The Maid’s Secret - Nita Prose - ★★★

AUTHOR: Nita Prose

SERIES: Molly the Maid, #3

GENRE: Mystery

PUBLICATION DATE: April 10, 2025

RATING: 3 stars.

In a Nutshell: The grand finale of the ‘Molly the Maid’ series, and sadly, the weakest book of the set, even counting that disappointing novella. Molly’s story is interesting, but her Gran’s story, which gets greater focus, is too typical. The mystery is also quite lacklustre. Recommended only to staunch Molly fans. Not to be read as a standalone.

Note: This review might contain minor spoilers from the earlier books of the series.

Plot Preview:

Still working at the Regency Grand as the Head Maid and also the Special Events Manager, Molly is looking forward to her nuptials with Juan Manuel. When a TV crew comes to the hotel to shoot the hit reality TV show ‘Hidden Treasures’, starring art appraisers Brown and Beagle evaluating ordinary belongings in hopes of finding a priceless treasure, Molly never expects that her life would change overnight after one of her Gran’s heirlooms turns out to be a rare artefact. But with great fame comes great peril, and Molly’s heirloom soon vanishes. The clue might lie in Gran’s old diary, through which Molly finally learns of her Gran’s past.

The story comes to us in the usual first-person perspective of Molly, and also in Gran’s first-person POV through her diary entries.

I was a huge fan of the first Molly book, ‘The Maid’, falling instantly in love with the quirky titular character. The second book, ‘The Mystery Guest’, was also very good, even if the mystery itself wasn’t satisfying. The third entry of the series, a Christmas novella titled ‘The Mistletoe Mystery’, was a mixed bag, as it failed to do justice to Molly. I was hoping that this fourth book, which is known to be the last of the series, would end on a high note. Sadly, it wasn’t to be.

By now, I have learnt not to read this series as a mystery, even though every book contains some or the other enigma. The novels work far better as character-oriented dramas than as crime stories. But even with this altered expectation, this final book fails to impress beyond a level.

Unlike in the first two novels, there’s no murder or death in this book. The suspense is connected to a theft. It is not so difficult to narrow down the possible suspects, and the reveal is also not that impressive. So it would be better not to expect any mystery from this novel. Rather, read it for Molly and Flora (Molly’s Gran.)

A great chunk of the book comes from Flora’s perspective. In fact, the titular ‘maid’ character this time isn't Molly but Flora. At first, I was thrilled to be finally able to learn Flora’s backstory. These chapters started off quite well, with the content written exactly how a diary would be penned, with personal notes, observations, recollections, and confessions. However, after a point, the diary lost its identity and felt more like a typical novel full of back-and-forth conversations and scene-by-scene detailing. This is one of my pet peeves in fiction: a diary not written as a diary. Once the “diary” feel disappeared from Flora’s POV, the appeal of her confession was lost. Moreover, the content of this tell-all was mostly straightforward (with only one major surprise), feeling like a historical romantic drama. It might work for those who enjoy women’s fiction, but I didn’t expect this kind of storyline while reading a Molly the Maid book.

Further, because of the earlier books in the series, we are aware of Flora’s end, her doomed relationship with Mr. Preston, and her failed connection with her estranged daughter Margaret. As such, the backstory doesn’t hold much suspense. We already know the destination; we just have to wait to see how Flora reached that destination, which isn’t that tricky to guess.

More disappointing to me is the fact that Flora’s younger personality isn’t exactly in continuation with what we’ve learnt about her so far. Some of her reveals are disappointing, even though I accept that her youthful mistakes probably helped in making her the beloved Gran whose wise aphorisms made the first Molly book extra-special.

As about half of the book comes from Flora’s perspective, Molly’s POV doesn’t get as much focus as in the previous books. What little we get of Molly still matches her established persona, and I was delighted to see her settled in her profession, comfortable with Juan Manuel, and looking forward to the next phase of her life. While I would have loved reading more about Molly, I still enjoyed the little glimpses I saw of her life. I am glad her story comes to a satisfactory finish.

One of the things I most appreciated about Molly’s arc is how she read Flora’s entire diary in one go, unlike in most other novels where characters read a page or a chapter at a time when they find a secret/long-lost diary. A binge-reading session is so much more realistic and believable!

Molly’s first-person is still filled with her “Molly-isms”, her Gran’s morals, and her formal vocabulary. But she has also incorporated some of Juan Manuel’s modern lingo into her speech. So it is quite funny to see that her linguistic struggles still persist, thanks to new hotel recruit Speedy, whose utterances are limited to GenZ phrases.

Speedy is the best of the new characters in the book. There are a few other new characters, thanks to the TV crew and Flora’s confessions. But as this is the final book of the series, I enjoyed seeing the old favourites – especially Angela who finally gets her due – making their presence felt even in their limited appearance.

All in all, I loved Molly’s arc, had mixed feelings about the “mystery” in the contemporary timeline (decently intriguing but poor resolution) and was somewhat bored by Flora’s arc. I don’t regret reading this book, but I do wish the overall novel had lived up to the standards set by the first two Molly books and that it had much more of Molly and at least a little more (and better) mystery.

Recommended only to those who have read the earlier novels, and want to know Flora’s life story and to see Molly settled. This book wouldn’t be effective as a standalone.

3 stars. (Mostly for Molly’s story.)

My thanks to HarperCollins UK and HarperFiction for providing the DRC of “The Maid's Secret” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.