The Maid by Nita Prose
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up**
Twenty-five year old, Molly Gray, works as a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel.
Like her Gran before her, Molly takes her profession seriously. It’s up to her to leave each room in a state of perfection for the guests of the hotel. There’s really nothing more important.
After all, the room is the point of staying at a posh hotel. There’s no better feeling than slipping under those pristine sheets at the end of a long day. Maybe gorging yourself on room service, champagne; it’s a whole vibe.
Molly is happy to do her part ensuring the Regency Grand never waivers on its standards.
As is common in hotels of this type, they have guests who stay with them quite frequently. Mr. Charles Black and his second wife, Gisele, are two of these esteemed visitors.
Despite their socio-economic difference, Molly has built a special relationship with Gisele; some may even call them friends. Gisele is blunt and no-nonsense, often helping Molly, who has a difficult time navigating social situations.
Molly’s Gran used to help her with such things, but Gran’s been gone for a few months now, leaving Molly on her own. Molly still uses a lot of the things Gran taught her in her interactions with others, but it’s not the same. She misses her a whole lot.
When Molly stumbles upon Mr. Black, dead in the bed of his hotel suite, she can hardly believe what she is seeing. The room is a state of disarray, the likes of which she hasn’t seen from the couple before. Who would do this to Mr. Black?!
Unfortunately for Molly, her quirky mannerisms and behavior lead the police to consider her a main suspect. Adding insult to injury, other players in the hotel scene may have taken advantage of Molly and aided in her ending up in this position. It’s a tangled web, indeed.
I really enjoyed the audiobook for The Maid. Molly was a unique character and I liked getting to know her, even though at times I felt it difficult to read smarmy characters taking advantage of her. It made sense in terms of the narrative, but it was a difficult pill to swallow.
Personally, I could have handled this being a bit cozier even. It was actually quite serious in certain segments and I don’t think I was emotionally prepared for that.
I expected something different than what I got, but this is an excellent debut Mystery. I actually appreciate the nuance Prose brought to this tale. It’s definitely deeper than I was planning for.
The Mystery itself was fun though. I love drama in families and apparently, now drama in the workplace is my thing; fictional only, please. The setting of the hotel was vivid and realistic to me. I felt like I could picture it all playing out.
The pace did slow down a couple of times, but those quieter moments were really just times where we were offered the opportunity to deep dive into Molly’s background. She was such an interesting character that I didn’t even mind those moments that much.
Overall, I think this is a great story, a fun Mystery, and a superbly promising debut. I look forward to reading whatever Prose has in store for us next!!
