The Maid makes for an almost perfect escapist read. It boasts an engaging and humorous prose, a deeply endearing main character, a fast-paced mystery that takes place over the course of a single week, and a very wholesome story. This is less of a cozy whodunnit than an absorbing character-driven tale about Molly Gray, a neurodivergent 25-year-old woman who works as a maid for a prestigious hotel. Molly’s grandmother, who was her sole carer and companion, died a few months before the novel’s events take place, and Molly is struggling to navigate the world without her. While Molly does find her work as a maid deeply fulfilling, to the point where she reminded me of Keiko from Convenience Store Woman, she’s very lonely without her Gran. Growing up she was always made to feel like a ‘weirdo’ and a ‘freak’, and even now her colleagues at the hotel regard her with a mixture of bemusement and condescension and are generally quite mean towards her. Because Molly struggles to read people’s body language, to ‘read’ their emotions, and to pick up on things like sarcasm etc, social interactions can become quite difficult, especially when others (mis)perceive her behaviour or responses as ‘odd’ or ‘off’.

Her life is upended when during a shift she comes across a guest’s dead body. The deceased, Mr. Black, was a wealthy man of dubious manners who died in dubious circumstances. His now widowed wife, Giselle, was one of the few people who made Molly feel seen, in a good way that is. Having watched a lot of Columbo Molly knows that Giselle will be the prime suspect for her husband’s murder, so she decides to help her out. It is Molly however who becomes suspect in the police’s eyes, as the people around her are quick to pile on her, painting her as being antisocial and standoffish, someone who wouldn’t have a problem killing someone. Molly ends up trusting in the wrong people, and while most readers will be able to see beyond their ‘nice’ act, Molly herself doesn’t. She eventually becomes deeply embroiled in this murder case, and the lead detective seems determined to see Molly as the culprit. Thankfully for Molly, she does come across people who have her best interest at heart, and with their aid, she decides to take down those who had manipulated her.
The Maid makes for a rewarding and breezy read. While there are stakes, such as Molly being arrested for a crime she did not commit, the narrative maintains a very lighthearted tone. Even if it does include abuse, bullying, the possibility of deportation, and murder. Molly’s energetic voice added momentum to the story, and I found myself devouring this book over the course of a day.

I will say that I didn’t like how no one, as far as I can recall, mentions words such as autism, neurodivergence, or neuroatypical. Almost every character mentions that Molly is ‘different’, or ‘odd’, or ‘weird’, or a ‘freak’. But no one ever acknowledges that she’s on the spectrum. Molly, herself doesn't. Given that this novel has a contemporary setting this seemed a bit unlikely. I mean, maybe I would have believed it if this book was set during the 90s in a country like the one where I was brought up in, but 21st century America? I also think that the way the author portrayed Molly could rub some people the wrong way as she does seem to exhibit all the classic signs associated with autism. Still, I'd like to think that the author’s ultimate message was well-meaning.

Molly made for a truly sweet character and I really liked to see her work together with her friends to clear her name. The mystery storyline did have a few predictable twists & turns, not only when it came to the people who were clearly scheming against Molly, but the identity of the murderer and Molly’s unreliability. But these are very minor criticisms and they certainly did not stop me from enjoying The Maid. If you are looking for a quick, entertaining, and rather charming read, well, you should definitely consider giving The Maid a shot. If you prefer more thought-provoking or realistic mysteries, well, this book probably won't be your cup of tea.

The Maid by Nita Prose

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK and I am leaving this review voluntarily

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.

This was a very enjoyable read. Molly is such a lovely character with some very odd mannerisms which ultimately lead to her being a suspect in the death of Mr Black. The story flows so well that it is difficult to remember that this is a debut novel.

With beautiful writing it is very easy to get lost in this book. Once you start reading you will find it difficult to walk away.

Rating 4/5

I had heard so much about this book, I was delighted to receive an arc and my thanks go to Harper Collins and Nita Prose,
Molly Gray is 25 years old. She is a maid at The Regency Grand hotel. She takes great pride in her job and loves leaving the rooms in a state of perfection. She likes arranging the bottles of shampoo, soaps etc in an orderly fashion on her trolley. However Molly finds difficulty with social interactions. Her Gran had helped her understand these interactions, but her Gran had recently died, so Molly was on her own. One day Molly while cleaning Mr Black’s suite, Molly finds him dead in bed. The rest of the story tells what happens next. I don’t want to give any spoilers away, but I found it gripping, unputdownable! The ending was a triumph of good over evil. I would highly recommend this book. I hope Nita will write many more novels,

