The Mystery Guest – Book Review

When an acclaimed author dies at the Regency Grand Hotel, it’s up to a fastidious maid to uncover the truth, no matter how dirty—in a standalone novel featuring Molly Gray, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid, a Good Morning America Book Club Pick.

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 know 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…

If you haven’t read the Maid yet, which is the first book of the Molly the maid series, read the first book before reading the next one. Although, you can read this book as a standalone, in my opinion, the Maid was better than the Mystery Guest.

With that ado, let’s begin my review.

Molly is now the Head Maid at the Regency Grand Hotel. The hotel is hosting an event of a very famous author named JM Grimthorpe who wrote dozens of bestselling novels. Molly and the new maid Lily is in charge of tea and food at the event. While the event is going on, Grimthorpe tells the audience that he has a secret that he wanted to share with the audience. But he never got to share with the audience as he falls dead on the stage. When investigated, Grimthorpe died from poisoning. How, he drank tea arranged by Lily, making her the possible suspect.

The story divides between past and present, though told in Molly’s POV. In the past, Molly was a ten year old girl whose grandmother was working at the Grimthorpe mansion at the time. We get snippets of what working with Grimthorpes was like and at the same time Molly getting to know most of the characters. The story was funny in someway but at the same time, this was slightly fast paced and entertaining. Molly is a likable and entertaining character and in the end you will realize how the past events have some sort of connection with the murder of Grimthorpes.

This book wasn’t great as the first but one Molly is as I said a likable character that will make you enjoy the story more. I am not sure if there is going to be a third book in the maid series but this second book in the series was OK. Overall worth 3.5 stars.