The Maid's secret - Nita Prouse due for publication 10 April 2025

Another delightful story about Molly - Head Maid.

This time we get the story of how Molly's Gran went from riches to rags and find out the significance of the Faberge egg.

Just before Molly's wedding to Juan Manuel, Molly becomes an overnight sensation on an Antiques roadshow TV programme. During the course of the subsequent auction a valuable antique is stolen and Molly once again helps Detective Stark find the culprit. As the hunt for the stolen object progresses, the mystery of Gran's life is told through her old diary and we get to know about Gran's (Flora) early life and how she ended up working as a maid.

All the favourite characters we love Angela, Juan Manuel, Cheryl, Mr Snow, are here along with some quirky new ones.

A lovely funny heartwarming tale which delights on every page. I do hope the rounding up of this story with all the ends tied neatly does not mean we will no longer hear from Molly the maid again. I loved it.

Thanks to Netgalley for a pre publication copy.

Another Maid book for the series. While I really like this cast of characters and the found family at the Regency Grand, I found myself skimming some of this. I think this will be the last one for me, even though I have liked these books. Chapters alternate between present day Molly and excerpts from her Gran’s diary explaining her full back story. In present day, Brown and beagle, a famous duo that had an antiques roadshow type show, are filming at the regency grand. Employees and fans are invited to bring their treasures to get appraised. Molly brings her Faberge egg, not expecting to be told it is worth millions. The egg is stolen after being auctioned off and Molly and her crew try to figure out what really happened. Good ending and I’m glad I read this, but I think this may be the last Molly the Maid for me, although I am still intrigued about what may happen in future for Mollys mom.

The third and last part of this series ties everything up with a bow. It makes for a few hours of easy, happy reading and brings back the same adorable characters from the first two novels. The real focus is the Molly's Grans's backstory and we get to read it through her diary so the reader skips from past to present every other chapter. You can, of course, only fully appreciate it if you have read the first two, so if you have some time to spare for light reading and like cosy mysteries, this is a series for you. Delightful is the word that comes to mind.

When a popular antiques television programme comes to film at the Regency Grand Hotel, Molly the Maid and her fiancé, Juan, decide to take part in the fun and take along some of their most loved possessions for appraisal. However, when one of their items catches the eyes of the presenters, Molly’s neat and tidy world gets completely turned upside down.

Oh, what a bittersweet read this was. It was wonderful to return to the world of Molly, Juan, Mr. Preston and the Regency Grand Hotel, but all the while I knew this was the last in the ‘Molly the Maid’ series from author, Nita Prose. However, any sadness was completely swept away by the wonderful writing, larger than life characters, and gripping storylines.

I wrote in my review of ‘The Mystery Guest’, the second book in the series, that I enjoyed the parts where we were given glimpses into Molly and her grandmother’s past. In ‘The Maid’s Secret’, the book regularly revisits her gran’s past in the form of diary entries and, once again, I particularly enjoyed these parts. These extracts seamlessly link in with the events taking place in the present, with Molly and Juan’s lives thrown into disarray by the discovery that one of the items Molly takes to the auction could be worth a lot of money.

I feel that the author has saved the best book in the series for last, with the series going from strength to strength across the three main ‘Molly the Maid’ titles and the Christmas novella. That being said, I won’t miss Speedy, the new doorman introduced in this book, who I felt was overdone a bit, and maybe too much of a change for the Regency Grand! If this weren’t the last book in the series, I might have concerns about his introduction, but as it stands, it remains a minor quibble in an otherwise extremely enjoyable read.

Thank you to Harper Collins for an advance copy, on which this review is based.

*** Review will be posted on tiktok and Instagram (jesswanders_andreads) on publication day! ***

The Maid's Secret

I absolutely adored this book!! Mysterious yet heart-warming!

It follows a dual POV - one is obviously Molly, and the other is Molly's gran through her diary

I was so happy we finally we get an insight into Molly's gran (Flora) and her background, and let me tell you, she is not what I was expecting!! She lead a thrilling yet troubled childhood and adolescence and I enjoyed finally getting to know her on a deeper level!

Finally makes sense why Flora has always referred to money as here faberge 🥺

I have absolutely loved this whole series, and I'm not sure if there will be a fourth installment - I'd love if their was, but I feel like this one has wrapped up all the loose ends in Molly, Juan and Flora's lives!

