I love the Maid books so much. This was another brilliant instalment in the tale. I could happily read these all day. Well written, pieced together beautifully and a great read.

Amazing read! Great conclusion to the series! I love Molly the maid and all the wonderful characters who accompany her. Easy heart warming reads

While I thought the first two Molly the Maid books were sweet and easy reads, this one didn't really deliver for me. It felt rather cliché and predictable to the point where it played out exactly the way I thought, and usually I'm always the last to figure out the mystery! I liked that the story deviated a little from the "murder" plots of the books before, but because of the split timelines, it felt that the "mystery" part of the story wasn't particularly well developed and the ends all tied up a little too conveniently.

3.5 stars

Although I really loved the first two books in this series, for me, this final installment fell a bit short, primarily due to the dual POV, which was split between excerpts from Gran’s diary and a present-day timeline involving a Fabergé egg, an audacious heist, and Molly in the thick of everything yet again.

While it was interesting to learn about Gran’s surprising childhood, I felt it took up too much of the book and took the focus away from Molly, who has always been the star of the show. I missed the quirkiness that made Molly so endearing in earlier installments..

That said, this was a quick, light read, and many reviewers seem to have enjoyed it.

I look forward to seeing what Nita Prose produces next, starting with a fresh page.

Molly is now not just Head Maid at the Regency Grand Hotel, but also Special Events Manager, and everyone at the hotel is eager and excited about the filming of an episode of the popular reality tv show "Hidden Treasures" (like "Antiques Roadshow") at the hotel. Not only will the hosts and appraisers Baxley Brown and Thomas Beagle look at items brought in by fans and others, but hotel staff will also get a chance to have the two men review their treasures.

Molly is also excited because she and Juan Manuel will be getting married in two months, so there is much to do. In light of this, Mr. Preston gives Molly her gran's journal to read, as gran had wanted Molly to receive this only when she was emotionally ready.

On the day of filming, Molly brings in some of her treasures in a shoebox containing little things her beloved gran had. One of these items is the beautiful, decorative egg that featured in book 2. To everyone's surprise, Beagle and Brown inform Molly that the egg is priceless, and she's now a multi-millionaire.

Molly immediately becomes the focus of social media posts, much to her dismay. Eager to return to her quiet life, she agrees to Beagle and Brown auctioning off the egg as soon as possible. They all decide to have the auction at the Regency Grand, but, shockingly, the item is stolen while filming. It's an audacious theft, and Molly gradually begins noticing some odd things. She also begins reading gran's journal entries, which give Molly gran's life story, as well as reveal to Molly a connection between gran's life and the egg, which goes much beyond what Molly could have ever expected.

This was another great entry in a series I thoroughly enjoy for Molly's pluckiness, her many rhyming, pithy sayings, and the lovely friendships and romance she has found by just being herself. Molly may see the world a little differently than others, but she's smart, highly observant, and above all, kind.

Author Nita Prose not gives us an amateur sleuth story, but she also gives us a poignant and revealing history about Molly's gran. adding much depth to the woman whom we've never properly met, except through Molly's memories. Gran's life before Molly is not what I expected, and it gives us context for things gran taught Molly, but also gives us background on another character very important to Molly.

The reveals are satisfying, and the story wrap-up heartwarming, and I loved it.

Thank you to Netgalley and to HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction, and to Penguin Random House Canada (Adult) for this ARC in exchange for my review.

A fun book, I think this series has run its course. It was fun to read the revelation of Molly's fortune, but the rest of it is getting a bit silly

The Maid’s Secret by Nita Prose

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

A wedding. A heist. A secret.

Molly Gray’s life is about to change in ways she could never have imagined. As the esteemed Head Maid and recently promoted Special Events Manager of the Regency Grand Hotel, good things are just around the corner, including her marriage to her beloved fiancé, Juan Manuel, only two months away.

But Molly’s entire existence is upended when a film crew descends upon the hotel to shoot the hit reality TV show Hidden Treasures, starring popular art appraisers Brown and Beagle. On a whim, Molly brings in a shoebox containing a few of her gran’s old things for appraisal, and much to everyone's surprise, one item turns out to be a rare and priceless treasure. Instantly, Molly is both a multi-millionaire and a media sensation—the world’s rags-to-riches darling—until the priceless piece vanishes from the hotel in the boldest, brashest antiquities heist in recent memory.

The key to the mystery lies in the past, in a long-forgotten diary written by Molly’s gran. For the first time ever, Molly learns about Gran’s true-to-life fairytale, a young girl to the manor born, the only child of a wealthy magnate. But when Gran falls head over heels in love with a young man her parents deem below her station, her life is thrown into turmoil. As fate would have it, the greatest love of Gran’s life is someone Molly knows quite well….

