“Endearing… Prose threads a steady needle with the intricate plotting, the locked-room elements of the mystery and especially Molly’s character. The reader comes to understand Molly’s worldview, and to sympathize with her longing to be accepted—a quest that gives The Maid real emotional heft.” — The New York Times, Editors’ Pick

“Excellent and totally entertaining… the most interesting (and endearing) main character in a long time.” — Stephen King

Nita Prose is the author of the international bestseller THE MYSTERY GUEST and THE MAID, which has sold over two million copies worldwide and was published in more than forty countries. A #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestseller and a GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOKCLUB pick, THE MAID won the Ned Kelly Award for International Crime Fiction, the Fingerprint Award for Debut Novel of the Year, the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, and the Barry Award for Best First Mystery. THE MAID was also an Edgar Award finalist for Best Novel. She has a forthcoming novella, The Mistletoe Mystery (October 2024), and another Molly the Maid novel coming soon (April 8, 2025), called The Maid’s Secret.

Nita lives in Toronto, Canada, in a house that is only moderately clean. She has two decades of experience working as an editor in the publishing industry, most recently as vice president and editorial director of Simon & Schuster Canada.

Nita's Featured Titles

The Maid’s Secret: A Maid Novel

Ballantine Books |
Mystery/Thriller

When a daring art heist takes place at the Regency Grand, Molly’s life is threatened. The question is who’s out to get her, and why? Long-buried secrets will be revealed in this intriguing and heartwarming novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid and The Mystery Guest

Molly Gray’s life is about to change in ways she could never have imagined. As the esteemed Head Maid and recently promoted Special Events Manager of the Regency Grand Hotel, good things are just around the corner, including her marriage to her beloved fiancé, Juan Manuel, only two months away.

But Molly’s entire existence is upended when a film crew descends upon the hotel to shoot the hit reality TV show Hidden Treasures, starring popular art appraisers Brown and Beagle. On a whim, Molly brings in a shoebox containing a few of her gran’s old things for appraisal, and much to everyone’s surprise, one item turns out to be a rare and priceless treasure. Instantly, Molly is both a multi-millionaire and a media sensation—the world’s rags-to-riches darling—until the priceless piece vanishes from the hotel in the boldest, brashest antiquities heist in recent memory.

The key to the mystery lies in the past, in a long-forgotten diary written by Molly’s gran. For the first time ever, Molly learns about Gran’s true-to-life fairytale, a young girl to the manor born, the only child of a wealthy magnate. But when Gran falls head over heels in love with a young man her parents deem below her station, her life is thrown into turmoil. As fate would have it, the greatest love of Gran’s life is someone Molly knows quite well….

Together with her friends, Molly combs the past and the present to catch the thief before looming threats against her become real.

A spirited heist caper and an epic love story, The Maid’s Secret is a spellbinding whodunnit that will capture and warm your heart.

The Mistletoe Mystery: A Maid Novella (Molly the Maid)

Ballantine Books |
Mystery/Thriller

Molly the Maid has a whole new mystery to solve in this heartwarming novella from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid and The Mystery Guest.

Molly Gray has always loved the holidays. When Molly was a child, her gran went to great lengths to make the season merry and bright, full of cherished traditions. The first few Christmases without Gran were hard on Molly, but this year, her beloved boyfriend and fellow festive spirit, Juan Manuel, is intent on making the season Molly’s most joyful yet.

But when a Secret Santa gift exchange at the Regency Grand Hotel raises questions about who Molly can and cannot trust, she dives headfirst into solving her most consequential—and personal—mystery yet. Molly has a bad feeling about things, and she starts to wonder: has she yet again mistaken a frog for a prince?

A heartwarming, magical story about the true spirit of the season, The Mistletoe Mystery reminds us that love is the greatest mystery of all.

The Mystery Guest: A Maid Novel (Molly the Maid)

Ballantine Books |
Mystery/Thriller

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: PopSugar, Harper’s Bazaar, Chicago Public Library, CrimeReads, Bookreporter 

“Polished to perfection!”— Shari Lapena, author of Everyone Here Is Lying

“Lives up to the hype . . . both a delightful whodunit and a pointed social commentary.”— The Washington Post

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 tearoom 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 high-profile death 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, as 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 posthaste. Because if there’s one thing she knows for sure, it’s that secrets don’t stay buried forever.

