Review: The Mystery Guest

The Maid was one of my favourite books in 2022. Nita Prose wrote an entertaining mystery novel that delighted me, because of both the story and unique heroine she created. I was, therefore, really excited to read The Mystery Guest to see what Molly was up to next. It was a fine novel but really only that - fine. I was never super eager to pick it up and that left me disappointed. Were my expectations too high? Oh, very likely. The mystery had enough of a twist to keep me interested enough but it wasn’t as amazing as I expected.

Here’s the book’s description:

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...

I wonder if part of my issue was that Molly was an entertaining and lovely enough character for one book but I don’t know if her quirky personality was something I really needed to read about for another book. And I just didn’t know that until reading the second book. And I use the word quirky intentionally. Many of us speculated - perhaps wrongly - when The Maid was released about whether or not Molly was on the spectrum. Naturally reading a neurodivergent character doesn’t matter to most of us, but I think what was bothersome, to me anyway, was that we seemed to be jumping to conclusions. And we probably shouldn’t have been.

One weird thing that nagged at me was that at the end of The Maid (this isn’t a major spoiler but look away if you hate all spoilers of all kinds), Molly ends up with a boyfriend. (This is not the weird thing! Yay finding happiness in a romantic relationship!) But Prose had him visiting family for the entirety of the second novel. What was the point of having Molly date someone if he wasn’t going to be present in the story? It shouldn’t have mattered but for some reason it really did.

This story flashes back and forth from present day back to when Molly was a young girl and going to work with her grandmother, who had also been a maid, at a fancy house. While this backstory did have an impact on the present day story, I felt it took a little too much time to get to the point. It just seemed, to start, that Prose was making sure we knew how hard Molly’s time at school was (it was brutal and left me feeling uncomfortable and really sad for young Molly). But so what? We already could have assumed that. But eventually I could see what Prose was setting up and I was kept guessing right until the very end.

The mystery, which did keep me guessing, wasn’t the most intricate. I was still entertained and a little surprised by the ending so I consider that a win when it comes to mysteries. (The reveal at the end about the connection between Molly and another character, though? That was not at all a surprise.) With the main mystery, I did like that just when I thought I had it figured out, there was another little nugget thrown in.

All in all, The Mystery Guest wasn’t a winner for me but Nita Prose’s latest novel was still a good enough read. My expectations were probably a little too high, since I loved The Maid SO much and that impacted my enjoyment. I still think it’s worth a read if you really liked The Maid but just maybe keep your own expectations a little lower than mine were. I hope others like it more than I did!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Penguin Random House Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: The Maid

I love when a book meets my high expectations. I had been looking forward to Nita Prose’s debut novel since the second it was announced. She’s an amazing editor and I was excited to see how she fared as an author. Fast forward several months and I finally had a copy of The Maid in my hands. I chose it as my first read of 2022 and, friends, it set the bar really high for all the books after it. I enjoyed it immensely!

Here’s the book’s description:

Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by.
Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life’s complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.
But Molly’s orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what’s happening, Molly’s unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black—but will they be able to find the real killer before it’s too late?

The mystery in this one kept me guessing the entire way through. The twists Prose weaves into the story were so good and I was constantly surprised and delighted. As delighted as one can be when reading a murder mystery, of course. This wasn’t a gruesome murder mystery – it was…well I hesitate to call it fun. I’ve seen it referred to as a Clue-like story and it kind of is (though not as madcap as the movie). It’s a well written puzzle. It just so happens that at the heart of the puzzle is a very dead man.

Molly was a gem of a main character. She struggles socially and it’s led a lot of my book blogging/bookstagram friends to talk about whether or not she’s on the Autism spectrum. It’s never explicitly stated and I wonder about that. Is it because she’s not and is just an awkward young woman? Or is it because Prose is not on the spectrum herself and she and her editors wanted to avoid any “own voices” debates? Is it that Molly was never tested and has no idea? Or is it just because labels shouldn’t matter? I think I was contemplating this more than necessary because Molly and her perception of the world played such a large part in how the crime was discovered and solved. Those who have read this one – I’d love to know your thoughts!

One of the things I liked about this mystery was that it didn’t descend into ridiculous amateur sleuth territory. Molly wasn’t going rogue and trying to solve the murder on her own (though there were some questionable decisions). She works with her lawyer and her friends to figure out the truth because the police weren’t listening to her. The lead detective clearly didn’t understand how to work with Molly and she was exasperated and didn’t try to understand how best to get to know how Molly’s brain worked. The comeuppance that the detective got was, perhaps, a bit heavy handed but it was a nice reminder to everyone to take a second to figure out why communication may be failing with someone and not assume that everyone’s brains work the same way.

The Maid was just the kind of mystery I have realized I love reading and I’m so thrilled with Nita Prose’s debut novel. The book has already been optioned for a movie and I’m really looking forward to seeing it on screen. I think it’ll be so enjoyable. I can’t wait to read what Prose writes next!

*A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher, Penguin Random House Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*