The Maid By Nita Prose is already one of my favourite books of 2022. The story of Molly the maid, who lived with her Grandmother and is proud of her work at the Regency Grand Hotel really touched my heart.
Molly is a wonderful character, and it is impossible not to fall for her charm and fall in love with her as the story unfolds. We first meet her on duty in the hotel, where she takes immense pride in her duties, quietly and unobtrusively cleaning rooms. She is almost invisible, quiet and unassuming, with an unrequited crush on a bar tender at the hotel, and leads a very lonely life since the death of the beloved Grandmother who raised her. Molly is a very naive young woman, she has a tendency to take everyone she meets at face value, something which has gotten her into financial trouble before, so when she strikes up a sort of friendship with one of the hotel guests, she is immediately all in. When she discovers the dead body of that guest's husband, Molly is thrust into a spotlight that she is certainly not ready for, especially once she is regarded as a prime suspect in the crime. This is a mess that even Molly cannot clean up on her own, but as she soon discovers she has more friends than she ever realised, and between them they are determined to uncover the true culprit and clear Molly's name.
This was an absolutely charming book, it felt very old fashioned , but in a good way, like an old school Agatha Christie mystery, but better (in my opinion). As I have already said Molly is a truly wonderful and very engaging character, but I also really liked many of the secondary characters in the book, and to see her open up to let several of them in to her very private world was absolutely beautiful. The mystery aspect of the book was cleverly done, and the end reveal was neatly delivered. If I had to pick one word to describe this book it would be wholesome, and in the best possible way. I have rarely been so sad to see a book end, I really did not want to leave Molly and her world behind.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

The Maid was not what I was expecting after reading the description. I was expecting it to grip me but it just did not. It was just a little bit too slow and cosy for what I was expecting.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

In a Nutshell: An engrossing story with endearing characters. My first true-blue super-duper soul-satisfying read of 2022. Couldn’t keep it aside for a minute!

Story:
Molly Gray, who works as a maid in a five star boutique hotel, is all alone in the world. With a father she’s never known and a mother who left her, Molly grew up only with her loving Grandma. But now that Grandma is dead, Molly has no one to tell her how to function in social interactions. Because you see, Molly isn’t like a typical person. She struggles with social communication.
The day Molly discover a dead guest in the hotel room she is cleaning is the day her life turns upside down. Somehow, the perfectionist Molly finds her the key suspect in the murder. And Molly, who lives every single day with her strong sense of discipline and perfection in every task she attempts, has no idea how to get out of this mess. How will Molly “clean” her name as effectively as she once kept her hotel rooms clean?
The story comes to us from the 1st person perspective of Molly herself.

If you need only one reason to read this book, that reason is Molly Gray. What an uncommon yet loveable protagonist! Molly is like a strange combination of Eleanor Oliphant and Monica Geller. The reason for her behaviour is never specified in the book and I appreciated this decision by the author. That way, Molly doesn’t get locked into any pre-defined slots of our mind. Instead, we learn more about her nature as the story progresses. The manner in which her character is sketched makes this journey of discovery an incredible experience. It is amazing how she sees important clues but because of her personality flaw, misinterprets the reason behind them. You, as the reader, need to keep your eyes open because there are many clues casually thrown in the story but not immediately resolved. This isn’t a casual speed-read kind of book.

Need some more reasons to love Molly?
👉 To make up for her deficiency in reading people, Molly makes life rules from adages uttered by those she respects. Most of these sayings come from her Gran's quotes. One of my favourites (of many) was: “Never mind what others think; it's what you think that matters.”

👉 Molly seems to have a broken moral compass. Those who are good to her are good people and those who are brusque with her are bad people. How she uses this skewed sense and still makes clever decisions is well-incorporated in the story.

👉 Molly is the only primary character. But every character other than her is also carved in such a way that you are quite clear about their actual personality. (Or so you think!) So the book isn’t about you discovering hidden truths, but about Molly discovering the same. And just as you relax thinking you have figured out everything, Molly throws a couple of surprises your way.

There are other reasons to go for this book too. Its pacing, for instance, is superb. I completed this 300 pager within a day (and that too, a busy, busy day.) Just because there’s a murder mystery and a suspect, don’t think that this is a crime thriller. Far from it. You will know well in advance who the actual culprits might be. The story is about how the police apprehend the guilty and how Molly gets a second chance at her favourite job: cleaning. This book is all about the sketching of the characters and the smartness of the writing (which is as squeaky-clean as Molly herself; no needless floweriness or verbose embellishments like my sentence here. 😂)

This is the author’s debut novel, but except for a fairly frequent use of the phrase “in flagrante”--(it comes 5 times in the book; quite surprising for such an uncommon adverb)—there is no other place where I could spot any area of improvement for grammar or word usage. The author has multiple years of experience in book editing, and currently works as the vice president and editorial director at Simon & Schuster in Toronto, Canada. Seeing these credentials, I am not at all surprised at the quality of her work.

