Oh my how I fell in love with Molly the maid! I actually felt bereft when the book ended and it truly captured my heart. This is of the more accomplished debuts I have read recently and it clearly shows that Nita is a long term editor in publishing, as ‘The Maid’ is highly polished, the words sparkles off the pages and there are fully made up interconnecting narratives that end up giving a five star reading experience! Phew got all my maid and hotel descriptors out my system in that last sentence.

Molly knows all your secrets but do you know hers? Why would you though as it's her job to be invisible, to help create a 5-star experience for all the guests that pass through the hotel’s revolving doors? But when she finds a notorious regular guest, Mr Black, dead in his suite her life starts to unravel from her normal routines as she become determined to find out what happened to him. But is she really ready for the answers?

Someone recently asked me whether they knew of any neuro-diverse characters that investigated crime and I instantly recommended this book. Molly is special, pure and innocent in a way, but easy to manipulate due to her trusting ways as she has a child-like quality to her character. I would say she falls on the spectrum and Nita has created a character that readers will fall in love with and want to champion as she is written with empathy, care and love. It is a testimony to Nita’s standard of writing that so many people have taken to Molly and feel very protective of her. I haven't seen a review yet that is critical of Molly’s characterization. Of course, now that I typed that last sentence I went to look at 1 star reviews on Goodreads. Yes, I am not on the spectrum and I probably shouldn't be commenting on opinions people’s have coming from their own irl but I don't think this book was actually about a murder. I think it was about how the world treats and understands people like Molly. We see how people are disrespectful to her and prejudices and judgements being made against her. Maybe the author has used certain ‘stereotypes’ as the world perceives them in this way to show the struggle is and how Molly doesn't always 100% present like this. Always, that's my two pennies worth on this part of the narrative.

I really enjoyed this book and I hope that you do too!

I have seen this described as Eleanor Oliphant meets Miss Marple, which is the most perfect review! Molly is a maid at a fancy hotel and loves her job, making everything tidy and clean and perfect. Until she finds Mr Black dead in his hotel room. Molly is in the frame so, with the help of some new friends, must find the real killer. Molly's voice is perfectly rendered and my heart ached for her at the start of the book where she is so lonely. I don't normally read a lot of cosy crime, but the happy ending (a new family of friends as well as the culprit caught) was the perfect heart-warming story to read over Christmas!

With a quirky and loveable narrator and some wonderful supporting characters, this charming whodunnit was such an enjoyable read. It has some of the subtly funny, cosy crime feel of the Thursday Murder Club, and a plot that’s just as smart and immersive.

With thanks to Harper Collins for gifting me a digital copy to review.

The Maid by Nita Prose.

I requested this book because i had heard and read through social media that this book was very much like Convenience Store Woman and also Eleanor Oliphant is Completely fine!

Molly the maid works at The Grand Hotel, she doesn't always feel like she fits in and other people often see her as an odd person.
Fantastic murder mystery book with superb characters!

Thank you Netgalley for letting read and review this book.

I was intrigued by this book and I am so glad that I was, despite it being different to what I anticipated. The Maid has a fascinating main character, Molly, who loves her life working at a grand hotel, until she becomes caught up with trouble that she didn’t even know was happening. I saw a few reviews comparing these to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, which I agree with, and I also think it has striking similarities to Convenience Store Woman. However, I thought that this became much more plot driven and it soon became quite fast paced: I read it in a day. 4 stars from me.

What a charming book - Molly the Maid is delightful yet people see her as odd. She loves her job as a maid and always sees the best in people and they take advantage of this. She always feels invisible but sometimes that works in your way.
I could not put this story down - it is about friendship, loneliness, feeling like you don’t fit in, crime and love. What more can you ask for!!

This is a different style of murder mystery and I liked it. I really invested in the well-being of the character. I believe that she has Asperger's which makes social interaction difficult and also brought her under suspicion, simply because she is different. Her character developed over the course of the book and her future looked a lot brighter by the end.

The Maid by Nita Prose

Molly the Maid is a wonderful character and it's her portrayal that I'll remember about The Maid, as well as the world of the grand hotel that she inhabits and where she is unseen. I was less convinced by the actual plot, which is a bit predictable and even murky. But it is interesting to see it all through Molly's eyes, though. I also enjoyed the glimpses we get of how other characters perceive Molly, of how they misunderstand her and make assumptions. Other characters appeal in their warmth for her. It's very difficult not to care for Molly.