The Maid: A Novel (Molly the Maid)

Ballantine Books |
Mystery/Thriller

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK

IN DEVELOPMENT FOR A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

WINNER: Ned Kelly Award for International Crime Fiction, Fingerprint Award for Debut Novel for the Year, Anthony Award for Best First Novel, Barry Award for Best First Mystery

FINALIST: Edgar Award for Best Novel

ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, The Guardian, Glamour, Elle, PopSugar, Newsweek, Mental Floss, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews

In development as a major motion picture

Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by.

Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life’s complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.

But Molly’s orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what’s happening, Molly’s unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black—but will they be able to find the real killer before it’s too late?

Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit, The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different—and reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, The Guardian, Glamour, Elle, PopSugar, Newsweek, Mental Floss, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews

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Inspiration Is Everywhere!

This talk aims to inspire audiences of all ages to listen deeply to the stories around them and to use them as a springboard for creativity and personal growth. Nita entertains and enlightens, with funny, self-effacing, and sometimes deeply moving true-to-life anecdotes about the creative process. Audience members will learn to recognize their own “lightning bolt moments” of inspiration and will leave this discussion feeling motivated by the transformative possibilities of storytelling.

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The Truth Behind Fiction

Readers are fascinated by the creative process and where writers get their ideas, though few writers are willing to discuss this candidly. What do writers take from reality to create fiction? Are their characters thinly veiled versions of themselves or people they know? This energizing and thought-provoking talk will appeal to an audience of all ages. It’s filled with relatable experiences and amusing anecdotes that explore the greatest creative paradox of all—that fiction is also truth.

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Polishing Your Prose--A Self-Editing Workshop for Aspiring Writers

This interactive workshop is for aspiring writers of all kinds. Beyond being a #1 New York Times bestselling author, Nita worked as an editor in the publishing industry for over twenty years in some of the biggest publishing houses in North America. She knows the industry from both sides–author and editor.

So you’ve finished a first draft (or are getting closer to it). You know you’ve accomplished something, but you also know your manuscript needs work before it’s ready to be seen by agents and publishers. There’s just one problem: what should you do next? The answer: self-edit. But how? Nita will teach you the fundamentals, including: common first-draft problems; how to audit your story structure to isolate problem areas to revisit; what bigger trade publishing editors and agents are looking for when they assess submissions; how to know when you’re meeting genre norms.

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Plot Is Not a Dirty Word—Writing Tools to Help Aspiring Writers with Their Manuscripts

No matter what you write—genre fiction, memoir or literary fiction—understanding the universal components of storytelling and plot can elevate your writing and help you engage a large audience. This workshop will help you develop your plot or your “story plan,” giving you a roadmap to follow while at the same time allowing you the space to discover organically as you draft. This workshop will help writers at the beginning stages of a project, but it’s also for those who have a full draft and aren’t sure what to do next.

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Choose Your Own Adventure—Offer Nita a Topic to Suit Your Audience

Nita is open to working with an events coordinator to address a topic of their choosing or to mix and match any of the topics and approaches above. She’s able to tailor her event to suit the needs of a particular audience, whether that’s a lecture-style event or workshops that allow the audience to participate via questions and interactive exercises.

Praise for Nita

Nita’s Mailing List Link

Nita’s Appearances Link

Honors, Awards & Recognition

#1 New York Times bestselling author
2 million copies of THE MAID have sold worldwide (over 1 million in the U.S alone)
THE MAID was a Good Morning America Book Club pick
THE MAID was a top-ten bestseller in over ten countries, published in over forty
THE MAID won the Ned Kelly Award for International Crime Fiction, the Fingerprint Award for Debut Novel of the Year, the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, and the Barry Award for Best First Mystery
THE MYSTERY GUEST is a #1 international bestseller, a US national bestseller, and top-ten bestseller in Ireland
Nita was named one the 50 most influential Torontonians by Toronto Life magazine, 2021
THE MYSTERY GUEST won the Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery from the Crime Writers of Canada

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.

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