As charming and feel-good as the first novel in the series. Yes, it's light fare, but it's well-written: good plotting, a range of interesting characters and a satisfying dénouement. And Molly is just adorable.

In this one, we learn a lot about Molly's childhood, explaining (amongst other things) why she so loves cleaning.

I give it 4 stars because it's pleasurable and heart-warming without being saccharine.

I loved being back with Molly at The Regency Grand Hotel for another mystery. I enjoyed getting to know more of Molly's back story and I love the way that the reader is able to piece together more than what Molly tells us via her observations.

The end of this book brought a tear to my eye and I can't wait to see if there is more from this series.

I would highly recommend this one.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for this eCopy to review

The Mystery Guest was just as good if not better than prose's first book The Maid. This time there has been another murder at the Regency Grand Hotel and it is up to Head Maid Molly to solve it once again.

Many secrets about the writer and Molly's own life are revealed in the duel time-line and many of her co-workers and other characters learn to accept Molly better and understand her idiosyncrasies.

I was completely hooked a riveting read from start to finish with great characters, a great plot, and of course the wonderful setting of the Regency Grand Hotel. I really want to go for tea in the new tea room.

The Mystery Guest is the sequel to The Maid, and I think I loved it as much if not more!
We return to the Regency Grand Hotel and Molly is now Head Maid, managing her team and keeping all in order until a high profile guest drops dead. Through this story, we learn more about Molly’s childhood and her past, which hold the keys to solving this latest murder. Great book and I’ll definitely be recommending it!
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Just joyous! There is nothing challenging or complex about Nita Prose's series, of which this is the second; it's a cosy, funny, well written and most enjoyable crime thriller with the loveliest characters.
When I first read 'The Maid' I was surprised when I realised the main character was autistic, but that didn't define her character or the story being told and 'The Mystery Guest' now brings Molly even further into the light with all her glorious gifts, talents and capacity for love.
I look forward to the next and every book to follow in the series, it's a real pleasure to read.

Our favourite maid molly makes a return! After loving the first book, I was excited to read this.
Following Molly through yet more unfortunate incidents is entertaining and absorbing!
My favourite part was seeing Molly growing as time has passed, but also in travelling back in time to learn more about her past and her relationship with her grandmother.
Another brilliant read!

I wanted to love this book because the Maid was one of my faves when it came out, but I struggled to get into this. I think it was just too cozy for my taste. I’m sure it will be a hit and I’ll definitely still read anything by Nita Prose in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an eARC

absolutely adored The Maid so was excited to see how the sequel was going to go.

Molly the maid is back and this time she’s head maid at the hotel (a few years have passed since the events of the last book) and preparing a room for a very special VIP event with a famous mystery author. When the author drops dead, all eyes are on Molly again and everyone is a suspect.

I really enjoyed this one, it’s told between two timelines so we really get to know Molly as a child and learn a lot more about her relationship with her beloved Gran.

Like The Maid, The Mystery Guest is a twisty mystery with an air of Agatha Christie, and mystery lovers will love it like I did.

I adore Molly and really hope this series continues.

I read this ARC in exchange for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

Gorgeous, entertaining
Beautifully written
Engrossing
Couldn't put this down

Oh I loved this !!

I loved being back in the world of Molly and the Regency Grand Hotel. It didn’t quite have the impact of the first one but was nonetheless a fun, quick and light read.

The murder mystery was never really the main focus even in the first book, but in The Mystery Guest, it just felt very weak and underdeveloped. It is likely due to the dual timeline which I enjoyed but in all honesty the past timeline didn’t bring much to the present one if anything at all. I liked seeing Molly as a child and on its own it was interesting. But the links were few and sparse to the present murder and the story wouldn’t have changed if those parts weren’t there.

It’s hard for me to give it a rating because I did enjoy my time with it and I love Molly as a character but she seemed to be less present in the current timeline weirdly enough. I understand the author having to let Juan Manuel go away to not interfere and add another plot line to the book, but it also made it feel a bit odd and unnatural, as if he was making the book too crowded and that’s why it had to happen, while introducing some new side characters that are not part of the mystery.

It’s such a short book at 320 pages, that I’m not sure the dual timeline was the best of ideas. Or at least not in a 50/50 split sense. It backed itself into a corner where not much happens in either and little of consequence is said or developed making the mystery not that exciting.

Overall, it is still a fun cosy mystery with endearing characters. It just didn’t hit like the first one did as Molly doesn’t seem to be misunderstood anymore which weakens the emotional attachement the reader could created in the first book. If you want more of Molly and a cosy read, pick it up, but as a murder mystery it’s definitely not very strong.

