Molly Gray is back, still at the Regency Grand, but now the Head Maid, a matter of great pride. As the hotel worked to shine up its reputation after the murder of a guest (See, The Maid), management decided to bring back its once glorious tearoom. Silver tea services and porcelain cups grace the tables at the tearoom’s early grand opening. The date was moved up to accommodate the reclusive, mercurial and highly successful mystery writer J.D. Grimthorpe. He is planning to make a major announcement. Molly is in charge of the event. She is training Lily, an extremely introverted and quiet young woman, to be a maid whose standards rise to Molly’s. Lily is tasked with serving Grimthorpe his tea. He sweetens it with plenty of honey steps up and begins his speech and … drops dead.
Molly is notably bright, well read, has a vocabulary that rivals anyone’s, is so detail oriented that she notices things no one else notices and cleans dirt no one else has seen. She is not so good at reading people’s social cues or using a filter when speaking to them. She has a heart of gold, and truly perceptive people have taken her under their wings. Her Gran died before we first met Molly, but she is still with her boyfriend, hotel chef Juan Manuel. He’s in Mexico visiting family. Molly’s friends at the hotel love and protect her from those who do not appreciate or “get” her. But when the police are called, Detective Stark — not a Molly fan– is the one who arrives at the scene. She wants Molly to stay in her lane and Molly tries, but her buddy Angela the bartender is a true crime buff who’s dying to get Molly involved. Bouncing around the background and often the foreground are the LAMBS, The Ladies Auxiliary Mystery Book Society, who are fervent Grimthorpe fans.
As Molly is surrounded constantly by all the chatter about Grimthorpe’s death, she finds herself thinking a lot about her past, when despite her good grades, the principal wants to retain her for a year due to her poor social skills. Gran takes Molly to work after the meeting. Gran is a maid for a temperamental man and his demanding wife: The Grimthorpes. Woven throughout “The Mystery Guest” is a story about a precocious child who spent time with the dead man. Was he murdered? Many people had a motive to kill the jerk. If murdered, will Molly be accused? She decides not to mention her connection to the departed to anyone. Is her poor trainee going to be blamed? Grimthorpe’s personal secretary? Perhaps one of the many attendees?
Nita Prose makes us like Molly a lot, putting us in her head as the narrator once again and placing her in her element, the hotel and the apartment she loves. The characters are fun, not terribly deep but neither are these novels. Yet they have so much heart I want more, more, more. Molly gets through hardships or tasks ahead with a variety of little sayings she learned from her Gran. One of my favorites: “To err once is human; to err twice is idiotic.” Gran was the rare, unconditionally loving and incredibly positive person we all could use in our lives. She lives on through Molly. The mystery is plotted well enough and the story is sweet. Very, very enjoyable. Highly recommend.
They Called me Bookworm 