Molly is a maid in one of the grandest hotels around – The Regency Grand Hotel.

She needs structure to her day, she needs structure to understand how the world works and this was in the main given to her by her grandmother. Now alone in the world Molly is looking for that support elsewhere.

From looking for that support Molly finds herself a nobody in a world where she knows exactly what is going on, but perhaps doesn’t process it like the rest of us would.

When cleaning one day she finds Mr Black dead. Suddenly Molly is not a nobody anymore she is a somebody but that means she is now more at risk than ever before.

This is not a dirty hotel room, to be put back to five start cleanliness that Molly can work to, this is something else and she needs to find support from the unlikely of places and has to start trust others to help.

As the secrets of the hotel and its residents and staff come to light, Molly finds herself in a bit of bother and has to reassess the simplicity and trust she seems to see in everyone. Whilst we has readers start to see how Molly becomes embroiled in something unpleasant and the race is on to see if the truth can be found and that freedom can be achieved.

Many things intrigue me about this book – where is the hotel? You never know, it has no definite setting, no city you can name and relate to. That makes it all the more intriguing. Some of the characters names, made me chuckle – the victim Mr Black, made me think of the dead body in Cluedo (Clue in the USA). I also had no picture of Molly in my mind from the beginning to the end; was she tall or short? Thin or fat? White or Black? What was her hair colour, there were no defining features to her, which added with her surname of Grey made me think her characterisation was meant to be as she if was a nobody someone who blended into the background and was not seen. It worked well.

A book full of layers, that had me in mind of Eleanor Oliphant or The Rosie Project but was every bit unique as they are. A mix of murder mystery, social observation and a cracking good storyline!

What a wonderful heartfelt debut novel. Everyone needs a Molly Gray in their life. A wonderful friend to all and one amazing cleaner. I could read about Mollys adventures all day. Yes Molly is different and has been called a weirdo by many but she is special. The way Nita has taken the time to understand these special people we all see but don’t see in our day to day lives is exceptional.
Molly fights the evil in this world in her own way.
Excellent writing and a story that just keeps on giving. Molly will hold a place in my heart for a long long time. Thank you.

I’ve just finished this incredible book and wanted to get my thoughts down right away while they’re still fresh. Needless to say I absolutely loved it!

Molly the maid is meticulous and takes great pride in her work at the Grand Regency Hotel. She lives to ‘return rooms to a state of perfection’ and does an excellent job providing housekeeping services to the rich elite who breeze in and out without a care, never seeing Molly as she gets the job done. But when she finds one of the hotel’s VIPs Mr Black dead in his bed, her cherished routine is interrupted and she is drawn in to the centre of a murder mystery. As someone who’s a little different, she’s an easy target to take advantage of and she quickly becomes implicated in the scandal that’s befallen her beloved Regency Grand. Is she doomed to flounder under this mess she can’t clean away or can she find the strength and words to make others see the world as she does?

I flew through this book, what a great story! Though the whole thing takes place in Molly’s small universe between her flat and the hotel, with a few short stops at places in between, the plot is fast-paced and absolutely gripping. The mystery ‘whodunnit’ element runs throughout, with twists, turns and red herrings, and I was kept guessing right up until the very end. You’re never sure who Molly can trust or who, as she puts it, is just a ‘bad egg’, and although it caused me massive anxiety for her at times wondering how she’d get through it, I just had to keep reading to find out what happened next. It’s a neatly plotted book that kept me hooked from the start right up until it’s satisfying conclusion, but the best thing about it is the characters.

As protagonists go, Molly has to be up there with my favourites of all time. She is sweet, hard-working and honest, and just wants to fit in in a world where others can’t see beyond her differences. She’s on the spectrum and so I can see why so many other reviewers have drawn comparisons between this and Eleanor Oliphant, but I much preferred this story and felt far more for Molly when I saw things through her eyes. I defy anyone to read this and not love this character, she’s fabulous and if anything I wish I could be more like her! Mr Preston is a wonderful, sweet character too, as is another man who I won’t mention here so as not to spoil it.
The villains are equally well drawn and the dramatic irony of Molly not being able to understand the nuances of their behaviour while the reader can works really, really well. It makes for a heart-aching read a lot of the time too but it’s well worth staying along for the ride. Nita Prose does an excellent job of creating several morally ambiguous characters that tread the line between good and bad too, illustrating that life isn’t as black and white as Molly would usually see it, and helping to illustrate how she grows as a character in her recognition of that.