To quote one of Molly’s pet phrases, this book is a “state of perfection”. It’s a very straightforward story, and yet leaves a strong impact. A “delightful” experience, to borrow yet another favourite word of Molly’s! Do give it a try if you want a narrative that keeps you hooked and characters that make you want to root for them (or whack them hard, depending on the case), and also makes you feel a bit guilty about the state of your house.

One thing is for sure. You're not going to look at the hotel housekeeping staff the same way again.

4.5 stars.

My thanks to HarperCollins UK and NetGalley for the ARC of “The Maid”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

This was a really different read for me. I nearly dnf a couple of times but I’m glad I persevered. The second half of the novel was a much better page turner than the first half. I did find Molly’s constant referrals to what her grandma said to really hinder my enjoyment and sloweed the story but the final third of the book really lifted the book for me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me access to a preview copy.

3.5 rounded up. At times it reminded me of 'Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine' because of the neuro-divergent narrator; it was a lovely pleasant book to read but I didn't find it... that amazingly good. The narration is a bit messy - too messy and confused at times, especially at the beginning where Molly remembers things from some time ago that are similar to what she is going through at the time of the plot. The plot itself is incredibly simple - I expected a thriller with a bit of fun but it read more like a fun book with a bit of a thriller. There are a few interesting revelations towards the end about the narrator, but they aren't exploited very much - kind of just inserted here and left there. The way the story ends was lovely but didn't bring me satisfaction - it felt too easy, too convenient. It was a lovely cozy book to read but not incredible as a thriller and not particularly memorable overall.

This book was not what I was expecting at all! In my mind I was hoping for a gripping, dark, whodunnit and what I read was an obvious mystery with more focus on the character and her own life. I can’t believe there has been so much fuss but I’m aware this is an unpopular opinion!
I did finish the book but it was a bit of a slog and I skipped bits.

Nita Prose’s debut book The Maid, introduces us to Molly Gray, maid at a plush hotel who goes about her role invisibly and with zeal. Overlooked by guests, bullied by co-workers, Molly is neurodivergent, giving her a different take on much of what happens around her.

When Molly finds a prominent guest dead in his suite, she quickly gets pulled into the police investigation and not long after she is in the frame for murder. Struggling as to who she can turn to for help, not least because her home life is far from stable, Molly seems to be struggling to regain a footing of control.

The Maid is a superb debut. Molly is beautifully penned and readers will love her. The wider cast brings a huge amount of light and dark and the plot is dotted with humour and clever observations. The narrative has some stodgy moments about 2/3 of the way through but overall this is a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable read.

Thanks to Harper Collins UK and Netgalley for the ARC.

If you liked Eleanor Oliphant you will love The Maid. The story is of Molly The Maid who is so much more than just a maid. As she is a little different to a lot of people and therefore unique she is often thought to be strange, weird and robotic by others and she is largely ignored. However Molly’s love of order and cleanliness stands her in good stead to be a fabulous maid. What follows is an incredibly clever account of secrecy, backstabbing, domestic violence, murder, revenge and simple interpretation of words. Without giving away any spoilers aI will say that there were two amazing jaw dropping moments that I had not worked out. An outstanding book in my opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I absolutely loved this. A truly interesting character in Molly who was likeable and engaging. Well written with a good premise I was hooked for the first sentence! Highly recommend.

THE cozy mystery you’ve been looking for 👀 Another epic debut novel for January 👏🏻👏🏻

The story centres around Molly, a 25 year old Maid at the Regency Grand Hotel. Molly is socially awkward, takes everything literally and her colleagues find her just plain weird. Molly was just so happy with her job - a total perfectionist and an excellent maid. Then one day, a hotel guest is found dead in the room Molly is cleaning and she finds herself as prime suspect for the murder.

