Publisher: Harper Collins (Trade Paperback – 29 November 2023)
Series: Molly the Maid – Book Two
Length: 327 pages
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Last year I was lucky enough to receive a copy of The Maid, the debut novel of Nita Prose, which proved to be an excellent read. Following a cleaning obsessed maid with a unique outlook on life who gets accused of a murder at her fancy hotel, The Maid was a fantastic read that made great use of its unique protagonist and her compelling personality. The Maid ended up begin great book and one of my favourite debuts of 2022. As such, I was pretty excited when I received a copy of Prose’s new novel, The Mystery Guest. A sequel to The Maid, The Mystery Guest introduces a new compelling mystery that Prose’s protagonist needs to uncover.
Plot Synopsis:
Molly Gray is not like anyone else. With her flair for cleaning and proper etiquette, she has risen through the ranks of the glorious five-star Regency Grand Hotel to become the esteemed Head Maid. But just as her life reaches a pinnacle state of perfection, her world is turned upside down when J.D. Grimthorpe, the world-renowned mystery author, drops dead—very dead—on the hotel’s tea room floor.
When Detective Stark, Molly’s old foe, investigates the author’s unexpected demise, it becomes clear that this death was murder most foul. Suspects abound, and everyone wants to who killed J.D. Grimthorpe? Was it Lily, the new Maid-in-Training? Or was it Serena, the author’s secretary? Could Mr. Preston, the hotel’s beloved doorman, be hiding something? And is Molly really as innocent as she seems?
As the case threatens the hotel’s pristine reputation, Molly knows she alone holds the key to unlocking the killer’s identity. But that key is buried deep in her past—because long ago, she knew J.D. Grimthorpe. Molly begins to comb her memory for clues, revisiting her childhood and the mysterious Grimthorpe mansion where she and her dearly departed Gran once worked side by side. With the entire hotel under investigation, Molly must solve the mystery post-haste. If there’s one thing Molly knows for sure, it’s that dirty secrets don’t stay buried forever…
This was an interesting and fast-paced follow-up to The Maid that I’m glad I decided to check out. Prose does a wonderful job reintroducing the character of Molly Gray, and the new mystery surrounding her is very clever, distinctive and featuring some fun meta commentary on mystery writers.
Starting off strong with the sudden poisoning of the mystery writer in question, you quickly get sucked into the case, especially when it becomes clear that Molly is hiding a personal connection to the victim. As with the first book in the series, Prose splits the narrative across time periods, with one part of the story set in the present as Molly inadvertently starts to investigate the case, and the other set back in the protagonist’s past, exploring her upbringing and the history she has with the victim. I liked the split between these two parts of the story, and the author does a good job of working key clues and character motivations into the scenes set in the past, which come full circle by the end of the book. I did think that the scenes set in the present were a little too similar in tone and content to that of the first book, with Molly coming into conflict with Detective Stark, Cheryl being an unnecessary cow, and a series of misunderstandings forcing Molly further into the investigation. However, the dives into Molly’s past helped to cut this familiarity to an acceptable degree, and I really enjoyed learning more about the protagonist’s past.
Both these story arcs blend well into a complete and intriguing narrative and I had a fantastic time seeing the entire story coming together. The mystery itself was quite strong, and I liked the unique motivations and characters that emerged as a result. The way the crime was solved thanks to Molly’s attention to detail and knowledge of the maidly arts was a little over the top, but I can forgive that considering the plot and the characters involved. Prose also works in some subtle but compelling character arcs that see several existing and new supporting figures go in some interesting directions, and I particularly enjoyed the changing attitudes of Detective Stark after how portrayal in the previous novel. An overall clever and strong murder mystery book, I really enjoyed seeing how this all came together.
I main highlight of The Mystery Guest is protagonist Molly Gray, who is one of the more unique and entertaining crime fiction characters you are likely to see. An obsessive, socially awkward woman with a unique outlook on life and human interactions, Molly has found her calling as a maid, especially as it allows her to clean up other people’s messes. Much of The Mystery Guest’s uniqueness comes from the way that Molly observes her world and interacts with the people in it. Her ability to remember small details is matched by her inability to understand people’s emotions and motivations, which can often get her into trouble. I felt that Prose did a good job of expanding on Molly’s personality in The Mystery Guest, and it was great to see become more assertive and capable, especially after receiving her coveted promotion to Head Maid. At the same time, Prose also dives into Molly’s childhood, which, while it is a little convenient that she had connections with the victim, provides more insights into Molly’s personality and some of the events that formed her. I deeply enjoyed how Prose worked to grow Molly as a person in this sequel while also maintaining her atypical outlook and mentality, and it will be interesting to see how this character is developed in the future. I do worry that Prose is going to get diminishing returns on how much one can enjoy Molly’s character as the series continues, but I’ll be happy to be proven wrong about that.
Overall, The Mystery Guest proves be an intriguing and captivating sequel to The Maid and I enjoyed the new mystery that Nita Prose came up with. Making great use of her main character and presenting a complex, domestic murder, The Mystery Guest was a fantastic read that you can make quick work of.
The Unseen Library 