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The Mystery Guest by Nina Prose review: An easy mystery to figure out

By Alexandria Ingham

LISBON, PORTUGAL - OCTOBER 28: Maids make the bed ibefore guests' arrival in one of the thematic rooms at Madam's Lodge in Pensao Amor hotel on October 28, 2023, in Lisbon, Portugal. The "Alojamento local" (local lodging) features life stories of 22 prostitutes spread over five different types of rooms, full of documents and objects. After a thorough restoration, completed in 2023, Pensão Amor has reopened its doors to a journey through time: Madam's Lodge. This is a unique experience inviting to inhabit the rooms of the harlots and discover the never-before-revealed secrets of this former Cais do Sodre brothel. Unusual personal objects, surprising documents from the day-to-day running of the business, mysterious messages and many surprises reveal the life of this old brothel in the 1960s, a time when prostitutes, known in Portugal as "matriculadas", could legally practice their trade. Dictator Salazar put an end to legal sex work in 1963. Madam's Lodge thus marks the 60th anniversary of the ban on prostitution in Portugal and pays tribute to the life stories of these women. Tourism revenues in Portugal were 3,092 million euros in August 2023, as it remains one of the most popular countries to visit in Europe. Turismo de Portugal expects revenues of 23 billion euros in 2023, representing a 9 percent increase over 2022. Having set a new record in revenue, Portugal’s tourism industry is back on track after COVID pandemic and geared up to reach new heights. (Photo by Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
LISBON, PORTUGAL - OCTOBER 28: Maids make the bed ibefore guests' arrival in one of the thematic rooms at Madam's Lodge in Pensao Amor hotel on October 28, 2023, in Lisbon, Portugal. The "Alojamento local" (local lodging) features life stories of 22 prostitutes spread over five different types of rooms, full of documents and objects. After a thorough restoration, completed in 2023, Pensão Amor has reopened its doors to a journey through time: Madam's Lodge. This is a unique experience inviting to inhabit the rooms of the harlots and discover the never-before-revealed secrets of this former Cais do Sodre brothel. Unusual personal objects, surprising documents from the day-to-day running of the business, mysterious messages and many surprises reveal the life of this old brothel in the 1960s, a time when prostitutes, known in Portugal as "matriculadas", could legally practice their trade. Dictator Salazar put an end to legal sex work in 1963. Madam's Lodge thus marks the 60th anniversary of the ban on prostitution in Portugal and pays tribute to the life stories of these women. Tourism revenues in Portugal were 3,092 million euros in August 2023, as it remains one of the most popular countries to visit in Europe. Turismo de Portugal expects revenues of 23 billion euros in 2023, representing a 9 percent increase over 2022. Having set a new record in revenue, Portugal’s tourism industry is back on track after COVID pandemic and geared up to reach new heights. (Photo by Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images) /
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If you loved The Maid, you’ll be happy to hear there’s a sequel. Here’s our The Mystery Guest by Nina Prose review to see if it’s worth buying.

Disclaimer: I got an advanced copy of The Mystery Guest by Nina Prose via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Cozy mysteries are great as the sun sets earlier and the cold weather rolls in. That’s why The Mystery Guest by Nina Prose being released this week is great. It makes for an excellent gift for mystery fans, and it’s just fun for you to buy for yourself. That’s especially if you loved Prose’s first novel in the series, The Maid.

It’s a quick and easy read. My one complaint is just how easy the mystery is to solve. Let’s dive into whether this book is worth reading.

What is The Mystery Guest by Nina Prose about?

The novel follows Molly Gray, who is now Head Maid at the Regency Hotel. She is much more secure in her life right now, and she takes pride in being Head Maid and ensuring those under her are treated fairly and with compassion.

J.D. Grimthorpe is an important guest at the hotel. He’s there to deliver a speech and make an announcement, but before he can, he is killed. It turns out his tea was poisoned, and of course, that leads to suspicion on the hotel staff.

Molly needs to get to the bottom of the mystery. It turns out she has a bit more of a personal connection to the author. We get flashbacks of her life as a child with her gran, and it leads to us finding out that she knew the renowned author when she was younger. It seems he doesn’t remember her. Or does he?

Is The Mystery Guest worth buying?

So, let’s look at whether you want to get this book. If you loved the first book, The Maid, then you’ll want to get The Mystery Guest by Nina Prose. It continues Molly’s growth. And yes, Detective Stark is back and is on a mission to prove that Molly did it once again. This does annoy me a little, though. It’s such a cliche storyline.

The flashbacks do help to advance Molly’s character. We get to see why she does the things that she does, and we get to understand her connection to Grimpthorpe and Mr. Porter. I wish that Juan Manuel was around in the book, but I do like that the personal connections that we do have further the overall story and not just Molly’s character development.

My biggest complaint is just how easy the mystery is to solve. I’m not going to spoil the ending, but my first suspicion turned out to be the right one. It was just too easy to figure out. I prefer mysteries to have a twist at the end, but that is a personal choice in the matter.

The only other thing I didn’t really enjoy was that there was a lot of reminders of things we already knew. Molly keeps repeating the same things that her gran told her. If you haven’t read the first book, the repeats won’t be as big, but they are still there. I do appreciate that you don’t need to know the first novel to fully appreciate this one. However, it’s worth reading them in order.

Stars: 3.5 out of 5.

Is All the Light We Cannot See based on a book?. dark. Next

Get The Mystery Guest by Nina Prose on Tuesday, Nov. 28.

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