The Maid is a well written mystery. The story follows Molly the maid as she navigates life on her own without her grandmother. In addition to the lessons her grandmother has taught her, Molly learns some lessons of her own, as she finds herself in the cross hairs of a dangerous situation. What makes the main character so unique is how she views the world and how literal she perceives everything. While the novel has you tying to figure out what will happen next, it also makes you root for Molly and hope she comes out on top. I would recommend to anyone who loves a good mystery and wants to try something new.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

As I've worked in a hotel and I love murder mysteries I went in very excited about this one. In the end, I came out lukewarm. I liked it, but I didn't love it. Initially, I started off with a physical copy and then restarted with the audiobook and which kept me much more engaged.

I liked the plot and I grew to like Molly and the way she presented her view of the story. By her black/white and right/wrong view of the world, I think the reader is to infer that Molly is neuroatypical. I actually liked that there was no clinical/medical explaining away her worldview. In that way, she was always just Molly. And while I liked the ending/reveal, I found it a little grey for Molly's way of thinking. Was this to demonstrate growth? I'm not sure. I liked how the ending fit with the story and plot, but not necessarily how it fit with Molly. If this were to become a series would I continue it? Probably.

The thing I liked most about The Maid, was all of the Columbo references. I love shows like Murder She Wrote and Murdoch Mysteries that focus on deductions instead of forensics.

Molly has to be one of my favourite protagonists ever. She is smart, witty, and an all-around joy - I spent the majority of the book wishing I could be her best friend. And the book was so fun! Gran's little anecdotes which Molly shares throughout the book were so heartwarming - I thoroughly enjoyed being inside Molly's brain as she tried to make sense of what was going on through the turbulence that is her life. I honestly can't say I expected this book to be as cute and funny as it was. I did go in expecting a thriller vibe, but was happy with the story we got instead. The book was a treat from start to finish, and I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for an eccentric heroine to root for - you will definitely find that in Molly the Maid.

I really wanted to like this book, after seeing all the hype and publicity it received pre-publication. But, I walked away from it feeling disappointed.

Nita Prose has an evident skill with the written word. She has created characters that were believable, and had me wanting to get to know them more (loved the grandmother!!). But Prose lost me with some problematic depictions... why does the neuro-divergent character come across as childlike in one section, and very perceptive in another? Why are the Hispanic characters automatically portrayed as drug dealers, coming from poor families?

A fun read, and I fully understand all the love that it saw. But I just couldn't get past the unsettled feeling it left me with.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for providing me with a complimentary eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Maid by Nita Prose is one of the best books I have read this year, Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an eArc to review. Molly is a quirky, friendly character who takes life very literally. She misses some social ques and relies on her Grandmother to help her navigate life. She get involved in the middle of an investigation at work as a maid and has to find her way out of the tricky situation. This book makes you laugh and cry and you take this journey with Molly. 5 star read!

**Disclaimer: I received a free advance readers copy of The Maid by Nita Prose through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this opportunity.

The Maid by Nita Prose is an adult mystery novel about a woman named Molly who works in a fancy hotel as a maid.  She finds a dead body in a room she cleans and ends up getting caught up as a suspect in the case.  It was published on January 4th, 2022.  I rated it 4 stars on Goodreads.


Here's the summary from Goodreads:

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?
A 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.

I have to admit that it took me a very long time to finish this book.  I started it as an eARC, but found myself blocked when it came to wanting to pick it up again, and so I ended up restarting it as an audiobook.  This was the ideal way for me to read it because I was able to listen while doing other things, and there are just some books that I have to listen to rather than read with my eyes.  I have a hard time explaining it.

I found the character of Molly really interesting.  She has a unique perspective on the world, and I found it really interesting to see how she saw things and how she interpreted interactions with people.  In your position as a reader, you can see where things are not so great for Molly and how she has found herself in some bad situations with people who have bad intentions.  She grew a lot over the course of the story, and I was proud of how things worked out for her.  I wanted things to work out for Molly, and felt for her as people took advantage of her and didn't understand her.

