The Maid is a murder mystery set in the Regency Grand, a luxury hotel, and is narrated by the protagonist, Molly Gray. Molly, AKA Molly the Maid, is a twenty-five year old woman on the autism spectrum with the additional trait of being obsessive-compulsive. Her grandmother died nine months earlier, and Molly is now living without the woman who helped Molly interpret the other peoples’ social cues. Prose does an admirable job showing how differently Molly’s mind works, yet those differences are smoothed over as Molly mentally hears her grandmother’s words: We’re all the same in the different ways. Molly at first that everyone is open and honest. Her lack of understanding of the human behavior leads to her being easily manipulated. Molly enjoys bringing order to the hotel—and to her own home—by cleaning up, another eccentricity which adds to the distance between her and others. Her oddness leads to her own behavior being misinterpreted by fellow employees, and they often are not kind in expressing their feelings, churning out insults such as: Roomba, Neat Freak, and Weirdo.
One day when Molly goes to clean a suite, she discovers the body of a wealthy hotel guest, a businessman named Mr. Black. Her oddities contribute to her becoming the lead suspect in the murder. As she relates her story, she gives the reader privileged information, allowing them to see things Molly either doesn’t understand or misinterprets.
The Maid is an atypical who-dunnit with an unusual protagonist. I enjoyed Molly’s voice, her optimism, her peculiarities, and her unwitting humor.
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