The Mystery Guest
A quick read with a little social commentary
Date read: January 2024
Date published: November 2023
Summary
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. (via Goodreads)
The Good
Typically I put the novels I read into two categories: fast, entertaining reads; and “literature.” That’s not scientific or probably even smart, but that’s how I think about it. I usually end up reading 70% literature and 30% fast / entertaining per year. I had seen “The Maid” talked about a lot, but for some reason jumped straight to this book, the sequel.
This book starts with the murder of a famous mystery writer. Fun! The rest of the book alternates between the present, and the investigation, aided by the main character Molly’s great attention to detail; and the past, where Molly’s grandma worked for this dead writer. The stories intersect and overlap in a way that makes the book fast, entertaining, and somewhat unique for this genre. The author expertly weaves in the advantages of being from the working class—you can blend in, and observe, and maybe solve some mysteries; while still emphasizing the flip side, in that it’s really hard to do shitty jobs to make ends meet.
The Bad
The plot was pretty basic but again it was a good story that kept my attention and wrapped up pretty well in the end.
My Rating
6/10 — Would read more of this author’s work