I uploaded my review to Goodreads. I will upload it to Amazon on release day.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Nita Prose for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for The Mystery Guest coming out November 28, 2023. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I was so excited to be approved for this book from NetGalley! I was obsessed with the first book and was so excited to learn that another book was being released. Hotel mysteries are one of my favorite genres. I love Molly’s character. I love that she has a different perspective than other people. I know this book is set in the present, but it feels like an Agatha Christie novel. Molly is an old soul and she sees things differently than other people. It was a little sad that her boyfriend wasn’t there with her, so she was on her own most of the time. I enjoyed the flashbacks. I didn’t think there would be that many, but I think they provided some insight into her past. I would love it if there is another book in the series! I’m just obsessed with hotel murder mysteries, so it was perfect for me!

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys amateur detectives and hotel murder mysteries!

The Mystery Guest is phenomenal and in my opinion even better than the first Molly The Maid book and Nita Prose has created a brand new entry into mysteries with this series!!

Molly the Maid is back and dare I say...better than ever?! I absolutely adored our first book with Molly and shocking to nobody...I loved this one as well!

The writing Prose blesses us with is impeccably done and the characters she's created are just so warm and I missed them!

I enjoyed this sequel to The Maid. The characters are rich and well developed. The story line was intriguing and kept me guessing. Thoroughly enjoyed this one!

this was a really cute cozy mystery, it was fun to return to Molly's world and I hope the hint at her becoming a detective means we are getting more in the series!

Nita Prose is absolutely a new favorite author for me! After devouring the maid i was so excited to get approved for this one!! Did not disappoint. Would absolutely recommend this for any cozy mystery lover. highly recommend!

The Mystery Guest (ARC)
Nita Prose
4.5⭐️

Pub Date: 11/28/2023

The Regency Grand Hotel, with all its glory, is back yet with another scandal. Another dead body in the new tea room. New head maid Molly is not the primary suspect this time but there are several poeple involved, some she cares for deeply. She must try to solve this post-haste! With her past entagled with the famous, now dead, author, Molly knows the answer to who the killer is lies within her memories. And is she really all that innocent as she seems? "Dirty secrets don't stay hidden forever."

Molly the Maid is back!
The synopsis said that this is a standalone novel however I personally don't think so. It's definitely related and much more fully enjoyable if you've read the first book The Maid. The character growth of Molly is so huge and I enjoyed it thoroughly. She is using figures of speech and modern abbreviations!!! 😱 I love it! The murder mystery itself is so good. And the history that came with it when Molly was reminiscing her past made it so much better! It made the plot whole. I practically inhaled this book.

There's still that similar cozy??? (I'm actually not sure how to fully describe it) feeling that I got from The Maid, and the rush and prickly cold sweats feeling from Molly and the rest of the staff getting in trouble is also there. The writing style is very unique and it's consistent with the first book. I really appreciated that. The only reason why I didn't give it a full 5⭐️ is because I thought there's a small hole in the plot. But don't let this discourage you from reading, friends! I still adored this book so much! Yay for more of Molly!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. At first, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this one as much as the first one, but I couldn’t put it down. Molly is a hoot and so smart and I love her interactions with the other characters. The ending was a little too tied up in a perfect bow, but that’s okay for this style of mystery I think.

It's no mystery why Nita Prose wrote a companion to her debut novel The Maid. The Maid was a bestseller and reader's loved Molly, the maid, Prose's central character. Molly is the star of The Mystery Guest and many of her original friends and foes have returned. Hooray! This novel can stand on it's own, but it's an extra fun read for Molly's previous fans. Molly has been promoted to Head Maid at her beloved Regency Grand Hotel. When an illustrious author dies there in the midst of a fan event, Molly puts her detective skills to good use. Molly has previous history with the author and Prose does a good job of enticing her reader with this bait. Molly seems to have matured since we last saw her, but she still depends on her late Gran's witticisms. They Mystery Guest is a very entertaining read and would also make a great gift.

I was a huge fan of The Maid, and The Mystery Guest was just as good! The same cast of characters appear in this second installment, and relationships are further developed. I did think that the use of the cliche phrases, was a little overdone this time around (ex. they were used by all characters and not just Molly), but overall I really loved this book.

BOOK REVIEW ✨The Mystery Guest ☕️ Nita Prose's The Maid was one of my favorite reads last year. I didn't anticipate it being a series but when I saw the Mystery Guest I was excited to see what Molly has been up to. I don't think the Maid really needed a sequel but I enjoyed being able to dip into Molly's world again. Molly is one of my favorite characters and she has me laughing out loud at times. This book was no exception to that. Much like The Maid, this is a slow burn, but I found myself no where near interested in the mystery as I was in the first one. It took me a little longer than usual to get through and overall it was enjoyable but not my favorite. OUT TOMORROW, November 28th Thank you @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. #penguinrandomhouse #netgalley #themysteryguest #bookreview #bookstagram

If you loved The Maid you’ll love book 2! Learn more about Molly our favorite hotel maid. The same characters return and we learn more of Molly’s back story.
Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Molly the maid is back and every bit as charming as she was in her first mystery!

Set four years after the first book's events, Molly is now Head Maid at The Regency Grand Hotel and living with her beloved Juan when another murder turns her world upside down. A renowned mystery writer drops dead in front of a tearoom full of people. Molly knew the victim from childhood and must reach back into her memory to help figure out whodunit.

I fell in love with Molly in The Maid and was excited to see her story continue. And this one is as good as the first, maybe even better! Molly is such a refreshing and lovable character. Through dual timelines, we learn much more about Molly and her childhood in this book. We also get to know her wise and loving Gran, who passed away shortly before the events in the first book. This look back not only impacted the present-day mystery but was both heartwarming and heartbreaking, showing how beautiful Molly and Gran's relationship was. I loved this character arc for Molly, and Prose does a good job of sensitively showing Molly's strengths and challenges as a neurodivergent woman.

