Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with a copy of Nita Prose’s novel The Maid.
Molly Gray is proud of her profession as a maid at a top London hotel. She values cleanliness, manners, and discretion, happy to complete her mission of returning every hotel room back to a “state of perfection.” Recently, Molly has suffered a major loss when her beloved gran, the woman who raised her, passed away. Molly, who is just in her early twenties, is now completely alone and struggling to make ends meet.
To add to her troubles, Molly discovers the body of a high-profile hotel guest and is now part of the police investigation. Her situation is amplified by Molly’s trusting nature and inability to recognize social cues, which leads to the wrong people seeking to take advantage of her. Readers quickly learn that this stately London hotel is filled with sordid characters looking to take advantage of Molly.
I throughly enjoyed The Maid. Prose has written a solid mystery with compelling characters and a perfect balance of humor and humanity. I fell in love with sweet Molly and the relationship that she has with her gran. It hurt to see Molly get involved in so many bad situations, including some of her own volition, however, as anyone can imagine, our protagonist prevails in the end and her victory is even more poignant. The story has a lovely theme of finding family in the people around you, not just blood relatives. As I am in a similar situation as Molly, with no living relatives, this theme resonated strongly with me.
Molly’s logic and unintentional sense of humor had me smiling throughout. The Maid is a delightful read and I really hope that Prose is planning a sequel, as I could use more Molly Gray in my life!