THE MAID

 

SYNOPSIS

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?

Title: The maid

Author: Nita Prose

Publisher: Harper Collins UK

Publication date: January 20, 2022

REVIEW

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

Before reading The Maid I had seen several glowing reviews about it, so I was anxious to find out myself what it was all about. Now that I've read it I can say all those reviews were absolutely right. In a year of great debuts, Nita Prose joins that list of fantastic first novels. 

The Maid is truly delightful. Molly the Maid is one of the most charming and unique characters I've read lately and one you can't help falling in love with.

Molly has always been different. Her inability to read social cues, facial expressions or understand words in a non literal sense made her the focus of ridicule and cruelty when she was a child, but she always had her grandma to help her navigate life and explain those things to her. But now her grandma is gone and she must face all alone a world that is not always grateful with those who are different. When a guest is found dead at her workplace, her quirkiness will put her front and center of a murder investigation in which she soon will be chief suspect.

Although The Maid reads like a cozy mystery it has much more depth than your usual cozies. Molly is such a memorable character (think Eleanor Oliphant with murders). As you turn pages you just want to protect her, especially when people prey on her because of her differences and she's not able to perceive it (I wanted to punch some people!). It was a pleasure following her journey and seeing how she found some unexpected allies along the way.

The murder mystery itself was fun to try to solve. It built slowly and had certain locked room mystery vibes (my favorite!).

The Maid is the perfect blend of mystery, humor and heartwarming characters (honestly, I would read a book just about Molly's day to day, no murders involved) and it gives a great message at the same time it delivers a really entertaining story.

I predict it will be a huge success once it comes out next month. It hasn't been published yet and  already can't wait to see what Nita Prose comes out with next.

Molly, you're definitely SEEN now!

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.