Molly Gray is back! Four years after the events of The Maid, a famous mystery writer drops dead in the tearoom of the Regency Grand Hotel just as he is about to make a massive announcement. Molly and her friends find themselves once again the centre of a police investigation and a media frenzy. Everyone thinks that a member of staff is guilty and Molly believes that she holds the key to solving the mystery.

First off, make sure you read The Maid before picking up The Mystery Guest as this is a sequel and it will ruin the ending on The Maid for you (you’ve been warned!).

I loved Prose’s debut and this book is an impressive follow up by the author. The story is presented with a dual timeline with the reader jumping from past to present day life for the quirky maid. We get a lot more detail of Molly’s life with her grandmother and her childhood which really gives the reader a sense of how Molly became the woman she is today.

Molly is still her unique self and I love that the author didn’t change up her character and let her quirkiness and her naivety shine through once more.

Be prepared for plenty of twists and drama as Molly takes on the role of an amateur detective along with her colleagues and friends. This fast-paced cosy mystery is entertaining and will keep your attention from start to finish. I’m hoping Molly will return in another book because she is brilliant and a truly unique character.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for the arc. The Mystery Guest is out now.

In the second book, starring Molly the maid, we find out a lot more detail about Molly’s childhood, her upbringing with her Gran, And about how she learned to be such a thorough and effective Cleaner.
When there is a death in the hotel, Molly is shocked to find the same detective who suspected her of the previous crime, investigating her again!
Molly and her dedicated team of cleaners work with the hotel, manager and the police to uncover new clues and solve the mystery.

I enjoyed this book very much. Thanks to #NetGalley. For the opportunity to read this book, ahead of publication and exchange for an honest review.

Our favourite amateur (and unsuspecting) sleuth Molly Gray is back and I couldn't be more happy!

The Regency Grand is just recovering from the last scandal they were embroiled in when a body was found dead (and murdered) in a hotel room. However, drama is never far away and when a famous crime writer hires the hotel to host a press conference trouble soon ensues. It is up to Molly and her band of hotel staff to help solve the mystery.

I loved The Mystery Guest. I loved The Maid but I felt much more at ease with The Mystery Guest. With The Maid, the sense of injustice really hit me hard. Molly sees the world differently and there is the suggestion that she is on the autistic spectrum and with the first book I felt myself feeling genuinely scared for the character. Now I am more comfortable because I now know it is cosy crime so my anxiety was a lot less.

I love this series and I do hope there are many more to come. Molly Gray is brilliant and I want more of these stories.

The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose is available now.

For more information regarding Nita Prose (@NitaProse) please visit www.nitaprose.com.

For more information regarding Harper Collins (@HarperCollinsUK) please visit their Twitter page.

I am thrilled to return to the Regency Grand Hotel, the five-star boutique hotel renowned for its elegance and for its excellent service, but also for being the scene of a well-known murder a few years back. Molly the maid, who back then had been accused of the murder and had to investigate on her own to prove her innocence, is now Head Maid and she is proud of her work, especially when it comes to her new Maid-in-Training, Lily, who, she is convinced, will learn to shine (and speak) under her guidance. The hotel is preparing for a big event featuring award winning mystery author J.D. Grimthorpe, who will be announcing a big secret. But, when he is about to do his big reveal he drops dead… poisoned. And so, we see the return of Detective Stark who still underestimates Molly and puts her in her list of suspects. And Molly, who knew the victim when she was a child and is now forced to revisit her past, starts her own investigation, helped by her friend Angela, a fan of true crime podcasts, the L.A.M.B.S., the author’s number one fan club, and also a reluctant detective Stark.

Four years after the events of The Maid, Molly is still her unique self. Excellent at her job and a stickler for the rules, she has gotten slightly better at reading people and her attention to details that no one else notices help her solve the murder. She is living happily with her boyfriend Juan and she considers the hotel doorman, Mr. Preston, a close friend, although she is worried that he is keeping secrets from her. She still follows her grandmother’s proverbs and, thanks to flashbacks and memories of her childhood, we get a closer look at their relationship and why they both became maids.

The Mystery Guest is an entertaining, riveting, and gripping mystery with engaging characters and a fantastic ending. I couldn’t recommend it enough!

The second book in the murder mystery series, Molly the Maid. Set 4 years after the first book, we're back at Regency Grand Hotel where VIP guest, author J D Grimthorpe drops dead in the middle of a speech. Molly witnessed the whole thing and she works with Detective Stark to uncover the murderer.

The story switches between the present and the past when, as a child, Molly accompanied her Gran to the Grimthorpe mansion where her Gran was a maid. Molly spend a couple of weeks in the mansion alternating between polishing silver and reading books from the Grimthorpe library. She even gave Mr Grimthorpe the idea for his most profitable novel - The Maid and the Mansion.