The Maid's Secret is the third book in the Molly the Maid series, so I can't and won't say too much because it might be a little spoilery of the previous books.
What I'll say is: in this book, we, the readers, learn all about the secrets Molly's granny kept from her, which also involves a certain heritance object Molly has been given by her granny - an object that appears in the second book of this series -, and this certain object takes a massive part of the present timeline in this new book. There is also a past timeline, told by Molly's granny through her diary entries, on which she narrates her entire life story to Molly.
In her private life, in this book Molly takes a further step in her relationship.

What I least enjoyed about this book: most part of the (many) past timeline chapters focused on granny's diary entries and her whole life story, ever since she was a child. Personally, I was not truly invested.
What I most liked: everything that happens in the present timeline. LOL
I loved what Nita Prose did here with Molly and...hmm...what happens in the hotel where she works at involving that object from book 2. Very, very entertaining.
As well as the conclusion. For a moment I thought it would be very cheesy and Disney-like. Luckily, I was wrong!

I'm loving this series. Book 1 is my least favourite, actually, and the second one is my most favourite, and I hope Nita Prose will continue writing books with this fascinating and adorable main character.

I highly recommend this book if you've read the previous ones and enjoyed it. And if you haven't read any books by Molly the Maid and you are into cozy mystery, stop wasting time and go read them!

Thank you, NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, for providing me with a free eARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the Publisher for the ARC of The Maid's Secret. Having really enjoyed the first book of the series and really disliked the second book I went into this book with no expectations. I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading this book. I really liked the mystery in this book and was enthralled by the diary entries from Flora. This book kept me guessing and it was brilliant the way both the present day stories and the diary entries linked together in the end. It has been my favourite book of the series!

This third instalment in the series brings us much more depth into Gran's character. I really enjoyed the diary entries and seeing how Gran grew up- I'd love a spin off following her!
However, the main plot with the egg and Molly felt a lot weaker than the Gran portion. I enjoyed the book, but it felt a bit far fetched at times.

(3.5 stars rounded down to 3)

This third installment in The Maid series really was an emotional rollercoaster.

The alternating chapters between Molly (in the present) and her Gran Flora (reminiscing about the past) worked really well. They both had distinctive voices and the stories were so contrasting yet interwove well.

I did enjoy the relationship elements of this but Molly's plot in the present day did feel a tad lackluster and the crime/thriller elements did feel a bit anticlimactic compared to the previous two installments.

Overall I did enjoy this but felt it was missing a bit of a spark to make it more memorable.

Absolutely love the Molly the maid series and this is a smash hit! Glad that we have been able to find out what Molly's background is and how she became to be who she is. Molly finds some old things and takes them to be valued by some antique dealers who come to the hotel for a show. She's not expecting much but gets the surprise of her life when she learns she's going to be super rich, only to have it stolen from her! Whilst trying to find out what happened she begins to read her grans diary and suddenly her past (finding out more about her family) and present collide.
Can't wait to find out more about Molly, so excited for another book in the series!

Many thanks to Netgalley, the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this and most of all Nita for writing these fabulous novels! Highly recommend, would give more than 5* if I could.

Okay, imagine this: Molly, who used to clean houses, is now super rich! She's got some old stuff, and takes it to fancy art people, Brown and Beagle. Boom! One thing is crazy valuable, like, makes-you-want-to-cry money. But then, poof, it's gone! Stolen right in front of them!

Now, Molly's got to figure out who took it. And while she's doing that, she finds her grandma's diary. This diary tells us about her grandma, Flora, when she was young, and this guy, Mr. Preston. We learn about Flora's tough life and her connection to Mr. Preston, which is way more complicated than anyone thought.

Then, BAM! Molly's mystery and her grandma's diary stories smash together, and it's a huge surprise! You get to see how Flora became who she was, and Mr. Preston's not just some guy anymore, he's got a real story. And Molly? She's not just rich, she's learning about her family, and it's making her feel all sorts of things. It's funny, it's sad, and you just want to know what happens next.

