Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.
The Mystery Guest is the second Maid novel by Nita Prose. Released 28th Nov 2023 by Penguin Random House on their Ballantine imprint, it's 304 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
This is a very well written and engagingly intelligent cozy mystery with an appealing and proper protagonist. This book delves more deeply into head maid Molly's past with her grandmother, and sees her helping the local official constabulary on yet another murder (this time with much less friction).
The descriptions and settings; the hotel, the characters and their interactions are again well rendered and believable. There were some instances of overly intrusive internal dialogue from Molly's back-story with her grandmother, but they were relatively fleeting.
This book follows heavily on the setup and protagonist from book one, and as such, it doesn't work as well as a standalone; the books should be read in order.
Four stars. It would be a good choice for public library acquisition, or for fans of other cerebral classic mysteries such as Richard Osman and Anthony Horowitz. With two volumes extant and a third (novella) due out in 4th quarter 2024, it would also make an excellent mini-binge or buddy read.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Reviewed by annieb123 on
Reading updates
- 1 July, 2024: Started reading
- 1 July, 2024: Finished reading
- 1 July, 2024: Reviewed