Point of View

Nita Prose presents The Mystery Guest through the point of view of Molly Gray, the novel's first-person narrator and protagonist. By examining events through Molly's eyes, Prose invites the reader to solve the mystery of who murdered J. D. Grimthorpe alongside Molly. However, Prose also drops plenty of clues that Molly misses, consequently encouraging the reader to solve the case before Molly reaches her ultimate conclusion. Throughout the book, Molly comments on her lifelong tendency to notice details many people would disregard while she simultaneously cannot grasp basic concepts. This lack of familiarity with social norms turns Molly into an unreliable point of view character. Prose plays with this unreliability by showing characters behaving toward Molly with subtly Molly does not pick up on. For example, Mr. Preston repeatedly tries to arrange a private meeting with Molly, but Molly fails to discern from his body...