A charmingly eccentric hotel maid discovers a guest murdered in his bed. Solving the mystery will turn her once orderly world upside down...
Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misinterprets 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 had to navigate 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.
But Molly’s orderly life is turned on its head the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself very dead in his bed. Before she knows what’s happening, Molly’s unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black—but will they be able to find the real killer before it’s too late?
Oh dear. I'm sorry. It's a mixed review from me.
First of all, it's a great, intriguing idea. Molly is a very clever character, and apart from jumping in and out of flashbacks with no warning or differentiation, I really enjoyed her 'voice'. It was a very clever way to show us some of the things that were going on without letting her in on them, as she didn't pick up on cues that we did.
However, this novel breaks one of the important rules for mysteries; we, the audience, had no possible way of knowing who did the crime, because important information was hidden from us until Molly revealed it, off handedly, after everything else was resolved. It made the rest of the story almost seem pointless, because we didn't have enough information to make a guess at the culprit. Those final moments also completely change our view of Molly's character, which may be the point but makes the whole rest of the novel feel slightly pointless. This is just my opinion, though! Your Milage May Vary.
Apart from that, though, this was a great story. I loved Molly's found family, and the ending is very cute. I've heard that this has been optioned as a movie, and I'm very interested to see how they do it; so much of the point of this is Molly's narration, and I can't imagine them running it over 90% of the movie (but who knows! Maybe they will.) I'll definitely be looking to watch it, anyway.
A really clever idea, but that one aspect didn't sit will with me.
The Maid publishes on the 4th of January, 2022 in the US (lower image) and on the 29th of January, 2022 in the UK (top image, look at that green!) I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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