My Opinion

The Maid’s Secret is the third book in the Molly the Maid series and I would highly recommend reading the books in order. Who wouldn’t be a fan of Molly? This is such a great series and I really enjoy the way Nita Prose reveals the family secrets. A delightful read.

Rating 4/5

I have read all the books in Molly the Maid series, including the short fictional reads, that the author usually releases during the holiday season and I've enjoyed reading about Molly's life and how her relationship with Juan progresses and also finding out about her life with her granny.

But this book, the third in the instalment, didn't quite live up to the expectations and in fact felt the weakest link in the series. This maybe because originally this series was a cozy murder mystery, and in parallel we also discovered about Molly's life with her granny and how personal life develops. But there is no murder in this book and although there is some mystery of the stolen Fabergé egg, the whole plot seems to fall flat and honestly, sometimes feels boring.

The chapters alternates between Molly's present life, where suddenly she is pushed to the centre of limelight when she discovers that her Fabergé egg, is a precious antique and she is now a multi-millionaire. The sudden fame and popularity stresses Molly and her cozy, personal life becomes a prime content on a reality show. The other chapters details about Molly's grandmother and how she came to possess this Fabergé egg. I liked these chapters but the whole story was very cliched and predictable.

I just hope that the next book is better than this. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advance copy of the book.

I've thoroughly enjoyed this series so I was keen to read the final instalment. I think this one might have been my favourite.
I loved the two storylines in this book. Firstly we join Molly in her life as a maid when she decides to value an old antique egg she owns and discovers it is worth millions. What follows is a heist at the Regency Hotel as the egg is suddenly stolen. Who took the egg? Who is threatening Molly and why?
The second part of the story is narrated by Molly's Gran through a diary she wrote as a young girl. I loved this part the most. I became completely immersed in Flora's life story particularly the love story between her and John.
Both stories come together as the diary holds some of the answers to the current mystery.
Molly is such a brilliant character and I loved delving into her past
This is one of my favourite cosy crime series so I'm looking forward to seeing what Nita Prose writes next.

I have loved Molly the maid since the first book and the second was just as good. She has a quirky way about her (obviously on the spectrum) so beguiling and a really likeable character.
I’ve enjoyed reading about her mishaps and the other people in the hotel. But sadly this book just missed the mark of actually being interesting. I became bored with the Molly parts very quickly, it was too much of the same drama that has played out in the last two books. I did enjoy more the parts going back in time with her gran, but to be honest I had lost interest by then and so I skimmed to the end.

Some book series are compelling and while the characters are generally the same, there are good plots that keep you wanting to read them. But, for Molly the maid to continue, it needs to diversify the plot somewhat and change it up, but then perhaps it wouldn’t be the same Molly.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC in return for an honest review.

I loved this, next in the series of Molly the Maid. Loved getting all of Flora’s history and seeing how the lives in the past shaped future events and characters. Warm, funny, deep, very engaging and highly recommend.

A perfect , satisfying and wholesome read .
In this book we have two time lines Molly in the present day and her Gran’s voice through her diary .
Molly is back and her character shines through and she returns with all her best turns of phrase .
Can Molly go from rags to riches and lead a life she could only have dreamt?
The writing is excellent and there are plenty of twists and turns to keep the readers interest .
I’ve enjoyed the previous books in the series but I think this is my favourite it’s such a satisfying read.
A must read for all Nita Prose fans.
A solid five star read.
An excellent read!
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction.

A perfect ending to the series. I don't think I could ever dislike a Molly book and I'm just sad it's all over. Very excited to see what Nita Prose does next!

The Maid’s Secret
Nita Prose

‘It is an unfortunate fact of life that sometimes we grow old before we grow wise, and for my part, I have learned-too late-the error of my ways.’

When a daring art heist takes place at the Regency Grand, Molly’s life is threatened. The question is who’s out to get her and why?

‘Dear Molly,
Life is a mystery. Try as we might to solve it, a new puzzle
always presents itself.’

There’s always high jinks and shenanigans when Molly’s around. There’s plenty afoot in The Maid’s Secret, including a wedding, a heist and a secret.

“Don't you see? All it takes is one moment
of desperation to turn a good egg into a bad one.”

This book delves more into Gran’s past and helps expose secrets from her younger years. We also have the current chapters and the life changing events occurring to Molly. Plus of course, a classic who done it style mystery to solve.

‘Life is unpredictable. Like an episode of Columbo, it never turns out quite the way you think it will.’

