Molly Gray is back in another cozy mystery at her beloved hotel. She is accompanied by her beloved crew of coworkers, and equipped with her unique powers of perception. This time, however, readers are treated to a look into Molly’s past as she races to uncover the truth about an untimely death at the hotel. While I found some of the connections between the backstory and the current crime to be a bit of a reach, the book was fun and I would definitely read a third in this series. Thank you for the gifted ARC!

I enjoyed the first novel and didn't think the author could pull this off but book 2 is even BETTER than the first.

If you love mysteries or cozy mysteries, you do not want to miss Molly the Maid series. FMC and secondary characters are endearing. Dialogues are smart and hilarious. The pacing is perfect.

In book 2, the death of a famous author is the center of mystery. Of course, you need a clever maid to help solve the murder. I love that there are more stories with her gran through flashbacks.

Highly recommend this delightful series, but now I'm sad I'll have to wait another year for the next.

4/5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. Molly is yet again facing another serious situation. A famous author who was about to release a statement suddenly dies. The story follows the characters as they try to solve it.

If you liked the maid, I think you will enjoy this book as well.

What a lovely return to this series with the lovable Molly the Maid. Although this is the second book in the series it can definitely be read as a standalone novel. I love the cozy, whodunnit feeling, while Molly fights the prejudice of being a little different. It’s a great reading experience and I’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t enjoy this book even just a little bit.

This is the second in the Molly the Maid series, and it did not disappoint. Molly is such a unique main character, smart but socially awkward. When the murder of a mystery writer occurs in the hotel Molly works in, the investigation opens up a chapter in Molly’s past which gives the reader more insight into her character. Detective Stark is back, underestimating Molly until she realizes that the details Molly sees will help solve the case. Well written, with a great story line and appealing characters, I highly recommend this book. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Molly Gray, now Head Maid of the 5-star Regency Grand Hotel, definitely knows her way around cleaning, because once again she’s swept my heart away!

In The Mystery Guest, book # 2 of the Molly the Maid series by Nita Prose, Molly is back at it, leading her team of maids to restore rooms to a “state of perfection”. It’s a job that she takes very seriously and she’ll settle for nothing less than the best for guests in her care - a quality she learned from her beloved Gran, whose words of wisdom still guide Molly years after her death.

This time around the hotel is hosting an exclusive gathering for VIP guests of famous author and well-known curmudgeon, J.D. Grimthorpe. Among those in attendance are his personal secretary, Serena Sharpe, members of his fan club the LAMBS (Ladies Auxiliary Mystery Book Society), Molly and her new maid-in-training, meek and mild Lily, who is responsible for serving Mr. Grimthorpe his tea.

When Mr. Grimthorpe takes to the stage, he promises a major announcement to those watching with rapt attention. What could this news be? Unfortunately, it remains a mystery when their beloved author drops dead in front of them!

With a new suspicious death within the walls of the Regency Grand Hotel, Detective Stark (who should be called Detective Snark) is back to investigate when it’s discovered that Grimthorpe was murdered. When it comes out that Molly spent time in Grimthorpe’s mansion as a child when her Gran worked as a maid for him, Molly once again finds herself on Stark’s list of potential suspects. Luckily, she’s not afraid one bit. She’s too busy doing her own investigation!

Will Molly clean house of the criminal responsible for Mr. Grimthorpe’s murder? One thing is certain: she’ll approach this with the same order and precision that she uses in all aspects of her life! Just as she would leave no bed unmade and no object unpolished, she will leave no stone unturned in her pursuit of the truth!

I enjoyed the first book and found Molly such a likable and quirky character, but I liked this one even more! Chapters highlighting the current investigation intermingle with chapters from Molly’s past with her Gran in Grimthorpe mansion. I loved the look into the past and seeing Molly’s special relationship with her Gran fleshed out more. I also loved seeing who Molly was as a child and how her experiences formed her. She overcame so much, and you can see why she’s so resilient! I’m curious for the new direction the ending suggests for Molly and the series.

You can read this as a standalone, but I recommend reading The Maid first, so you can get to know Molly even better. It’s a fun mystery with great characters, old and new, and a satisfying ending. I highly recommend it!