Prose has an engaging writing style, creating a captivating world that is fun to visit and full of interesting characters. The dual timeline was very well done and woven together in a way that made for an intriguing mystery, slowly dripping clues and uncovering secrets. It is a fast-paced story, and each chapter ends on a slight cliffhanger, making it tough to put down. So cozy and delightful, this was one of my most anticipated reads of the Fall, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Hoping we get more Molly soon!

Thank you to Random House Ballentine for the gifted ARC!

Having read The Maid fairly recently (like, was it a few weeks ago, right?), and now having read this one, I can say that I have had more than my yearly share of cozy reads. Those two have been slightly more than enough of coziness. I’d say the 2nd book is even cozier than the first one. It is cute. It is adorable. It is super cozy. Did I say it was way OTT cozy? Yeah, it was. So, so cozy.
Also, this one felt like almost a clone of The Maid, not like a sequel. It’s like I was reading the same thing, only with minor adjustments here and there. This one also had more glimpses into what made Molly the Molly it is today, what her life was like back when her Gran was alive and what was her Gran like.
If you loved The Maid, then most definitely go and grab this one – especially if you read The Maid a while ago when it was released. Also, if you enjoy anything cozy, this one is for you. If you like thrillers but prefer them to be super-lite edition, this will work like a charm for you. With a hefty dose of a super-lite murder mystery, with lots of cuddly emotions, this is such a cute feel-good read.
And now, I am, like, 100% sure I dislike cozy murder mysteries. Here. I said it. It’s me, it’s not the book. It’s all me. The book is well-written, and the story is good. It's just me, I'm not the cozy reader this book needs.

I was beyond excited when I was able to read the follow up to The Maid

I liked catching up with Molly again. I loved the flashbacks to Molly's time with her gran. For me they were the best parts of the book. I liked the current mystery that is happening in the hotel too, but was more captivated by the earlier time period.

The scenes when Molly is talking to the police are hilarious. I love how they came around to Molly's way of thinking eventually. So many people have underestimated Molly and clearly shouldn't have.

I hope we get to hear more about Molly in the future.

4.5 stars

Thanks to netgalley and Ballantine Books for the arc.

Molly Gray is a sweet, special 29-year-old woman who works as a maid in the five-star Regency Grand Hotel. She's always known that she was different. While growing up, her neurodiversity made her an outcast at school. Through the love and support of her grandmother, she was able to channel her differences into assets. Following in her "gran's" footsteps, she became a maid. Her need for order, cleanliness and following rules earned her the title of Head Maid at the hotel. When famous mystery Writer J.D. Grimthorpe is scheduled to appear at the hotel's Grand Tearoom to make a special announcement, his legions of fans are shocked when he dies at the podium before speaking. The police rush in to investigate what appears to be a murder. But Molly's special way of thinking enables her to analyze the situation and come up with her own investigation, even when she becomes an early suspect.

After I read author Nita Prose's debut The Maid, it was not apparent that a second adventure featuring this unique and appealing character was going to be developed. I was happy to learn that a second book about Molly had been written. While not a big reader of "cozy" mysteries, The Mystery Guest, like the first book, was very enjoyable. The story has some good surprises although this book isn't meant to shock or hold you on the edge of your seat. It's a perfect book to snuggle up and read with a good hot cup of tea. I suspect there will be a third book, which will surely make my list.

It is wonderful to find a book that celebrates people's differences.

My ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I think I liked this book even more than the first as more of Molly the maid’s and her gran’s backstories are revealed and better understood by Molly in light of a new murder in the hotel.

It was so nice being back in Molly the Maid’s head and her world at the Regency Grand Hotel! I just adore her-she’s one of my very favorite characters and as much as I loved The Maid, The Mystery Guest definitely lived up to the anticipation for me as well!

I really enjoyed how the author tied Molly to the victim and through that gave us glimpses into Molly as a child, her past, and we got more Gran! I’m so glad we got to revisit Gran in this one. I’ve always really admired their relationship and it was nice getting to know more about Gran and her backstory along with Molly’s upbringing. I also really loved the familiar cast of characters that came back for this one-my favorite being sweet Preston, the door man!

The murder mystery was well executed and overall made for the coziest mystery, involving a famous author who dies right as he’s making a huge announcement. So grab your favorite tea cup, pour some tea, and get ready to revisit Molly the maid in The Mystery Guest! It’s an absolute must read, especially for fans of the first book!

So many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House and Ballantine Books for this #gifted eARC!

The follow-up to The Maid, Molly is back and there's more trouble in her hotel, but this time, she might have a connection to the victim... It was really fun to read through this mystery, including the flashbacks, and connect the dots as Molly did. Some of the detective's actions seemed a little far-fetched, but I feel like by the ending it was more believable. I definitely liked this one more than the first, and I'm looking forward to more from this series and author!

Molly the Maid has now the become Molly the Head Maid, with an energetic but shy trainee named Lily. When a famous writer is killed in the hotel, Lily and Molly both become suspects, and the hotel team (minus Molly’s lazy and dishonest nemesis) rallies to their support. Molly knows better than to trust the detectives to give anyone the benefit of the doubt, and she is determined to protect the traumatized Lily. She investigates on her own and ends up making some unlikely alliances. The story moves between past and present, as we learn how Molly knew the victim when she was a child and her beloved grandmother used to work for him. There are a few amusingly meta comments from the fictional famous writer on what is is like to write a second novel after a hugely successful first. This charming novel shows off Molly’s recently developed self-confidence and ends with the tantalizing suggestion of a possible new career path for her.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House/Ballantine Books for a digital advance review copy.