The story was interesting as well.  I liked the basic plot and how she got caught up in the mystery and played a hand in trying to fix her own situation.  It was twisty and kept me guessing.  There were many layers, and I found myself surprised as details came to light.

The story was well written, and Molly's voice came through loud and clear.  If you were at all intrigued by the premise of the book, I highly recommend that you check out this novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an ARC of THE MAID by Nita Prose!

Molly Gray is a maid, working at a prestigious hotel when one day, she finds the wealthy Charles Gray, dead in his hotel suite. Molly - who is neurodivergent - inadvertantly becomes a suspect in the investigation and must prove herself innocent.

I found this to be compulsively readable and reminded me so much of ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE. I couldn't put the book down while reading, and it took some turns and twists I wasn't anticipating! I also appreciated the care that others around her showed.

4 stars out of 5 stars.

Admittedly, I was a bit surprised by this read - I saw a lot of marketing (when it first came out, now it has been rectified to say it is a mystery) and people saying this was a thriller. To me, this is clearly more in the cozy mystery range. My favourite aspects of this book are definitely the relationship between Molly and her grandmother and the found family aspect - I certainly did not expect to get such warm and fuzzy feelings from this book. I also love the idea of a whodunnit with the maid involved. That being said, I have conflicted feelings about how people reacted to Molly and her “quirks”, which to me are clearly neurodivergence, and also, with how Juan was portrayed. I also wish that Molly’s character was more consistent - sometimes she is very very naive and other times she is super brilliant - and that the rest of the characters weren’t so one dimensional. I’m also unfortunately a bit ‘ehhh’ about the ending…

CW: Murder, bullying, terminal illness, suicide, grief, domestic abuse, physical abuse, ableism, gaslighting.

A huge thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and Netgalley for the Arc. All opinions are my own.

Not what I was expecting at all Molly Maid.

This is such a great mystery book. Oh I loved everything about it- I was not expecting the outcome which is great for mystery novels- makes them totally worth your while to read the this way.

I also totally loved Molly Maid- I loved her awkwardness, I loved how blunt she was and how persistent she was in finding the truth. She broker her own barriers and showed how strong she was. She was such a strong and interesting character.

Highly recommend you pick this one up.

ARC received in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for this review.

Wow, this book is a bit of a problematic fave for me, hence just the three stars.
So, Molly Grey lives a quiet and extremely frugal life. Having been raised by her grandmother, she learned to be prompt, tidy, and respectful in her duties, which makes her an ideal maid for the Grand Regency Hotel. She treats the visitors with the utmost respect and discretion, as she had been taught by her grandmother, and rarely tries to be noticed. So, when she stumbled upon the body of Mr. Black in one of the suites during her rounds, Molly is thrust into a fast-paced whodunit murder-mystery with an interesting cast of characters.

What I liked: Nita Prose definitely has a way with a story. I'm not really one who will reach for a whodunit type of novel over a fantasy one, but if Nita keeps pumping out clever, twisty stories like this, then I may have to change that tune. I loved her descriptions and the plot twists were like "oh cool!" for me.

What I didn't like: Molly's "quirks", depictions of the immigrant workers, and Juan Manuel's character. This is where it being problematic comes in. Molly is portrayed as a being neurodiverse, but I'm not too sure if Prose had a sensitivity reader go over it a bit for consistency. It also rubbed me the wrong way that the neurodiverse person is being conveniently framed for murder because she's often awkward and "doesn't know how people work". As someone who is often awkward and a bit ND myself, this was a bit off-putting and I truly think a sensitivity reader would have helped immensely with this. I've read that the author hasn't confirmed whether on not Molly is indeed on the spectrum, but she definitely reads that way and I'm not too fond of it. Portraying the other as the scapegoat tropes kinda died with the late 90's.