An absolutely amazing read, a perfect 5*.
Moly is such a complicated character who you cannot help but find endearing, she’s all b adrift in the world after the loss of her gran and this book is Mollys story of self discovery and self worth
Absolutely no dry eyes here

Thank you to Netgalley, Harper Collins and Nina Prose for this ARC in return for my honest review. I loved this book. What a beautifully endearing heroine. Molly is such a lovely character and I was rooting for her all the way. A hugely entertaining read. I read this in a few sittings. Would definitely recommend. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4

I flew through this fun, fast paced cosy mystery! It took me one lunch time and an evening to read and I really enjoyed it. It had some really excellent twists, a narrator who you really built a connection with and some excellent side characters. It was one of those mysteries where you could see some elements coming and then it would throw a little tid-bit of information you had forgotten back at you and go off in a different direction, which made it fun. It comes off as very light hearted despite glancing past some really important issues.

The only problem I have with this book is how the perspective character's , Molly , Neurodivergence is initially portrayed and therefore how it is perceived. Many a review has called Molly "cute", "sweet" and "quirky" and while she does have her moments of innocence where she is portrayed as all of those things I find these descriptions of her character as belittling and a problematic issue we have when addressing neurodivergent characters from a neurotypical standpoint. I can't speak to the representation of Molly's space on the spectrum, they do not match my own. However, I did find her a strong and empathetic character. She has a very clear voice and it was interesting to watch the mystery unfold from her perspective. She is aware that she operates differently to those around her and displays both moments of trying to conform to societal expectations and others where she pushes through her own. She is such a subtly complex character that I think reducing her to "cute" is not doing the characterization justice. The biggest problem is that these complexities do not begin to show themselves above the stereotypes until a large portion of the book has passed and I feel that this will be off putting and troubling to a lot of readers.

As to plot I think the best way to describe this book is it is a real honest caper! The start is a little laborious. We do get a lot of insight into Molly's life and the Hotel, as well as extremely! detailed descriptions of cleaning schedules. It will make the tidiest of book worms feel shame. But when the mystery starts the pacing picks up and we start getting hints of a darker underbelly in a cosy way. It did wrap up a little too saccharine sweet at the end but it can be forgiven in this kind of tale. Overall a good read.

I really enjoyed this book, felt like it was something different. The main character Molly was really likeable and interesting, with her quirks. Plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader hooked. I found it a page turner.

Molly works as a maid in a hotel. She is a simple soul, living on her own since the recent death of her Gran who brought her up. She loves her job and is very loyal to the hotel, even if she doesn't like her immediate supervisor much. She gets on with the guests very well, especially those who stay there often. One day however, her world is rocked when she goes back to finish off a suite she previously started and finds the guest dead. He is one of the most notorious guests the hotel has, he's a wealthy man and often stays there with his young wife who is one of Molly's favourites. Long story short, it appears to be murder and it's not long before the long fingers of the law start to point to Molly as a suspect. But being a lonely soul with few, if any, friends, how will she manage to persuade them of her innocence and, hopefully, bring the real perpetrator to justice?
I did like Molly, although it is not specifically mentioned, I suspect she is on the spectrum. At least she has learning difficulties and is very easily led. This leads her to being susceptible to those who would take advantage and there are a few of them in this book. I just wanted to give her a big hug several times along the way. I got quite angry on her behalf and also wanted to slap a few of the bad people too!
It's both joyous and heartbreaking in equal measure. There are some quit bad things happening and then there are also some rather funny ones too. It did have me laughing out loud a couple of times along the way, mostly laughing with her but, you know what, Molly is a bit quirky at times, some of her ways just made me smile!
As usual, when I finish a book by a new author, I go look up their back catalogue to see what else I can add to my huge TBR. Well, blow me down if this isn't a debut book. Didn't see that coming, so high was the quality of what I just read. Just makes me even more impressed! And hanging to see how on earth she can follow this up, next time. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

The Maid by Rita Prose
I give this book 4 stars

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

I found this a quick,fun and totally charming read.The story is told through the eyes of Molly the Maid, a unique character (we are all the same,in a different way) that l rooted for as this cosy crime unfolded. There was also a great supporting cast of hotel staff and guests good and bad who all played their parts so well to make this book come together.l loved The Regency Grand Hotel where the scene was set. A perfect book to curl up in a chair with a cup of tea when it’s cold outside and get caught up in.
With thanks to Netgalley,Nita Prose and Harper Collins UK,Harper Fiction for my chance to read and review this book

The Maid - Nita Prose

This must be one of the most talked about new books on social media so I was curious to see what all the fuss is about.

Milly Gray (the maid) is neurodiverse, she works hard and happily as a hotel maid, focussing on cleaning to perfection.

One day she discovers the body of a dead guest in a luxury suite, kicking off a murder investigation, the need to prove her innocence and uncover the crimes that have been going on in the hotel.

It's all about Milly, I'll confess it took me a while to get into. Milly is quaint and quirky, struggles socially and takes things literally. Her sheltered worldview is informed by Agatha Christie, Columbo and her Gran's platitudes.