Overall I can already see this being one of my favourite reads of this year and I’ll be encouraging everyone I know to pick up a copy. It’s nail biting, heart warming and eye opening in equal measure. Reading it really made me think about how I treat others around me and it will definitely make me look at hotels differently the next time I stay in one! If you haven’t read it already add it to your TBR pile now, Molly the Maid will steal your heart.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Molly is a maid at the Regency Grand hotel and Molly loves nothing more than returning her rooms to a state of perfection. She’s used to being invisible, and although most people don’t see her, she sees everything 👀

This book gave me Eleanor Oliphant vibes but I loved it ten times more! Molly is so endearing and I love that she always sees the good in people. Nevertheless, I found it frustrating what a bad judge of character this made her. This is a really easy read and I absolutely loved Nita Prose’s writing style. 🧼

This book can teach everyone important lessons in how to treat your maid, the value of friendship and to always keep your wits about you! This was a great mystery to solve and I just couldn’t figure it out! I will definitely be picking up more of Prose’s work! 📚

Molly Gray is a twenty-five-year-old maid at a grand hotel. Molly is different, struggles with social interactions and misreads others. Gran was her interface to the world, explaining all to Molly. Now Gran is dead, Molly gets more and more confused about people. Molly has an encyclopedic memory of all the ‘sayings’ of Gran. The wise words are a guide for navigating life.

Molly is now on her own. She feels safe at home because there are “no expressions to interpret. No conversations to decode. No requests. No demands.” However, she also loves her work, cleaning to perfection. It is other people are not so easy, they call her names. Without Gran’s wisdom, she is drawn, unbeknownst to her, into a dangerous situation.

Molly’s life is completely changed when she discovers the dead body of well-known businessman Mr Black, in one of the suites she cleans. Molly’s misunderstanding of others and their perceptions of her lead to her being accused of the murder.

Molly discovers some real friends and, together, they search for the truth of what really happened. Twists and turns abound, and all is revealed.

Molly is a delightful character and has an unusual take on the world, is honest to the point of painfulness, but she is capable of feelings of injustice. She has quite a nice revenge imagined for another maid who she suspects steals her tips. She is also aware that there are “People who prey on a person’s difference for their personal gain.”

She has a nice take on humour: the judge at Molly’s bail hearing looks like a Brazilian Horned Frog with “…a long, downturned mouth and protuberant eyebrows …”

The writing is delightful and deft. Describing a visit to the airless basement laundry to deposit soiled linen, Molly felt “a great deal lighter, if a tad dewy”. Molly makes an astute observation that sticks and stones often hurt far less than words. A voice was described as different, like a flat tyre if it could talk.

When Molly visits the crime scene to clean the room up and finds the carpet is the only thing which is clean, she ponders that “[P]erhaps the police vacuumed, sucked up the traces – the microfibres and particles of the Blacks’ private lives, all caught in the confines of a single filter”

As a story it is exciting, and character driven. Writing aside, there are a few things I did not enjoy.

The ending.

The relentless emphasis on Molly’s difference.

And, on my reading, Molly is neurodivergent. As a neurodivergent person myself, I have reservations about the portrayal. I would like to know if the author is neurodivergent. If she is not, she is then basing the character on observations and/or research into neurodivergence. If that is the case, Molly lacks authenticity. Too often neurodiverse individuals are written by neurotypicals, when it is not their story to tell. The author does not have to disclose the source of Molly’s character, but it did affect my enjoyment of the book.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Random House Publishing/Ballantine Books in exchange for an honest review.

Molly is a 25-year-old maid at the Regency Grand, a five-star boutique hotel, and has worked there for over four years. Molly's gran died about nine months ago and she now lives alone in the apartment that they used to share. She is struggling to adjust and misses her gran deeply. Molly is a rather unusual character, who doesn't quite see the world in the same way as other people, and she struggles to read various social cues and doesn't always understand the nuances of the spoken word.

Molly works hard, is loyal and takes pride in her role and she enjoys cleaning to a high standard and does an excellent job. Her colleagues often make fun of Molly as they don't know what to make of her and Cheryl, her boss, is really horrible at times and makes her do the difficult jobs and pockets Molly's tips.

When Molly discovers one of the hotel's most important clients, Mr Black, dead in his penthouse suite, she find herself embroiled in a murder enquiry and must face questioning by Detective Stark of the local police. As a 'lowly' maid, she is able to make her way round the hotel like she's invisible and it is this that helps her to investigate the case and try to prove her innocence.

