Book Review - The Maid by Nita Prose

Title: The Maid
Series: -
Author: Nita Prose
 
Description: Molly Gray is not like everyone. She struggles with social skills and misreads 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, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life’s complexities all by herself. 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. But Molly’s orderly life is upended 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 dead in his bed. Before she knows what’s happening, Molly’s unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect.   
 
Review: Nita Prose’s “The Maid” falls under the genre of ‘cozy mystery’, a fairly new genre. However, books in this genre have been written for many years, perhaps even count Agatha Christie’s among them.
 
I was so excited to read this book, because I had read so many good reviews. Which always makes it very difficult that, when you’re actually read it yourself and finish it, you’re one of the few that doesn’t like it. So, be ready for an unpopular opinion.
 
The main character is hotel maid Molly, a naïve, and rather unremarkable girl. She enjoys working at the Regency Grand Hotel and loves the grandeur of the hotel. When she is at work, she is who she wants to be, even though no one really takes notice of her. That changes when a murder is committed at the hotel. Molly finds the wealthy Mr. Black dead in his room and she is the main suspect.  
 
“The Maid” starts out good, I always like characters that are a bit unusual or awkward, because so am I. And I really did like Molly. An even though it’s never literally said in the book, she is clearly intended to be an autistic woman, but they made Molly a bit too stereotypical.
 
The story lacks tension and intrigue and besides Molly, there is no real character development in this story. And I hated the ending. The book drags on to long, only to be revealing an anti-climactic and unsatisfying closing of the story.
 
“The Maid” is by no means a badly-written book, I just didn’t enjoy it as much as most.
 
Rating: 2/ 5