Book reviewed by Dinh.
Review:
Our book group chose the mystery genre, and we voted on The Maid by Nita Prose for our suggested read for this month. I usually don’t do re-reads but I didn’t mind re-reading this book. I read it two years ago when it came out and I don’t remember what happened in the book but I remembered that I enjoyed it.
So how did The Maid perform this time compared to the first time? In short – almost the same! According to my Goodreads account, I gave it 5 stars but now it’s 4.5 stars. It’s very good either way!
Here’s what I liked about it:
Story Line
I love that the murder mystery plot is set in a hotel.
Molly Gray works at the Grand Regency hotel as a maid. She loves what she does and is very meticulous about cleaning. She is 25 and living alone after her Gran recently passed away.
One day, she finds wealthy Mr. Black dead man in the room she is about to clean and she faints on seeing the dead body.
When Molly comes to, she calls for help and explains what she saw.
When detective Stark starts investigating the case, Molly is under scrutiny and becomes a suspect. How can Molly prove her innocence? Lucky for her that she watched Colombo with her Gran and she starts to investigate and put the pieces together.
Author’s Style
Firstly, I have to comment on how wonderful this debut by Nita Prose is!
This was a quick and easy read that pulls you in right away. It was very entertaining and had the right mix of intrigue that kept you guessing in this ‘whodunit’ cozy mystery. The story line kept on moving and there was never a dull moment.
Secondly, I loved that the author chose to deliver the book via the voice of Molly the maid. Molly is on the spectrum (autism spectrum disorder (ASD)). Setting the point of view of Molly made me connect with her and her quirky thoughts. It’s a refreshing way to look at the world through Molly’s eyes!
Thirdly, Nita Prose nailed it with having a select number of characters that were ‘bad eggs’ in contrast to the good eggs. The contrast made for a heartwarming tale when Molly tries to figure out these ‘bad eggs’ in her life. There were parts of the story that pulled my heartstrings.
Fourthly, through writing the main character with ASD, Prose has brought up many themes. The main ones that I focused on were family, loyalty, and friendship whilst reading the book. However, I was left with a distinct question at the end of the book – what happens to the person when their support system is gone? Molly was fortunate that she had Gran to help her navigate the world but with Gran passing, Molly was struggling with life.
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Characters
I absolutely adored Molly Gray.
Molly the maid is a perfect character written in this story. I thought it was great to have the main character on the spectrum. We don’t usually see many books written from the point of view of someone with ASD. I like that I could empathize with Molly and see the complexity of her character.
Although Gran is not alive in this book, she is continuously coming up. Gran was the person that raised Molly. Molly’s life is empowered by Gran. She taught her to be strong, and gave her skills to help her live her life. She accepted and loved Molly for who she was.
Mr. Preston, who also works at the hotel, is a heartwarming character. He is like a grandfather figure to Molly. He looks out for her and tries to help her out.
Ending
I enjoyed the happy ending. However, there were some shocking twists that didn’t really fit with the flow of the book. I won’t go into details and give spoiler alerts but the direction of the story didn’t need one of the plot twists.
My Final Thoughts:
I really enjoyed reading The Maid by Nita Prose. It was a light cozy mystery that had a good cast of characters, with an endearing main character.
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