Mainly taking place over the course of a week, the story is cleverly written and well paced. I liked the way we slowly learnt more about Molly and her past and discovered the difficult situation that she's caught up in! Molly is rather quirky and naive at times and people take advantage of her but her simplicity and unique way of looking at the world is what makes her so endearing.

Despite this, Molly does have some friends in doorman, Mr Preston, and kitchen dishwasher, Juan Manuel, and, throughout the book, we hear her gran's voice regularly as she advises Molly and guides her through some difficult moments. She loves rules and following them, especially those from hotel manager, Mr Snow, and advice from her gran.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book – it was cleverly written and engaging and I found myself caring about some characters, especially Molly, and despising others! It was an entertaining whodunnit and a light, cosy read and I would definitely recommend it to all. I hear it's going to be made into a film and I can't wait to see it on the big screen!

From reading the blurb this book turned out to be nothing like I expected. I actually am really glad about that though. Throughout the whole book I feel very sorry for Molly the maid. Although she was a very strong character I thought she was taken advantage of by the characters because of her kind nature. In the end this worked out in her favour and I’m glad she eventually got her happy ending. I think the book raised a lot of important issues surrounding trafficking and coercive behaviour. A really good book with a strong message!

I received The Maid by Nita Prose for free on NetGalley by Harper Fiction & Harper Collins UK in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much for my advanced copy! This review is also available on Book, Blog & Candle.

In The Maid we follow our main character Molly, a maid at the prestigious Regency Hotel, as she tries to figure out the mystery of who killed one of the hotels most esteemed guests, Mr Black. When she becomes the main suspect, she has to work quickly to clear her name and be careful with who she chooses to trust.

Molly is such a charming character and I loved seeing the events unfold from her perspective. It puts the reader in the unique position of being able to understand what it’s like to be Molly as we don’t know who to trust or who is being genuine either! We get to know Molly intimately and also teaches a lesson about the dangers of assumptions. I did love the found family feeling the story had when Molly discovers the people who are truly there for her.

I was instantly intrigued by the premise of this book because I absolutely love a locked room mystery and this book takes it to an entirely new level! There were so many twists that I would have never seen coming and the writing had me engrossed every second. It is an absolutely page turner! I honestly believe that this would have outsmarted Sherlock Holmes - it was so clever!

The Maid is a brilliantly intelligent mystery that will have you glued to your seat!

3.8 stars
Molly the maid is hardworking maid, she is a model employee at Regency Grand Hotel. She loves her job and loves to keep her Gran's house clean. Molly is different from other people, she is certainly different from her colleagues and often feels they are laughing at her, but still has friends like Rodney - who works at the bar- and Giselle- who is one of the guests.
This is until she finds Mr. Black (Giselle's husband) dead in his suite, Molly finds herself accused and she will need to figure out who really is her friend.

I really wanted to love this book, such high expectations, and I did enjoy reading it, I did not really warm completely to Molly. A very well written story, but I didn't find it particularly original or captivating.

A wonderful who done it murder mystery that will keep you on your toes as you try and figure out how our main character Molly the Maid will escape sentencing after being framed for murder. This is a debut novel written by Nita Prose. I just want to thank the author, her publisher Harper Collins and Netgalley for sending me an e-arc of this to read in exchange for a review.

I really liked Molly, at first I wasn't sure what to make of her but she grew on me throughout the novel. I really enjoyed the character development of Molly throughout the novel and it felt very realistic too. I think her autism was portrayed very well, as I picked up a lot of my own behaviours during my reading of the Maid.

I really enjoyed learning about a Maids job in helping to run the hotel. I think it was really cool world building because even though it was small it was done well. I did feel like there was a lot of side plots that mentioned places even though we never actually got to see them.

I really enjoyed the overall plot of the story as it was a simple mystery but one that was executed really well. I really loved the ending part of the novel as it was really enjoyable seeing how Molly and her friends were going to catch the real culprit. I actually really liked the final twist at the end even though I saw it coming because of the way it was foreshadowed earlier on in the novel.

One of my biggest issues with The Maid is the pacing. I felt that at the beginning of the story especially it was very slow and because of that I kept struggling to give the story a go. But I am glad that I pushed through it and as soon as it reached the half-way mark, it definitely picked up and after that it was a breeze to get through.

