Author:Nita Prose

Publisher: Ballantine Books

ISBN: 9780593356159

A hotel maid with minimal social skills finds herself at the center of a murder mystery. As she tries to balance the havoc caused by the murder in her professional life and the challenges of her personal life, she learns who she can trust and who is better off left alone. Author Nita Prose writes with wit and an astute lens on social interactions in her funny debut The Maid.

Molly Gray knows she’s different from other people. She’s well aware of the fact that at the age of 25, she has quirks, likes, and strong dislikes that others just don’t understand. No matter. Molly also knows she succeeds in one area: her job.

Most people probably wouldn’t like the job of hotel maid, but Molly finds it deeply satisfying to put on her dry-cleaned uniform every morning and go from room to room cleaning up messes. When she steps back from a room returned to its state of perfection, Molly knows she excels. Never mind that the head maid, Cheryl, gives her a hard time or tries to swipe her tips. Molly just fills her cart with new shampoo bottles and bars of soap every morning and does what she does best: clean.

Except her job gets stopped dead in its tracks—literally—when one of the hotel’s esteemed guests is murdered. What’s worse, Molly is the one to find him. Business tycoon Charles Black left behind a grieving second wife, a fuming ex-wife, and several children with their eye on his fortune. Molly often took care of Charles and Giselle, the second Mrs. Black, and she doesn’t see why things should change now. If the Blacks’ room is in chaos after the murder, well, Molly knows how to make it right again.

The police, however, have a different idea as to why Molly scrubbed down the guest suite after finding Mr. Black dead. Before she knows quite how it happened, Molly finds herself at the center of the mystery as the police eye her with suspicion. She flounders; if her gran were still alive, she’d help Molly navigate the entire mess, but after her death several months earlier Molly finds that she has to figure out the world on her own. 

She may not know how to handle herself in social situations, but she also knows she’s innocent of murder. Now it’s just a matter of proving it. As she forms new friendships and learns who to keep at arm’s length, Molly begins to figure out that her attention to detail and her penchant for perfection may be exactly what she needs to keep herself out of trouble.

Debut author Nita Prose fills Molly’s world with details that bring to life the work and challenges of hotel housekeeping staff. Molly is well aware of the fact that for most people she’s invisible, and Prose capitalizes on that invisibility to put Molly into uncomfortable situations as well as save her from them. Molly lives in a constant state of naivete, which a lesser accomplished writer might have fumbled. Prose, however, drills straight to the heart of the book and Molly’s character with precision. Readers will find themselves cheering Molly on and groaning at her blissfully ignorant nature by turns. 

The book also offers a mystery with a vintage feel. Despite Molly and other characters checking their cell phones throughout, Prose gives readers a murder to solve that will keep them guessing to the end. With echoes of Agatha Christie, Prose keeps readers engaged with both a compelling plot and an equally compelling protagonist.

The author balances Molly’s willingness to help and her fastidious standards on every page. Although technically a “debut,” the book shows the careful, thoughtful crafting of a seasoned professional. The play on words with the characters’ last names will leave readers grinning by the end and is a clever tool for how they should view the people in Molly’s immediate orbit.

Prose does an excellent job of making those people three-dimensional. Although Molly and her circumstances dominate the page, all of the people she runs across have their own little stories, their own hurts and fears and triumphs to share. By giving them their due, Prose guarantees that the story feels lived in.

Readers who loved Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine will thoroughly enjoy this one. Those looking for a bona fide “whodunnit” will also want to check it out. I recommend readers Binge The Maid.