What really stands out in Nita Prose’s The Maid, is the glorious characterisation of her central character. Even before the discovery of the murder, Molly has her challenges. Her fellow employees at the Regency Grand Hotel find her strange, awkward and robotic – a diligent misfit. Left without the guiding hand of her recently-deceased grandmother, Molly is struggling more than ever with social cues.
That we see the world of the hotel and indeed the events surrounding the Mr Black’s death through Molly’s neurodivergent filter on the world is Nita Prose’s clever take on an unreliable narrator. Is Molly trusting the right people? Where do we find the truth in a neurotypical world from a character whose observations are uniquely skewed and uncertain?
Prose puts her protagonist through the ringer, piling test upon trial on our increasingly forsaken heroine. She plunges Molly into so much trouble, even the stoniest reader would fear that all may indeed be lost for her.