Overall if you want to read an endearing, light-hearted mystery with a good representation of autism then this story is for you, I give this story 3 stars!

I am your maid.
I know about your secrets. Your dirty laundry.
But what do you know about me?

When I read this “blurb”, I was very keen to read this new thriller!

Molly is a slightly quirky, very detail-oriented yet invariably “invisible” maid. Brought up by her Gran, she has an air of innocence/naivety and an old-fashioned way with words, but also a passion for cleanliness & order.
When one of the hotel guests is found dead, Molly finds herself embroiled in something far bigger than she understands – she must learn who to trust, to separate fact from fabrication and how to navigate a world that is alien to her. There was an underlying sense that truth would win in the end, but is Molly as innocent as she initially seemed?
The book kept me engaged, with unexpected twists that kept it interesting. It is a very original angle for the story, having the maid as the main character – we gain a new understanding & appreciation of the people working in the background at establishments like the Regency Grand Hotel!

Molly is a maid at an upmarket boutique hotel. She knows that she’s not like everyone else – but now her gran is gone she has no one to explain human behaviour to her any more. So now she throws herself into her job – where her obsession with cleaning and etiquette as an asset. But when she finds one of the guests dead in his penthouse suite, she finds herself at the centre of a murder investigation where her personality quirks mean the police think she’s their prime suspect. But soon some friends she didn’t know she had are helping her to clear her name. Molly is one of the most unique narrators I have recently come across – and it’s definitely one of those cases where the reader can see things that Molly can’t. I was quite infuriated early on in the book by the way that Molly had been treated, but never fear, her situation was much improved by the end of the book – and without her changing her essential Molly-ness. This is maybe my favourite of the three. But then it’s also the one that I read last, so it could just be recency bias. I do think that this is the easiest to recommend though – I can see why it’s had so much buzz and has been picked out by Good Morning America and the New York Times. I think it will appeal to readers across genres in the way that The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and Where’d You Go Bernadette did.

What can I say? I LOVED this book!

The starring role is indeed, Molly the Maid and Nita Prose has brilliantly created her character. Right from the start, you realise that Molly is a special character, she struggles to understand social cues and takes things very literally, and her way of phrasing her words is just beautiful, yet another aspect that makes her stand out. Since her grandmother's death, she is struggling to read situations and people - and then she finds the dead body of Mr Black.

As a reader, you are drawn completely to her character. You realise how victimised and exploited she is and you really feel for her, willing her not to take certain actions and yes, inwardly cringing that she does not realise what is obvious to most other people.

The mystery of who killed Mr Black isn't answered until the end and I loved how Molly held onto a couple of her very own twists and turns.

Overally, this is an exceptional and unique murder mystery and one that I cannot wait to watch once it's made into a film! Highly recommend!

**Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read an advanced e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own **

I really wasn't sure what to make of this book, I had to put it down a few times and then go back to it. Molly is an interesting character with lots of interesting character traits (which makes her the perfect suspect).
All in all I am glad I read this book.

I was given an advance copy by netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely my own.

It’s hard to believe this is a debut novel as it is so good. I absolutely loved Molly the Maid and couldn’t help cheering her on. And just when you think you know her she throws up a couple of twists. If you enjoyed the character Eleanor Oliphant I think you will enjoy this. Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK / Harper Fiction for letting me read and review this book.

A Perfect Comfort Read!

Maid is the story of Molly Gray. Molly finds it hard to understand people and the world. Her colleagues call her ‘Molly the mutant, or ‘Roomba the robot.’ Gran instills a set of rules and principles for Molly to follow, to keep her safe. However, when Gran dies Molly is left to fend for herself. Luckily she has her job as a maid at the Regency Grand hotel to keep her busy. As a maid, no one pays any attention to you. You’re just there to clean. You certainly wouldn’t know lots of intimate details about the hotel guests?

Mr Black is found dead is his hotel suite. What could Molly know?

Maid is a character driven delight. I fell in love with Molly, I was rooting for her and wanting to protect her from being exploited! Readers who enjoyed ‘Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine,’ will love this book!

Thank you for the ARC from NetGalley

What a surprising and delightful find this was, a far from typical crime novel with a heroine pas comme les autres. The eponymous maid is Molly--of course!--and she works in an American hotel which conceals a plethora of secrets. Molly is a very literal person who takes people at face value and believes that they are her friends. When a body is discovered in a suite that she cleans, all the indications are that she is the murderer. This is a charming and well written novel with brilliant characters and intriguing revelations. I loved it!