★★★★ ½

Another cozy mystery about Maid Molly from author, Nita Prose... sign me up! Just like the first in the series, Molly is a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel and there is a death under suspicious circumstances in need of solving. With this book we get a bit of back story of Molly and her Gran, and the past connects her to the deceased. A recognizable cast of characters and a fast paced storyline make this a fun and easy read for a cold fall afternoon.

Thank you to the publisher and Nita Prose for an eARC of The Mystery Guest. I loved The Maid and enjoyed this follow up novel a lot. The main character Molly is loveable, funny and fun to read. It was a great read and quick to finish.

This book was so good and such a great follow up to the first one in this series. I really enjoyed learning more about Molly by having the flashback chapters. I thought this one had a lot more in it and I enjoyed the story a lot. I definitely enjoyed the first book but this one seemed to flow even better for me. I enjoyed the plot and characters. This one also felt less predictable to me than the first one did. I did predict one of the twists but it didn’t make me enjoy the book any less. I recommend this one

A cozy mystery. Very sweet main character. I liked the backstory and the twists were interesting without going overboard.

The Mystery Guest is the sequel to the Maid which features Molly helping solve mysteries that happen at the hotel where she works.

This one was just as fun as the first book! It was fun to revisit a lot of the characters I enjoyed in the first book. I also really enjoyed the glimpses into Molly’s childhood. This book alternates between present time and the past and this makes the book go by really quickly! I could have easily read it in one sitting if I had had the time!

I love the humor in this series! I would highly recommend to anyone who likes a quick mystery or enjoys quirky characters. I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment!

Thank you Netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Molly is back! The Maid by Nita Prose was one of my top reads of 2022, and Molly was a driving force in my reasoning. I was so excited to learn we would get another story with her.

Molly
The Mystery Guest is set a few years after the events of The Maid. Molly is now headmaid, with new responsibilities and opportunities.

As a neurodiverse person, I appreciate that Prose has created a character I find so relatable. Molly shows remarkable growth throughout both books, and Prose handles it in a way that makes Molly's neurodiversity a strength rather than a weakness.

I have seen other readers find Molly's internal monologue overly repetitive, questioning Prose's writing ability and finding it stale. However, I believe Prose uses this to show Molly's echolalia, a common trait among neurodiverse people. I find it gives me a greater understanding of her as a character.

Molly makes these stories for me.

The Side Characters
Many of the side characters from The Maid are back. They add so much to the story. Some readers may be disappointed that a particular character is missing. However, it keeps the story fresh and allows Molly to shine.

The Mysteries
The Mystery Guest has a dual timeline, allowing readers to learn more about Molly's past and giving us more Gran! It also serves to interconnect the two mysteries set out in the book.

I found both mysteries cozy and engaging but predictable and missing the magic of The Maid.

If you love Molly, you will thoroughly enjoy The Mystery Guest.

The Mystery Guest leaves room for new mysteries and Molly's continued adventures. I, for one, can't wait.

I did this video audio, and Lauren Ambrose does a fantastic job bringing Molly to life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group, and Ballantine Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved The Maid! This book was a great follow up to it! I throughly enjoyed reading it and being in the world of Molly the maid again! Her murder mysteries are some of the best.

A sequel that somewhat reached a good expectation. I am very wary about series books because it could make or break what the first book was but this one was good. Maybe I wasn't just too hooked because I know what to expect.

I really enjoyed this Maid Molly Story! She makes me laugh with her wit and different perspectives on the world. I wish my Gram was as cool as hers was. I hope we get more stories like this :)

“Why do you like to read?” Mr. Grimthrope asks.

“Reading helps me understand things,” I say. “And people. I also like to visit other worlds.”

“Don’t you like the one you’re in?”

“Not always, no.”

“She's not here with us, my gran. She's not sitting on the sofa between my beloved and her own, nor is she humming her little tune in the kitchen. But I know she's here nonetheless because she always has been. She is the key to everything. The outline of my entire life gives her presence every single day.”

The Mystery Guest is more than a book about a maid. There is so much heart packed into this series, into Molly.