The speech the author was supposed to be making was to finally state the truth - the had a ghostwriter and did not write any of his books himself - though he did take the credit for them. He was an alcoholic and forced himself on women, so by all accounts he was not a good person.

I thought the book was OK, but not amazing. I found the story quite predictable and I figured the who and why fairly early on. There wasn't even any twists that would make up for the predictability. I did think it was a good representation for someone on the autism spectrum, Molly may not understand social cues or facial expressions but she has an amazing eye for remembering and always sees the smallest detail.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Thank you so much to the publisher for my ARC of The Mystery Guest! I read this as a mixture of an audiobook and ebook!

I was so excited to read this after loving The Maid but unfortunately this missed the mark for me! I found the beginning to be very slow and recapping a lot of the first book but also I found that the story became very repetitive with regards to the new murder as well which I wasn't a fan of.

I did enjoy getting some more backstory of Molly and her grandmother and the mystery was interesting but unfortunately I wasn't the biggest fan of this sequel!

This was a very impressive follow up to what was a thoroughly enjoyable debut. A lovely easy read that moves at a good pace whilst still fleshing out the story. Lots of twists and turns along the way as expected with a murder mystery!

I absolutely loved this follow up to The Maid. Molly resumes her leading role as Head Maid, this time helping to solve the sudden death of a visiting writer at the Regency Grand. I love all the characters and the author writes beautifully and with great sensitivity and a gentle wit. Just so lovely.

“I also don’t mention my connection to the man in the body bag. If I’ve learned anything from Columbo and from past experience, it’s that living acquaintances to the dead quickly become suspects, and that’s the last thing I want to be right now.”

My thanks to HarperCollins U.K. for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Mystery Guest’ by Nita Prose.

In 2022 ‘The Maid’, a gentle locked room mystery featuring the adorable Molly the Maid, quickly became a bestseller. I read it and fell in love with Molly and was so pleased to learn that Molly was returning in a new mystery.

Over three years have passed since the events of ‘The Maid’. Now Molly Gray wears her Head Maid badge with pride as she organises the maids at the Regency Grand Hotel. The hotel’s newly renovated Art Deco Grand Tea Room is celebrating its reopening by hosting a VIP event featuring J. D. Grimthorpe, a world famous mystery writer.

He has just begun to speak to his gathered fans and announces that “I’ve been keeping a secret, one that will no doubt surprise you.” Yet before he can go on he appears to have trouble speaking and then topples over. Dead. Panic ensues though Mr. Snow, the hotel manager, seeks to calm everyone.

The police soon arrive including Detective Stark, who had featured in ‘The Maid’. She interviews both guests and staff. Stark seems rather interested in shy Lily, Molly’s current maid-in-training.

Yet Molly herself is concealing that when she was a child her Gran had been a maid at Grimthorpe’s grand house. After encountering problems at school ten-year-old Molly began accompanying her Gran and was given permission to spend time in Grimthorpe’s lavish library.

Still, despite Molly’s reluctance to disclose her former connection there’s plenty of suspects and Molly uses her attention to detail and appreciation for the methods of Lieutenant Columbo to quietly assist in the investigation.

The novel is split between the present day and ‘before’ as young Molly accompanies her Gran to Grimthorpe’s. The story unfolds at a measured pace with plenty of comic moments. Grimthorpe’s league of ‘No 1 fans’, the LAMBS (Ladies Auxiliary Mystery Book Society), gently poked fun at the more extreme aspects of mystery fans.

Molly’s innocence is charming and I loved how protective she was of Lily, who reminds Molly of her younger self. Despite Molly’s concerns Detective Stark emerges as a more sympathetic character than in ‘The Maid’.

Overall, I enjoyed ‘The Mystery Guest’ very much. It is full of warmth as well as an engaging whodunnit. I expect that it will prove another bestseller. Will there be another Molly the Maid mystery? I am happy either way.

Consuming hotel-set whodunnit sequel.

Tore through these pages, Molly is such a great character and the plot moves quickly, it all ended much too fast.

Wonderful creation in Molly the (now Head) Maid, back for another hotel adventure, as this time a famous writer is due to make a mysterious announcement on the premises, but keels over and snuffs it on top of Molly's trainee.

Immediately thrown back into the world of detectives, suspects, clues and hidden histories, Molly and her unique skillset find themselves well placed to investigate and solve the death - is it a murder?

With old and new characters here, loyal readers will enjoy seeing Molly's cohort again - from lazy maids to upright doormen, snarky detectives to the exacting Molly herself.

Delving in Molly and even her grandmother's pasts, this gives further insight into our heroine as it also opens up the case to the reader, even if we may not guess 'whodunnit' easily.

Memorable lead character and interesting addition to the genre, I hope there are more Molly stories on the way!

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.