The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose is a bright, dynamic continuation of her cozy mystery series that features Molly Gray, a lovable, learning-as-she-goes maid who works at the Regency, an elegantly sophisticated, five-star boutique hotel.
In the first book, The Maid, neurodivergent Molly struggled to navigate life after the death of her touchstone, her grandmother, “Gran,” who spent her life working as a maid. Molly, then a meticulous maid-in-training, became swept up in a murder investigation of a hotel patron that called her and her co-workers into question. In The Mystery Guest, Molly’s story picks up three and a half years later. Molly, now 29-years-old, has since been promoted to Head Maid at the Regency.
The hotel is eager to redeem its image, hosting “world-famous,” reclusive author, J. D. Grimthorpe. He is intent on making a major public announcement. Standing before a gaggle of press people and adoring fans in the Regency Tea Room, he suddenly drops dead before the big reveal, sending Molly and those in her orbit into mayhem. Could it be that Grimthorpe was murdered? If so, why?
Prose deftly employs a familiar cast of quirky characters plus adds
a few new ones, each with dubious motives. As in the first book, “Gran” and her
wisdom continue to influence Molly’s smart perceptions. Molly’s strong
narrative voice mines experiences from the past that just might hold clues to her
solving this suspensefully well-drawn, second-in-the-series mystery.
The
Mystery Guest: A Maid Novel (Molly the Maid Book Two) by Nita Prose
Ballantine
Books, $29.00 hardcover, 9780593356180, 304 pages
Publishing
Date: November 28, 2023
To order this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.Org, link HERE
NOTE: This review is a reprint and is
being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review as originally published on Shelf
Awareness (December 29, 2023), link HERE