Once the plot gets going I really got into it, Milly is awkwardly lovable and you want her to succeed. I'm happy to admit I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I might. I thought the very end was a twist too far, but overall an enjoyable and heartwarming murder mystery.

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK

I really didn't know what to expect from this book, but I really enjoyed it and it left me smiling after I'd finished.

The story is about Molly, a maid in a grand hotel. Molly struggles with social skills. She is hard working, meticulous, quirky, old fashioned. An old soul. She cleans rooms to perfection and is the epitome of discretion. Until one day she finds the dead body of a hotel guest. What follows is a charmingly written, often funny, engaging crime story that left me guessing at every turn.

It is probably fairly accurate to describe it as a "cosy" mystery, albeit one with a gripping plot, likeable, yet offbeat heroine and a cast of brilliantly drawn characters. It reminded me somewhat of Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club, another book I hugely enjoyed for many of the same reasons as this one.

I will definitely look out for the author's next book and recommend this one.

Thanks to the author Nita Prose, publishers Harper Collins UK and Net Galley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Poor Molly isn’t like everyone else, she tends to struggle with her perception of others and her social skills need a lot of work. Her lovely grandma used to help her face life’s challenges but unfortunately she passed away a few months ago and since then Molly has been trying to navigate a confusing world all alone. It’s a good job that Molly remembers everything her grandma taught her because life really throws a curve ball at her… Molly is working at a hotel as a maid when, one day on the job, she goes to clean a room and finds the occupant, the wealthy Charles Black, dead in his bed. Unfortunately for Molly the police have her in their crosshairs as their prime suspect, because she found the body, but more than that, her behaviour and lack of social skills make her seem shady enough to assume she’s guilty. Afterall, she’s a wonderful maid and is more than capable of clearing up messes, she sticks to the rigorous rules of thoroughly cleaning the rooms at the hotel.

Molly and a group of friends she never knew she had now have a race against time to find the real murderer before it’s game over for Molly, and she’s sent to prison for a crime she didn’t commit. But can she really trust her friends? Afterall, one of those friends is Mr Black’s wife, Giselle, as they are regulars at the hotel. So who exactly can she trust? Who killed Mr Black and is framing Molly for it? You’ll have to read it to find out what happens! Trust me, you won’t regret it.

I loved Molly and I really felt her pain and anxiety throughout the book, it’s hard to be different in this world, and even more so when there are so many people out there who want to take advantage of you because you might not understand what’s going on. Luckily, Molly is smart, funny and super sweet and you can’t help but fall in love with her. I thought the plot was a little slow in places but it was a super enjoyable read!

Thank you Netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this quirky book, which turned out to be more of a cozy mystery than I am totally comfortable with. Molly is the lynchpin of the story and is rather an enigma, at most times seeming completely lacking in social skills making me feel that she may have downs syndrome or a learning disability. Then she surprised me by being able to cope with demanding situations with much more aplomb than I was led to believe she would be capable of.
Living alone in a rather seedy apartment since her beloved Gran died, Molly takes immense pride in her job as a maid in a Lavish hotel.
She has great difficult in judging peoples intentions and reading body language and expressions which has led her to trust the wrong people, repeatedly.
After she goes into a hotel room to clean it and finding a dead body, her carefully organised and sterile existence begins to unravel at an alarming pace and then she discovers who she can really rely on.
A nicely paced and intriguing novel with heart and warmth, coupled with crime and nefarious goings on. Molly was a character I was rooting for yet found somewhat difficult to fully believe in.

This is a light and airy murder mystery about a maid who finds the dead body of a guest. Molly is hard working and a perfectionist but she is a little bit socially awkward, making it easy for other, unscrupulous, people to take advantage of her. After finding Mr Back dead in his hotel room things quickly spiral out of control and Molly finds herself unwittingly dragged in to all kinds of dishonest behaviour. A decent whodunit with a likeable main character and lots of twists ans turns.

What a fabulous read. Brilliantly written with the most amazing protagonist in Molly, the Maid in the title, and a 25 year old woman who is ‘different’ but who had been brought up by her grandmother to know right from wrong. Molly suffers from impaired social skills and probably some form of obsessive compulsive disorder and she has spent her 25 years being teased and bullied. The characterisation of Molly is just brilliant, did I already say that!

Briefly, Molly works in the Regency Grand Hotel as a maid. She is proud of her job and exceptionally good at it. But when her beloved Gran dies she has no one to help her through the maze that is everyday life. When she finds a hotel guest dead in his suite she little expects that the police will soon have her as their main suspect in what turns out to be murder. With the help of her friends she has to prove her innocence but how?

The mystery element of the book was very Agatha Christie but the star of the book is Molly. I didn’t want to put this book down and read it over the course of a day. I would be very surprised if this is not one of my top reads of 2022. I absolutely loved it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️