud of her promotion/role. Detective Stark also makes a return as the lead detective on the case.

While trying to solve the mystery we are transported back in time to Molly’s childhood with her gran. I really love that we are able to learn more about Molly’s childhood and how she grew up. It really helps shape who she is as a person and comes together full circle.

Solving the mystery didn’t come as a complete shock, but that’s to be expected since this is a cozy mystery. It wasn’t extremely easy to figure out either though, so there is still a guessing game involved. The mystery isn’t the only plot twist. There’s one more at the end, but I don’t want to spoil anything.

The book ends with the possibility of a third book happening. At least I hope there will be another one in the series. My fingers are crossed because this one could take a completely different turn.

Overall, if you love a good cozy mystery, do yourself a favor and pick this one up. You do need to read The Maid first, but this one definitely lived up to its expectations.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my candid thoughts.

This was a nice unexpected sequel. I really enjoy molly and this was another good whodonit mystery. It’s a nice break from my usual psychological thrillers. Well done!!

I absolutely adored the first installment of Molly the Maid's story and I was not disappointed with the second! I find the tone and first-person narrative of these novels so endearing, and although I feel the need to protect our heroine at all costs, the truth is, she needs no protecting this time around (a fact I love). I appreciated the insight into Nan's experiences prior to her death and the backstory completely aligned with what we know of our MC today. I sincerely hope this is not the last installment for our gal, Molly.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for my first ever ARC!

I flew through "The Maid," the prequel to "The Mystery Guest," so when I heard a sequel was coming, I was thrilled to get my hands on an advanced copy. This book did not disappoint. I find sequels are always challenging, especially if you fall in love with characters from the first book, but "The Mystery Guest" brings back the staff you loved (and the ones you loved to hate) from the Regency Grand, as well as new additions to fill out the story.

I loved how "The Mystery Guest" filled out Molly's life before and after "The Maid" and made her feel like a more well-rounded character. I felt like some of the plot twists in "The Mystery Guest" were easier to catch than in "The Maid," but they were fun plot additions nonetheless. While I'm not sure "The Mystery Guest" is as iconic as its predecessor, it is still an enjoyable and worthwhile read and I look forward to Nita Prose's future work.

If you haven't met Molly the Maid yet, please do so <b>"post haste!"</b> You will immediately fall in love with Molly, a maid who is neuro-divergent, socially awkward, obsessed with order, and finds herself deeply involved in not one but TWO murder investigations. She must use her unique view of the world to see what others miss, to both prove her innocence, and also to catch the killer.

When I read [a:Nita Prose|20650250|Nita Prose|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1619360173p2/20650250.jpg]'s [b:The Maid|57690123|The Maid|Nita Prose|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1641568288l/57690123._SY75_.jpg|86048177] last year, I thought it would be a standalone book, which made me so sad because I loved these characters deeply. My excitement bolted through the roof when I saw that the ARC for book two was available, and that my beloved friend Molly the Maid was back with a new mystery! A HUGE thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for this eARC. I cannot wait for the physical copy to display on my shelf.

[b:The Mystery Guest|157062582|The Mystery Guest (Molly the Maid, #2)|Nita Prose|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1686577262l/157062582._SY75_.jpg|144579941] was fantastic. While being a sequel, the story is entirely its own. We still have the same band of characters from the first book, with a few new additions. The Regency Hotel is faced with another Murder, and this time, Molly is directly connected. This story jumps timelines between past and present, which gives us a deeper look at Molly though the ages. The relationship between Gran and Molly is my favorite, so I am really glad we got so much more of Gran's story.

I find it so refreshing reading from the POV of a neuro-divergent character, and I felt that Nita Prose's writing is <b> "Polished to perfection".</b> This book is so wholesome, with moments of grace, forgiveness, patience, and kind discipline. The glimpses of romance are clean and sweet. The characters lift each other up. Molly's proverbs of cleaning are chefs kiss, and Gran's advice applies to everyone.

Both The Maid and The Mystery Guest are 5+ Stars for me! I really hope that this turns into a Mrs. Marple type of mystery collection with more books to come. I could never have enough of this cast of characters. This is a series that you can confidently place in anyone's hands and confidently know they will love it.