Molly is such a beautiful, tangible, uplifting figure. Molly is one of the first neurodivergent characters I’ve met that was written in a positive light. Molly makes me feel seen. She makes my head feel like it’s okay, like I’m not different in a bad way. And the love, oh the love that surrounds Molly. It’s what I hope I am giving to my children. The grace, the understanding, the comfortable routines, and honestly, probably the neurotic cleaning, too.

This is so much more than a cozy, locked room mystery. It’s a warm drop of honey (ahem, IYKYK - also that acronym is for Juan Manuel) that blankets you in ease and comfort.

This sequel to The Maid felt like coming home, and I am so hopeful and excited to see where Molly goes next.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for sending me an ARC of The Mystery Guest in exchange for an honest review.

The Mystery Guest takes place about three-and-a-half years after The Maid. Our heroine, Molly Gray, is now the Head Maid at the five-star Regency Grand Hotel. She still has to tolerate her former supervisor Cheryl, but she’s taken the shy Maid-in-Training Lily under her wing. In her personal life, Molly’s now living with her boyfriend Juan Manuel, and she has a weekly dinner with Mr. Preston, the Regency Grand’s long-serving doorman, who she still does not realize is her grandfather. Yes, Molly’s life is pretty close to a “state of perfection.” That is, until a famous author, J.D. Grimthorpe, just dropped dead from a poisoning on the hotel’s tea room floor as he was about to make a mysterious announcement. Once again, Molly is a murder suspect and must try to piece together clues to figure out what really happened.

The Mystery Guest seems to hit similar beats as The Maid, but I actually found it to be quite different. The story is still filtered through Molly’s first person perspective, but she understands far more than in the first book and is a much more reliable narrator. In The Maid, Molly described events opaquely and the reader had to figure out what was really happening. But here, Molly is consistently the first to figure things out, and the reader is along for the ride as Molly tells the other characters. There are a lot of red herrings that you’ll know are red herrings, and I’m not really sure there were enough clues to figure out the mystery, but it’s not a bad mystery.

As with The Maid, your enjoyment of The Mystery Guest will depend largely on how you feel about Molly. She’s still quirky and funny and certainly unique. Once again, the story isn’t exactly the most complicated mystery, but I’m curious to know whether the next book will find Molly still working at the hotel or taking up one of the characters on a job offer in a different line if work. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. Recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this eARC. I loved meeting Molly and her wonderful world in the first novel and was so excited to jump into this second adventure with her.

I still thoroughly enjoyed Molly’s character as her quirks make her extremely lovable and someone to root for. There were two clear mysteries in this one, but I felt like they were easy to solve for me. I would have definitely loved to see more of the characters at the forefront as it felt like they were in the last book.

If you’re looking for a cozy mystery, look no further than the stories of Molly the maid. I’m excited because it seems like Nita Prose has left some loose ends for another book in the future.

Molly the Maid does it again! Gosh, I adore this character so very much and would love to see her continuing to help the police force with her wisdom and eye for details! I really enjoyed this story and it gave definite "cozy" mystery vibes. I was excited that there were returning characters (except Cheryl) and new characters: Lily. Sweet sweet Lily. I enjoyed the dual timeline and seeing into Molly & Flora's past. And Detective Stark - talk about a redemption arc! All in all, I really enjoyed this story and I would love to see where things go for Molly. Book 3 please & thank you. 4.5 stars

THE MYSTERY GUEST by Nita Prose (The Maid) is a gentle cozy mystery with Molly, the (now Head) Maid, again at the center of an investigation into the death at the hotel where she works. A famous mystery writer dies before he is able to make a much anticipated announcement. With hotel guests and employees falling under suspicion, Molly has plenty of reasons to find the real killer. It's not easy, though, especially given links to her Gran's history and the rather antagonistic involvement of past nemesis Detective Stark. The text alternates time periods, both of which contain innocent mistakes by Molly (as a child and as an adult) who tends to take everything literally. And there continue to be numerous sayings from Gran sprinkled throughout: "We're all the same in different ways. Everything will be OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not the end." Readers will likely recognize clues before Molly does, but the culprit's identity was still a surprise. THE MYSTERY GUEST received a starred review from Library Journal ("a charming protagonist with awkward social skills and a big heart") and is a LibraryReads selection for November. One of the best parts? Some not too subtle hints that Molly may be investigating another career in the near future.