These books are light and easy. All her classic catchphrases are back as usual;
"Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative,” “If it's not okay, it's not the end,"
‘deep cleaning to give meaning’, “denial isn’t just a river in Egypt”, "Fair and square, the maids all share” and of course “a tissue for your issue”. I find it’s Molly’s quirks that make her a character to keep returning to.

This is a very fun palette cleanser book.

5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

✨ Secrets and lies
✨ Friendship
✨ It’s best to read the first books to better understand the characters.

Wow! I think this is the best book out of the three Nita Prose has published.
The story unfolds across two timelines and points of view — one from Molly and one from her grandmother — beautifully showing how deeply she loved her until the very end.

A faux Fabergé egg that Molly didn’t even know was worth millions sets everything in motion. Will she go from rags to riches — or not? So many secrets and dramas are uncovered because of it.

The historical love story adds such a powerful layer to the narrative — I think it might be the best part.

Highly recommended for fans of heartfelt mysteries with strong character developement.


❤️shaye.readss

Another lovely Molly the Maid story, possibly the conclusion of these books as it feeld like this tale is now wrapped up. I thoroughly enjoyed this series and am looking forward to seeing what comes next from Nina

Absolutely gorgeous. Another great read from Nina. Her books just keep getting better and better. I loved going back to the hotel with it's mystery and looking for clues. Such a lovely story. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

3.5 of 5 stars (rounded to 4)
https://lynns-books.com/2025/05/06/review-the-maids-secret-by-nita-prose/
My Five Word TL:DR Review: Good, but not my favourite

I think The Maid’s Secret may be the final chapter in Molly’s tale – although I could be wrong of course – it just reads like a conclusion with everything neatly concluded.

This is a series that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed, Molly has been a delight to read about and all the hijinx at the hotel she works at have been cosy and delicious.

In this instalment things take a very different turn. A couple of famous antique dealers are airing a show from the hotel, people come along and bring along items they think may be antique or worth some money and as an extra bonus the staff at the hotel are invited to bring something along of their own before the show airs – a little prelude if you will. Imagine everyone’s surprise when the ‘spangly’ egg that Molly brought turns out to be a priceless antique, long lost and much debated upon. It seems that Molly and her intended are about to go from rags to riches. Molly becomes an overnight online sensation (much to her surprise and dismay) and the rare egg is set to be sold. Of course, the best laid plans, etc, etc. I won’t go further into the plot at this point.

So, my feelings when reading this.

Once again I loved the writing. Prose has a lovely style, she’s a very easy to read author who manages to inject humour and a reasonably pacy style into her stories and, of course, Molly is such a great character.

This story is told in alternating timelines. Surprisingly Molly comes into possession of her gran’s diary and so we flit back and forth unfolding her story from the past and then jumping forward to the current dilemma – the hope all along being that her gran’s diary might just hold the key to this most recent mystery.

I’m actually a big fan of alternating timelines and the author manages to tie everything together in a really satisfying way.

I did mention that I didn’t quite love this one as much as the first two. That could simply be because the surprise element has worn a little thin over the course of the series but I felt that Molly lost her way a little in this book. I didn’t feel like she held centre stage in fact she came across like a different version. Likewise her gran’s story, whilst really well written and quite compelling, didn’t sound at all like her gran – now obviously you have to understand that she’s writing about events that took place many years ago and so of course her personality has had time to change, that being said, both of them felt more like strangers to me in this book. I think if I’d picked this up and it was the first in series I would have loved it, and I did in fact enjoy it very much, but having read the previous two books it felt like both personalities were very different.

So, to be fair, I did enjoy this, but I didn’t love it. It didn’t wow me the way the first two books did and I missed some of the unique spark that made Molly such an instant sensation.

Overall though, a satisfying conclusion (if it is the conclusion – does anyone know? Feel free to correct me). And, I very much look forward to seeing where this author’s wonderful imagination will take us next.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 3.5 of 5 stars rounded to 4 for concluding such a great series in such a satisfying way

It’s witty, sharp, and full of those “I didn’t expect that!” moments. The writing is spot-on, keeping you glued to the page without overwhelming you with unnecessary details. It’s cozy, but with just the right amount of edge to keep things fresh and engaging.

My god this book is full of secrets, mystery, and twists you won’t see coming. There are family secrets and the truth is twisted. The book can be best described as twisted and unputdownable. This is the best one in the series. Molly gets access to the long forgotten diary written by her gran. There are a lots of secrets in it. The book has dual timelines and dual pov. Expect the unthinkable, secrets, buried truths, mystery, Auctions, wedding, investigation and so much more. This book is multilayered. And once you will start reading it. It will completely grip you and won’t let you go until all the layers will be unfolded.