The fan favorite Molly the Maid is back at the Regency Grand Hotel, now as Head Maid with a new trainee, a newfound respect from her coworkers, and a new murder to sully the rarefied air and lush carpets of the newly reopened Grand Tearoom. This time it’s the untimely death of J.D. Grimthorpe, a megastar reclusive best-selling mystery author, with his traveling fan club, the LAMBs. Mr Grimthorpe was about to make an eagerly awaited major announcement, but instead falls victim to a cup of poisoned tea before uttering a word. In the chaotic aftermath, Detective Stark returns, long on suspicion and short on memory. Her previous grudging acknowledgement of Molly’s unique perspective, and apology for her past insensitivity, emphasized in the previous book, seems never to have occurred. Still there are bittersweet delights in this story, especially in Molly’s poignant memories of her much younger self, and we get to see another side of her beloved, beleaguered, rhyme-spouting Gram. When Molly is ostracized by her classmates and school administration for her unconventional behavior, Gran takes Molly to her maid’s job at a very wealthy manor with a demanding and surprising employer. The repercussions of bringing Molly into this time bomb of a workplace are unpredictable and shake out a “don’t open that door” level of suspense. These parts of the narrative are solidly developed and often wrenching; however, they don’t balance out the rest of the story. Too often the writing has a draft-like quality of being rushed to make a deadline, with people and circumstances contorted to fit into shaky plot points. And the secondary characters, including some new ones, such as Lily, Molly’s protégé, often seem added as an afterthought. The subtle humor, so evident in the first book, has been eclipsed by the farcical; the press conference with Detective Stark is absurd, as is Molly’s alliance with barmaid Angela, who fancies herself a “kick-ass sleuth,” and gets Molly into ludicrous situations, played for show rather than substance. Also missing is the winsome romance with Juan Manuel, who has been whisked away for a long family visit for the duration of the book. The neurodivergent techniques Molly uses to ultimately solve the murder are unexpected and clever, it is disappointing that they are absent for the bulk of the story. Here’s hoping for a revamp and a rebound for Molly’s next episode.

Another fun mystery with Molly the maid. I love all of the quirky characters and the crazy situations. Molly's reaction to events can make me laugh out loud. It was interesting to learn more of her back story and to get to know dear departed gran a bit better. The Mystery Guest is a breezy, fast read, an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon reading. I look forward to the next mystery.

I received a copy of "The Mystery Guest" from Netgalley. This book by Nita Prose is the second "Molly the Maid" book.Molly Gray has been a maid at the Regency Grand hotel for years now. she has been promoted to head maid. Molly is there at the hotel when a famous mystery writer is there to promote his next book. Mr. J.D. Grimthorpe is ready to meet his public when he drinks from a tea cup and drops dead. It does not take long to realize that Mr. Grimthorpe may have been murdered. So now we have a "who dunnit?"Molly has a unique personality. She does not always have an easy way with other people wo do not understand her. {although I don't think she was diagnosed she does display traits that could fall under the autistic spectrum} that would be my opinion at least. Now we see Molly try and do her detective snooping to find out who killed J.D. Grimthorpe.
Throughout the book the readers will see Grimthorpe is not a nice man at all so there would be many people who could be the killer. Molly even talks of her briefly knowing Mr and Mrs Grimthorpe when she was a little girl and her granny brought Molly with her while she had a maids job for the Grimthorpes.
there could be quite a list of people who could have killed this author, anywhere from a maid at the hotel, other employees, former people who have been employed by the author, and not to forget a group of fans of the author who were also there that day. Of course in any mystery there are all kinds of secrets that Molly can help bring to the surface. a good mystery book. Glad to get to read another Molly The Maid book.

I was skeptical about how Prose would make Molly into a series but this was actually a worthy follow-up. this one keeps the fun and quirks of <i>The Maid</i> while unveiling more of Molly’s backstory although the mystery itself wasn’t quite as captivating to me as the first book. I’m interested to see if this series will continue, and I will definitely be picking up the rest if so.

✨T H E M Y S T E R Y G U E S T✨
🅶🅴🅽🆁🅴—𝒞𝑜𝓏𝓎 𝑀𝓎𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓎
🗓ℙ𝕦𝕓 𝔻𝕒𝕥𝕖—ℕ𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕞𝕓𝕖𝕣 𝟚𝟠, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛

“𝓘 𝓶𝓪𝔂 𝓶𝓲𝓼𝓼 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓴 𝓲𝓼 𝓸𝓫𝓿𝓲𝓸𝓾𝓼, 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓘'𝓿𝓮 𝓪𝓵𝔀𝓪𝔂𝓼 𝓫𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝓪𝓽𝓽𝓾𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝓲𝓰𝓷𝓸𝓻𝓮.“

✂️ P L O T L I N E
Molly is back in this second installment of “The Maid” series. Another murder has taken place in the the glorious five-star Grand Regency Hotel. J.D. Grimthorpe a world renowned mystery writer has dropped dead in the hotels tea room floor. Everyone wants to know who killed J.D. Grimthorpe and why. Molly and her past hold a connection to the writer. This connection might just be the key needed to solve the case.