Oh Molly, Molly. How I loved Molly. What a character, one you just can’t help but love, feel sorry for and laugh WITH throughout the book. Molly the Maid will steal your heart 💓 I enjoyed this book so much ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 the hype is REAL you guys! It’s also coming to the big screen, with Florence Pugh?! 🤩

Check out if you like:
✨ Quirky characters
✨ Cozy Mysteries
✨ Locked room style murder mystery - anyone could be the true killer 🤭

Will be on Instagram next week

3.5 rounded up. I enjoyed this for the most part, it was an easy read with a relatively entertaining plot. There were some interesting plot twists and I was happy to discover that Molly had some hidden depths. I think this will be really popular with people who loved Elinor Oliphant and cosy crime novels.

If you liked Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, then you are going to ADORE The Maid. I definitely did. I read it in one day during which I laughed, I was a bit tense by the mystery, and I was also emotional.

The protagonist of The Maid is Molly Gray who did remind me a bit of Eleanor Oliphant, but is also a unique character. Her grandmother raised her and supported her and, even though she has passed away, Molly still looks for her help and wisdom (these were the emotional parts for me) and she goes through life following her grandmother’s sayings. Molly is smart and strong-willed, polite and precise, but she doesn’t understand sarcasm and she trusts easily so she is often taken advantage of. That’s how she finds herself in trouble.

Now, about the plot. Molly works as a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel, known for its important VIP guests. Molly’s job is to return “rooms to a state of perfection” and she does it meticulously. When one of the most important guests in the hotel is found dead in his bed, Molly finds herself entangled in the investigation, because the guests may not see her, but she sees everything…

“I am your maid. I am the one who cleans your hotel room, who enters like a phantom when you’re out gallivanting for the day, no care at all about what you’ve left behind, the mess or what I might see when you’re gone.”

The Maid is truly an incredible addictive novel. It is brilliantly-written, entertaining, and witty. It is also intriguing, with a bit of suspense and a final twist that I didn’t see coming. It is also a bit heartbreaking as we see Molly missing her grandmother and struggling with things that for others are easy or normal. I really felt for her in those moments.

The Maid is an unforgettable and immersive novel with a one-of-a-kind protagonist that you won’t be able to put down until the very end. A must-read!!!

This book was not for me. I wanted to love it, really, and the premise of the story made it so intriguing, but the writing style was to prosaic for me and I wasn’t motivated to keep reading after all.

Totally fell in love with Molly the Maid and the host of characters from the Regency Grand. Can imagine that people who loved Eleanor Oliphant will be totally charmed by this book. Just the right balance of suspense, family drama, intrigue and charm.

THE MAID is a brilliant dark cozy mystery/thriller debut with intriguing whodunnit vibes
by Canadian author from Toronto, Anita Prose. Nita Prose is a longtime editor, serving many bestselling authors and their books. This novel had it all, and I am so impressed!

Molly Gray is a very detailed-oriented person, a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel, a 5-star boutique hotel, who takes pride in her job. She all alone in the world. She is so grateful for her job, after her gran’s death. Every day she arrives to work and feels alive. She loves her job. She was born to do this job. 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…

But life has been hard on Molly without her gran to guide her, who she relied on a lot. Molly gets nervous in social situations and struggles with social skills and difficulty interpreting expressions. Her gran used to interpret everything for her. She has no friends but at work she blends in.

After her gran’s death, Molly goes back to work the next day, and finds a wealthy tycoon guest, Mr. Black, dead in his bed.

Before she knows what’s happening, the police soon target Molly as the lead suspect in the death of Mr. Black. Molly is brought into the station to take her witness statement. Molly finds herself in a web of deception, but with the help of friends Molly never knew she had, unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black.

The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different. In this novel Molly learned to judge friends through their actions. So much depth and wisdom in this novel. One of my favorite quotes by her gran was:

If you want to know where someone’s going, don’t watch their mouths, watch their feet.

I loved everything about this novel and didn’t want it to end. Many thanks to the author and The Book Club Reviewer Request Group (FB) and the NetGalley Widget for my digital copy.

What an absolute joy to read.

Molly is such a charming character, I loved her from the beginning. The story flows well and draws you in and I felt like I wish I was part of her world.

A charming, light mystery. A definite recommendation from me.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I applaud The Maid for centering a neurodivergent character as the the lead, but at times it felt like Molly was more of a checklist of ASD stereotypes than an actually person. The mystery is nothing special, but kept me reading and the side characters were fun enough, but pretty much entirely one-dimensional.

The biggest let down in the book is the epilogue. Not every single mystery/thriller needs to have a twist ending and suddenly make the narrator an unreliable one. It's such a cliché at this point. It adds nothing to this book, and made me roll my eyes. If it hadn't been there, there book would have been one I thought was enjoyable, if forgettable, now it's one I'll remember for the wrong reasons.