The Maid, the dazzling and eagerly-anticipated debut novel by Nita Prose, is a neat murder mystery set in a glamorous 5-star boutique hotel that has a dirty secret. The book not only sparked a six-publisher bidding war, but also has been snapped up for a Hollywood movie adaptation starring Florence Pugh in the lead role.

But what of The Recs‘ take?

Molly Gray, the title character in this deft and original crime story, is all but invisible. As a “lowly” maid in the glamorous boutique hotel, The Regency Grand Hotel, she is occasionally seen but is rarely noticed. With her pass card, Molly has unlimited access throughout the whole hotel including the guest rooms and can move around the building easily without attracting attention.

The perfect modus operandi of a murderer you might think. Even the great Agatha Christie herself employed the device of disguising a murderer as a waiter in order to poison some champagne in plain sight but unobserved.

From the off, Prose explores the power of anonymity. Introducing herself as the narrator, Molly intriguingly suggests:
“I’m the one who empties your trash, tossing out the receipts you don’t want anyone to discover. I’m the one who changes your sheets, who can tell if you slept in them and if you were alone last night or not”.

Describing the process of returning each hotel room to a pristine state, erasing any evidence that anyone had ever been there, the ever-dedicated Molly comes to an evocative conclusion:
“I am your maid. I know so much about you. But when it comes down to it: what is it that you know about me?”

Molly’s world of carefully-arranged, orderliness is shattered when she discovers the dead body of a guest in one of the most expensive suites. Not any guest but that of the thoroughly dislikable but wealthy real-estate mogul, Mr Black. This is one mess that not even her exemplary cleaning skills will be able to erase. As events spiral and Molly herself becomes a suspect, she must take the role of her favourite detective, Columbo, to crack the case…

What really stands out in Nita Prose’s The Maid, is the glorious characterisation of her central character. Even before the discovery of the murder, Molly has her challenges. Her fellow employees at the Regency Grand Hotel find her strange, awkward and robotic – a diligent misfit. Left without the guiding hand of her recently-deceased grandmother, Molly is struggling more than ever with social cues.

That we see the world of the hotel and indeed the events surrounding the Mr Black’s death through Molly’s neurodivergent filter on the world is Nita Prose’s clever take on an unreliable narrator. Is Molly trusting the right people? Where do we find the truth in a neurotypical world from a character whose observations are uniquely skewed and uncertain?

Prose puts her protagonist through the ringer, piling test upon trial on our increasingly forsaken heroine. She plunges Molly into so much trouble, even the stoniest reader would fear that all may indeed be lost for her.

The Maid manages to deliver a warmth and even an optimism that is rare in the murder mystery genre. While the resolution to the crime itself in the end is not hugely complex, Molly using the very assumptions that are frequently held against her to outwit her detractors is very satisfying indeed.

Nita Prose’s debut novel, The Maid, is like the Regency Grand Hotel in which it is set: appealing, filled with intrigue and definitely worthy of five stars! A suite mystery indeed.

The Maid by Nita Prose, published by HarperCollins, is released on 20 January 2022.

The maid by Nita Prose.
I am your maid.
I know about your secrets. Your dirty laundry.
But what do you know about me?
Molly the maid is all alone in the world. A nobody. She’s used to being invisible in her job at the Regency Grand Hotel, plumping pillows and wiping away the grime, dust and secrets of the guests passing through. She’s just a maid – why should anyone take notice?
 But Molly is thrown into the spotlight when she discovers an infamous guest, Mr Black, very dead in his bed. This isn’t a mess that can be easily cleaned up. And as Molly becomes embroiled in the hunt for the truth, following the clues whispering in the hallways of the Regency Grand, she discovers a power she never knew was there. She’s just a maid – but what can she see that others overlook?
I really enjoyed this book. Tense and twisty. Recommend. 5*.

If you don't fall in love with Molly Gray, you have no heart! As a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel, she takes great pride in her work and has a rigid routine to which she must adhere. She is the first to acknowledge that a maid is neither seen nor heard by the glamorous guests. This puts her in an ideal position to investigate when she discovers the body of Mr Black in one of her rooms. Molly is a bit of an innocent and the way she looks at the world is quite unique. She is quirky and adorable.

This is a delightful, entertaining and rewarding read. There are lovely characters, a great storyline and a clever combination of mystery and comedy. A brilliant debut.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.