💭 ⓂⓎ ⓉⒽⓄⓊⒼⒽⓉⓈ
I really enjoyed this book. I absolutely love Molly Gray and all of her personality. I read “The Maid” at the start of last year and Molly has stuck with me since then. This book is fun and cozy. The cast of characters is a continuation from the first book, but there are also some new ones. I liked the dual timelines and learning more about Molly’s childhood. I love how strong Molly is in this book, and her ability to solve crimes is so entertaining. This book offers us a warm hug and reminds us to concentrate on a persons strengths instead of their weaknesses. If you enjoyed “The Maid,” be sure to pick this one up!

📚 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
💫Cozy mystery reads 🧐
💫Quirky lovable characters🥰
💫Books about books📚
💫Dual Timeline ✌🏽
💫Character growth 📈
💫Tea parties 🫖
💫True crime 🎧

🗝️𝕄𝕐 ℝ𝔸𝕋𝕀ℕ𝔾🗝️
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

💕Q U O T E: “𝐼 𝒶𝓂 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝐼 𝒶𝓂. 𝑀𝑜𝓁𝓁𝓎. 𝑀𝑜𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓂𝓎 𝓌𝑒𝒶𝓀𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒻𝑜𝒾𝒷𝓁𝑒𝓈. 𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓂𝓎 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝑒𝓃𝑔𝓉𝒽𝓈, 𝓉𝑜𝑜.”

🙏 Thank you NetGalley, Random House- Ballantine, and Nita Prose for this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts 💕

Molly the Maid is back and has another mystery to solve at the Regency Grand. Molly was an incredibly interesting character when we met her in The Maid, and I enjoyed reuniting with her in this follow-up novel.

Mystery writer J.D. Grimthorpe is at the Regency Grand to make a big announcement when he suddenly drops dead on his way to the podium. Molly and her maid-in-training, Lily, were on service in the tea room and immediately fall under suspicion because as the saying goes: “it’s always the maid.” What Molly doesn’t reveal to detectives right away is that she actually has a history with Mr. Grimthorpe dating back to her childhood.

There was a whole host of potential suspects in this one, new and familiar faces, and twists and turns with history woven in the kept me guessing and turning the pages. I really enjoyed the ‘Before’ chapters where we got to see Molly as a child in the Grimthorpe mansion. I think it added depth to her character and really highlighted the beauty of her relationship with her grandmother. I liked seeing grown-up Molly seeming more genuinely confident in herself and her role at the hotel and overall general self-acceptance. I missed Juan Manuel being more present in this book, though I was happy to see he and Molly’s relationship remained strong. Things did get repetitive with the constant refrain of Gran’s words of wisdom both in the flashbacks and present day chapters, so I could have used less of those little tidbits. I know they’re important to Molly and her character, but I still think they could’ve been trimmed back a bit.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read and a satisfying follow-up to The Maid.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance review copy in return for an honest review. It was really fun to enter back into Mollys world! I loved The Maid and Nita’s sequel is just as good! Molly is so awkward and funny and her whole crew makes this such a cozy mystery.

Another outing for Molly the Maid and I liked this one more than the first when I might have been one of the only readers to find Molly a bit grating. I enjoyed her much more this time and liked getting to know her beloved Gran through flashback scenes. The mystery portion of the book is a little thin and I don’t much like the idea that Molly might leave the world of cleaning behind….I really hope the author doesn’t go that route. An enjoyable diversion, especially for those who liked the first one.

I devoured the Maid so I was super excited to get an advanced copy of the Mystery Guest and it did not disappoint!

When a famous author suddenly falls dead in the hotel, Molly must work to solve the crime.

This was such a cute, cozy fall/winter mystery that I absolutely devoured. Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a fun mystery.

Molly the maid is back with a new mystery. This time a famous mystery author has been murdered before he was about to make an announcement. Molly tells us through flashbacks how she first met the author & how the investigation is proceeding in the present. Her gran is never far from her thoughts with her many sayings. This was ok. More cozy mystery than I think her first book was. A good read, but I liked the first book better.