The Maid: A GMA Book Club Pick: A Novel (Molly the Maid)

Very nicely written murder mystery. Loved how well organized the plot unfolded and character twist and turns.

I would place this book under a cozy mystery genre. The narrator is Molly Gray, the maid, who is a 25yr old that struggles with social interactions and misinterprets others intents. She works at the Regency Grand Hotel, where she finds Mr. Black (one of their regular guest) dead in his bed. Molly becomes a suspect of Mr. Black’s murder and must figure out what happened to not get wrongfully accused. Although there is a mystery to this book, I found the books’ main focus to be on Molly’s personal growth and the relationships in her life. Molly lived with her grandmother until she passed away. She relied on her Gran to help her interpret peoples intents and for guidance with social interactions. Since Gran’s passing, she’s had to navigate life on her own. The book also covers treatment of the working class and friendships. Molly does an impeccable job when it comes to cleaning. She describes the invisibility of a maid to the guest, but also makes it a point to show that a maid knows a lot more about the guests than they think. The maid is a short and straightforward story. It was a heartwarming and enjoyable read for me. But if you’re solely looking for an actual thriller mystery book then this is not it.

This book was surprisingly good because it was a page turner.

A quick fun mystery

This was a cozy mystery with a neurodivergent MC, Molly Gray, who loves her job as a maid at The Grand Regency Hotel. Molly's high attention to detail and love for cleaning allows her to return hotel rooms to states of perfection as well as stay invisible, which is her preference since she struggles with fully understanding social cues. When she stumbles upon the dead body of long-term hotel resident Mr. Black, she becomes the prime suspect. The story weaves a fun cast of characters as the mystery unravels.

As others have pointed out, there are moments where Molly is poorly depicted (we are intended to laugh at her rather than with her) and sometimes her actions are inconsistent with her character, waxing and waning depending on the needs of the story. I did enjoy most aspects of the plot but struggled with the ending. I don't like when mysteries withhold information pertinent to the murder from the reader. I felt like this particular "twist" cheapened the story. I know the focus wasn't so much about the murder but more about the character arc of Molly, but I would have been more satisfied if it was handled differently.