The Maid

I was hooked from the start with the quirky but wildly entertaining and loveable Molly Gray. Her role as a maid at the hotel satisfies her need for “order,” a sentiment I can appreciate. I laughed out loud as Molly navigated the hotel corridors with co-workers and guests.

Then, when an inconvenient dead body upended her world, I felt her struggle as she was misunderstood and assumed guilty of the crime. I devoured this heartwarming tale of perseverance in one sitting and highly recommend an afternoon spent with The Maid.

The Maid is a complex locked-room-type mystery told in a way that is accessible and enjoyable.

Nita Prose’s writing style swept me up, and the audiobook narrator (Lauren Ambrose) delivered the story perfectly. Each character was well-developed, and their roles were all clear.

Molly the Maid is clearly neurodivergent and the protagonist I didn’t know I needed until now. Her no-nonsense way of navigating life spoke to my Type-A personality heart!

Told from the POV of a hotel maid on the spectrum, this book serves as a reminder that no one should be invisible, and that we are all equally important, no matter our station in life.

The narration by Lauren Ambrose was spot-on as she captured the essence of Molly, a young woman raised by her recently deceased grandmother, and the people, good and bad, who impact her life. It made me laugh, cry, and get mad in equal measure, but mostly it kept me up at night.

This was such a fun book! The main character, Molly, is such an appealing and genuine character.

This isn’t a book that I would have normally picked to read, but I am very glad to have been introduced to it for a book club. It was a fun mystery about a neurodivergent maid at a posh hotel who’s taken unawares by unsavory people. It’s amazing how the author really gets inside Molly’s head and keeps the reader intrigued and constantly wanting to read more.

Even scenes where we see Molly cleaning and doing her best to be the perfect maid,… show more.

This was a real outlier for me. I seldom read bestsellers, and I almost never read mysteries, but for some reason The Maid intrigued me and I picked it up at the library.

Though novels often disappoint me (when it comes to books, I’m very picky!) this one certainly did not. I read it, maybe not in a single sitting, but in the course of a single day.

It was very well written and cleverly plotted, but what really made it shine was the protagonist, Molly. Because she’s socially awkward, she misreads people’s actions and what they say, which makes… show more.

I love books where female protagonists are longing for something, and in this case it’s acceptance—so relatable! The character in this story has to make a split-second decision (also one of my favorite tropes), and then deal with the consequences. On top of that, it was super fun to get a peek into the hospitality industry. Haven’t we always wondered who cleans our rooms at hotels? It’s a classic whodunnit but in a fresh, new way. 

I loved the quirky protagonist; that she was the maid in the hotel where the crime occurs gives her a unique take and the book a very different structure to the usual cop-driven stories. Her character shows how hard it is for neurodiverse people, and gives a sympathetic insider point of view. It won the Ned Kelly International crime book.

The Maid is a wonderful, whimsical book about Molly, a maid in a posh hotel who finds a body. Molly is on the spectrum and is treated unfairly by her colleagues, with a few notable exceptions. A natural truster, she takes things—and people—at face value. Molly is so lovable! Endowed with quirks such as calling the family nest-egg money “the Faberge”, she is charming and we can’t help but root for her. One of her strengths is that, despite all that happens, she never loses her faith in human nature.

Here's a thought from Molly, and I think this applies… show more.

The Maid offers a fresh amateur sleuth with a unique outlook on life. Molly Gray loves and excels at her job as a hotel maid in a grand, upscale hotel. She struggles, however, with social cues and interpersonal relationships. When Molly finds a dead body in the penthouse suite, her awkward personality lands her at the top of the suspect list. To clear her name, she has to rely on a delightful cast of true friends she never knew she had. At times, I grew frustrated with Molly and her naivete, but I always appreciated her honest, refreshing worldview and… show more.

The Maid has all the building blocks of a classic “locked room” mystery: a closed setting (a grand hotel), a small group of suspects, and a tense atmosphere. It is also, however, lighthearted and quirky with a unique protagonist (Molly the maid), who sees the world very differently from everyone else. While The Maid fits neatly into the “cosy mystery” sub-genre, I believe it will appeal to a broad spectrum of crime lovers.