If you've got a gambler's heart: THE MAID.

The Maid by Nita Prose
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Molly Gray has always been a bit different. She has trouble interpreting the social clues of others. For the first twenty-five years of her life, Molly had her Gran to help her navigate life. But Molly's Gran recently passed away, leaving Molly alone. Molly works as a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel, a job she adores: the order, the routine, the cleanliness. Molly lives for order and the joy in restoring hotel rooms to the perfection they require. Her routine is upended the day she finds one of the hotel's most famous guests, wealthy Charles Black, dead in his room. Molly's strange way of interacting with the world soon has the police convinced she was involved. It will take a group of friends--friends Molly never realized she had--to get her out of this mess and help Molly determine who really was responsible for Mr. Black's death.

This is one of those books that was slightly over-hyped for me, but I still really enjoyed it. The characters are excellent, especially Molly and Mr. Preston, the doorman at the hotel who looks out for her. Molly's way of looking at the world is different, yes, but she's also smart and charming. The book does a great job of highlighting that being different is not necessarily wrong--and, in fact, it might just be better.

While Molly's quirks are certainly part of the story, it's truly a murder mystery at heart, as we try to figure out who killed Mr. Black. His younger second wife? His ungrateful children? Other hotel guests or workers? As we filter information through Molly's eyes, there is much to uncover about the true goings on at the Regency Grand Hotel. Sometimes this was a bit saccharine for me, but overall a charming read and an intriguing story. 4+ stars.

I received a copy of this book from Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.

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