Immigrant Workers and Juan Manuel. Okay, so the immigrant workers are extremely flat characters whom Molly gets along well with, but there really isn't anything to them. The main characters are all white, which isn't a problem, but they were at least given complex personalities, while the immigrant maids, who Molly spends more of her time working and interacting with felt like stock trope characters, which was again, not cool. Same goes for Juan Manuel. No spoilers, but if you're trope savvy, you can kinda tell that something tropish is going to happen with a Spanish-speaking undocumented worker. I remember feeling my eyes rolling at this plot point, which definitely knocked a star off for me.

So, should you read it? Eh, depends. I mean it's an interesting whodunit with a nice twist and a big of a poignant ending and I'm a sucker for poignant endings, but the depictions of neurodiversity, immigrant and undocumented workers push some really bad tropes for me.

2.5 stars rounded to a 3.

This book was a joy to read from beginning to end. The way that it was written made you feel like Molly was sitting across from you and telling you her story over a cup of tea.

The characters were written with such depth and feeling, that had you rooting for them throughout the whole book. And the mystery was brilliantly paced and plotted out.

I love how Molly's voice was written in this story. She was so compelling and genuine that I wanted to defend her and cheer her on all at the same time.

"The Maid" is quirky and uplifting. I really enjoyed reading about Molly Gray, because she was such a great, lovable character. This mystery kept me guessing right until the end.

I loved every second of this book. Molly gray is not like everyone else, she is different. That’s what makes her so likeable. I will read anything Nita prose writes in the future.

I did not love this book unfortunately. While I found the mystery of who killed Charles Black reasonably engaging, I never felt like I connected with the protagonist Molly Grey or the rest of the characters. Like other readers, I found the Molly character to be frustratingly inconsistent at times - sometimes she was very perceptive, while other times she acted like a child. Perhaps if the author had been more clear about what her neuro-divergence was, it would help explain her behaviour.

I have read both The Rosie Project and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and liked Molly more than Don Tillman, but less than Eleanor Oliphant. I enjoyed Molly's true friendships (Juan Manuel, Mr. Preston, Charlotte, and even Giselle), but found the good characters VERY GOOD and the bad characters VERY BAD. In addition to the black and white characterization, I thought the author veered into murky stereotyping, particularly with Juan Manuel, who came across as naïve, uneducated, and simple-minded. The author hinted at a further familial relationship between Mr. Preston and Molly that potentially could have been explored further.

The two biggest issues I had with the book came at the end: Why was Charlotte questioning Molly during the trial? She wasn't the prosecutor or the defense attorney, so this didn't make sense to me; additionally, Molly knowing that the person on trial for killing Mr. Black didn't actually do it seems completely out of moral character.

I enjoyed this book with the caveat that, while it is implied that Molly is neurodivergent and not explicitly stated, I wondered what neurodivergent readers thought of the portrayal.

I love a good murder mystery, and this one intrigued me most because of the neurodivergent main character. At times I was so frustrated seeing Molly manipulated and taken advantage of, but I think this added to the development of the character and explained the situation to the reader.

Unfortunately, I was not overly surprised by the reveal, I thought it was a little strange and tried to be original but didn’t quite hit the mark. It was a quick enough read that I enjoyed it, but it was nothing that blew me away or left a memorable impression.

The Maid has a unique voice for mystery lovers. I have had great success handselling this title, based on having early access to read and promote. Still selling strong! Thank you

This book was an absolute pleasure to read. Anything by Nita Prose is actually. I highly recommend this book.

I loved it! A great mix of true crime, character development, and a sweet underlying story of finding friends that become family. I loved the inside view of watching the main character try and navigate life on her own, and work so hard to process the feelings and emotions around her. Captivating story!

Everyone seemed to love this book but it was just not for me. This book is from the point of view of the main character Molly Gray, who is most likely on the spectrum. She misses social cues and does not really communicate that well with others. Because of this she gets caught up in a scandal. I received an ARC of this book from @netgalley , so I think that’s why I kept being taken out of my reading bubble, because I swear that this was supposed to take place in London but they kept referring to American things such as money and places. I did like the element of found family though.