The Maid is the story of Molly, a neurodivergent maid at a fancy NYC hotel who finds a dead body one morning as she is making her cleaning rounds. She is, of course, railroaded by the cops, one in particular, and the reader knows she didn’t do it. How will she prove it? Enter her gang of unlikely and wonderful friends who help her hatch a scheme to catch the real killer.
There are so many things to love about this book. Molly is completely charming as a twenty-something who thinks and talks like a little old English lady, because she was raised by her Gran. All the characters have color names, so CLUE immediately springs to mind. The way Molly forgives and overcomes the people who talk down to her and make assumptions (she uses one of my favorite expressions about how to assume makes an a** out of [yo]u and me), and the way the friends work together is truly heartwarming.
Yes, there is pain in the book—Molly is grieving for her Gran, who has recently died, and she faces a mountain of financial difficulty, but her spirit remains unbroken and she is someone we would all like to have as a friend. The only thing I didn’t like about the novel is the final twist, but I will not give it away here. If you want to discuss, shoot me an email.
The Maid is a great example of using the story to get the message across. There is plenty of social commentary about the way neurodivergent people are treated, the way the working poor are mistreated, and how society could do better, but she doesn’t preach to us, she lets the story make us feel. Writers take note, this is how it is done.
I recommend this novel for readers who like Agatha Christie, Columbo, and closed room mysteries with a dash of heart.
London: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2022
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Robin Henry
Volunteer at the Department of Literature in Foreign Languages