Another charming Molly Maid novel.
This one gives some context to Molly's background and endears her even more to the reader.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Thanks to the publishers and net galley for an ecopy in exchange for a review. This is the third book I’ve read of Nina’s and it was great to catch up with Molly the maid and her fiance Juan. The book is also told more from her grandmothers POV via a diary and we got to learn a lot about mollys family from generations before. I loved the characters and story line of the antiques with the two presenters. Molly is a very endearing character. I read this in a couple of sittings. I will be recommending to others and keeping an eye out from more from Nina

Thank you to @netgalley and @HarperCollinsUK for this ARC. Book 3 of Molly the Maid. The hotel is hosting the taping of Hidden Treasures and Molly decides to grab a couple of trinkets to be appraised. Little does she know, one of the trinkets is grabs is worth millions that has now caused more harm than good. This book swings between present day and the diary of her beloved Gran. Nita Prose has created a character in the first book of this quirky maid with a nack for only perfection to a lovable member of the family. Another sweet, sweet story of Molly the Maid. #TheMaidsSecret #NitaProse #HarperCollinsUK #April2025

During a televised visit to the Regency Grand Hotel by the Hidden Treasures team, Molly the Maid takes the fake Fabergé egg given to her from the Grimthorpe estate along with other 'treasures' thinking nothing will come of it. It turns out that not only is the egg not a fake, but it's the missing prototype egg and is worth millions. But days after the discovery it's stolen. As Molly tries to find the egg and the culprit, she's handed her late gran's diary, a series of letters written to Molly at the end of Flora Gray's life which was entrusted to Mr Preston until the time was right for Molly to read it. But does the diary hold the key to this latest mystery?

This is book three in the series (not including the Christmas novella, which I haven't managed to read), and this book didn't disappoint. It was great to see the narrative shared by Molly in the present, and her gran talking about her past, and finally getting to hear Flora Gray's voice. We also got to learn of the origin of Flora and Mr Preston's love story, giving him a greater prominence than in the previous books. It was also lovely to see more of Molly's relationship with the other characters, especially Juan. Plus we also ended up feeling a teeny bit sorry for Cheryl. This book also served as social commentary on the pitfalls of instant fame and going viral, especially when the person in question didn't encourage or want it, which I thought was handled really well.

This is a book series that I have really enjoyed, and I especially liked the different kind of mystery in this instalment. I hope there will be future books because I want to find out what the future has in store for Molly and the rest of the gang.

Oh how I love Molly the Maid! In this book, as Molly’s wedding to Juan approaches, she takes a few items of her grandmother’s to a TV valuation duo who are filming an episode at the Regency Grand Hotel. A valuable item reveals Molly to be a multi-millionaire and Molly’s brilliant reaction catapults her into the public eye, her worst nightmare! Molly is “just a maid” and loves her simple life.

Alongside this brilliant storyline is Molly’s Grandmother, Flora’s, diary, which I loved. Molly is who she is mostly due to her Grandmother’s love and influence, and her backstory answered lots of questions about her past and the wonderful Mr Preston, Molly’s Grandad.

There are plenty of shenanigans at the hotel and I was hooked, devouring this brilliant book in one sitting.

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Nita Prose and Harper Collins for an ARC in return for an honest review.

The Maids Secret, the third installment of this series start with Molly the Maid getting closer to her wedding with Juan Manuel.
The Grand Regency Hotel where they both work are hosting an Antiques Roadshow type event, the staff are allowed to bring things to be valued. It turns out Molly has unknowingly had a very, very valuable item at home, she learns its worth millions and unwittingly get her 15 mins of fame.

When the item is stolen, Molly takes to reading her late Grans diaries to look for clues to who has done it. We travel between modern day and back to the past with Grans diary entries.

The younger version of Gran is very different to the one we've gotten to know and is a different vibe to the usual Molly style writing, which for me, is why I enjoyed the books.

It's still worth a read for the Molly chapters and Nita Prose is a very gifted writer, it's a pleasure to read her books.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

Molly and her finance Juan are low paid but extremely loyal hard working members of hotel staff. Quietly planning their wedding without a fuss they are suddenly shocked when one of Molly's heirlooms turns out to be worth millions. It turns their life upside down. Drama and intrigue follow as we learn of the life of Mollys beloved gran and how it is impacting the current day. A light hearted entertaining book

Can’t believe that we are saying goodbye to Molly the Maid! The story is excellent explanation about the story of Molly’s family before she became a maid - filling in all the gaps in the story that were hinted at in the previous books. A fitting end to the series

I read the first book in this series a few years ago and I loved it from the start, I find myself thinking about it often. I love the switch between past and present and the stories of both Molly and her gran. Although I had figured out the main plot this story was entertaining to read.