Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
Whenever a mystery novel becomes a huge book-club darling, I’m curious. That’s what brought me to The Maid by Nita Prose, a quirky, “cozy” murder mystery set inside the Regency Grand Hotel, featuring a maid who finds herself at the center of a homicide investigation. The premise sounded fun and fresh. But after finishing it, I walked away more frustrated than entertained.
In this review, I’ll break down what didn’t work for me, where the story had potential, and why I ultimately gave it a 2/5. And yes - spoilers are fair game from here on out.
The Maid
Nita Prose
“The Maid” follows Molly Gray, a hotel maid whose rigid routines and literal-minded innocence make her both endearing and exasperating as she’s swept into a murder investigation at the upscale Regency Grand Hotel. Told through her unique, often awkward perspective, the story blends mystery, character study, and a touch of heart—exploring loneliness, belonging, and how easily a misunderstood person can get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The Concept Had Promise — But the Execution Felt Off
The book follows Molly Gray, a maid who takes enormous pride in cleaning rooms with military-level precision. Her world is orderly and ritualistic, largely shaped by her grandmother’s rules and sayings. When Molly discovers the body of wealthy guest Charles Black in his hotel bed, she’s swept into a murder investigation where everyone around her seems to understand more than she does.
The hook is strong: a neurodivergent-coded protagonist, a charming hotel setting, and a murder mystery with class tensions simmering underneath. On paper, I should have loved this. But the deeper I got, the more things unraveled.
Molly Just Didn’t Work for Me as a Protagonist
My biggest issue, and the reason this landed at 2/5, is Molly herself. I did not like the main character, and not in the intentional, “flawed character” way. She was frustrating because she didn’t feel consistently written.
Sometimes she’s portrayed as almost childlike, unable to recognize obvious manipulation. Other times she suddenly reveals hidden insights, emotional intelligence, or strategic thinking that contradict everything we’ve been told about her. This inconsistency isn’t character complexity; it’s bad writing.
Her endless stream of “Gran-isms” also wore me thin. Instead of adding wisdom or depth, the quotes felt like filler. After the tenth time Molly recited one, I found myself skimming.
The book seems to want to paint Molly as misunderstood but clever, yet it doesn’t commit to a clear portrayal. Is she naive? Savvy? Socially blind? Secretly perceptive? The answer changes depending on what the plot needs in the moment.
For a character-driven mystery, that’s a pretty big problem.
The Writing Style Felt Simplistic and Repetitive
Another major reason this review leans negative: I found the writing surprisingly weak.
The prose felt overly simple, sometimes bordering on juvenile. Repetition abounds: Molly repeats names, phrases, and reminders so often that it becomes exhausting. Instead of letting readers infer things, the book spells everything out. And then spells it out again.
The tone also swings awkwardly between whimsy and darker themes (drug dealing, abuse, manipulation, murder). Instead of complementing each other, these shifts clash. I never felt the tension the story wanted me to feel. The stakes never landed.
Spoiler Time: The Plot Was Not as Clever as It Thinks It Is
If the writing and character work had been stronger, maybe the mystery could have carried the story. Unfortunately, even the plot felt undercooked.
The Big Reveal (Which… Isn’t Much of a Reveal)
Ultimately, we learn that:
Giselle (Charles Black’s much younger wife) killed him in self-defense.
Molly helped cover it up.
Molly also quietly manipulated parts of the situation behind the scenes.
The police ignored clues because they underestimated her.
The hotel staff and Molly’s coworkers were cartoonishly villainous in their exploitation of her.
The twist is positioned as empowering; that Molly isn’t as helpless as she seems. But it didn’t feel earned. The book never laid believable groundwork for Molly’s secret competence. It felt tacked on to justify a “gotcha” ending.
The Side Plots Felt Contrived
The drug-dealing storyline? Random and never fully fleshed out.
The abusive husband subplot? Dropped in and then rushed.
Giselle’s loyalty to Molly? Never convincingly built.
The police misunderstanding Molly? Repetitive and predictable.
Everything felt a little too convenient. A little too melodramatic. A little too… tidy.
The Book Wants to Be Heartwarming - But It’s Not
Plenty of readers adore cozy mysteries where the charm comes from characters, not bloodshed. But The Maid tries so hard to be heartwarming that it ends up feeling forced.
Molly’s innocence is exaggerated. The villains are one-dimensional. The emotional beats are spoon-fed.
The book wants me to root for Molly, but because I couldn’t fully believe her characterization, I couldn’t emotionally invest. When the final chapters aim for “uplifting,” I mostly felt indifferent.
What Did Work: The Setting and the Theme of Invisibility
To be fair, here are the aspects I genuinely liked:
1. The Hotel Setting
The Regency Grand is a great backdrop for a mystery. It’s polished on the outside, messy beneath the surface. The routines of cleaning, the hierarchy of staff, and the luxury-meets-chaos environment were immersive.
2. The Theme of Being “Invisible”
The idea that service workers are overlooked until it’s convenient is one of the strongest messages in the book. Molly’s invisibility both hurts her and protects her, and that dynamic could have been powerful with better execution.
3. The Cozy Atmosphere
If you like mysteries that aren’t gruesome or intense, this book delivers on low-stakes coziness.
Final Verdict: Not a Book I’d Recommend
Why I landed on 2/5:
I found the main character frustrating and inconsistently written.
The writing style was simplistic and repetitive.
The plot relied on convenience more than cleverness.
Emotional investment never clicked.
The Maid is a book that had a great foundation but didn’t build anything strong on top of it.
If you love gentle mysteries with quirky protagonists and don’t mind uneven writing, you might enjoy it. But if you’re expecting a sharp, tightly crafted murder mystery with a memorable lead, this one may fall flat.