My most recent read - The Maid - was something I picked up on recommendation from Hideo Kojima (of Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding fame) - it was in his list of 2022’s favourite mystery books podcast (#13 Video Kojima x Hideo’s Mysteries: Announcing This Year’s Golden Dozen Books! - Hideo Kojima presents Brain Structure). I am a HUGE Hideo Kojima fan, I’ve always said that he could release a game about watching paint dry (which isn’t too far flung from Death Stranding’s concept) and I’d pay full price and give it 5/5, so it seemed obvious to me to take up his book recommendations.
The Maid centres around a maid - called Molly Maid (stay with me) who works at the Grand Regency Hotel. Molly Maid (or Gray for her real name) is born for this job, she is an ardent rule-follower, specifically she sees her job as “returning rooms to a state of perfection”. Her colleagues think she’s odd, one in particular seems to think she can hoodwink Molly out of wealthier clients rooms so she can swindle tips away from Molly. Molly is a character who I think is quite vulnerable, she clearly is neurodivergent, in her thought patterns, processes and mindset. She comes across as naive to the shadier characters of the world, we’re always put into Molly’s viewpoint and the writing style ensures that the reader knows what’s going on even if Molly doesn’t. One day during cleaning one of her regular clients rooms, she discovers the occupant of that room, an extremely wealthy but very shady businessman called Mr Black, dead in his bed. What ensues is a classically cozy whodunnit murder mystery.
I found the style of this book so simple and straightforward. Weirdly - when it comes to books, I am more likely to enjoy them if I am able to conjure up a picture in my mind of what everything looks like. Don’t get me wrong, I do like some abstract writing, but I will typically read before bed, on holiday, when I’m fully relaxing - so I will often lean more into simpler written narratives. The Maid is this in swathes without being reductive. Due to Molly’s lack of understanding of the world, it’s very easy to identify our main suspects early on - but the why’s, how’s and when’s don’t reveal themselves until the final chapters. So you can go along with the narrative, but don’t expect to don your CSI hat to be the one to solve the crime with cleverly laid clues, it’s fairly obvious from the three or four characters we come across that it is definitely one of them.
The Maid is really enjoyable without being too simple - whilst it might feel like a narrative driven by 1920s values, it doesn’t shy away from very modern plot points - drug trafficking, immigration, extra-marital affairs, tax arrangements of sketchy businessmen; The Maid occupies an odd space of a COVID world with nostalgic tweeness - something I think daytime TV detective shows like Monk inhabit. It is difficult to not view The Maid through the eyes and expectations established by Monk and other genteel detective shows. But I don’t think this harms the narrative, I enjoyed it. I am a fan of gruesome/ultra-horror novels, often there is little hope to be found in the pages of these types of narratives, but The Maid was a refreshing break from the usual fare on my Kindle (my previous read - A Perfect Child, and prior to the set up of The Media Comfortist I read Woom - which I would not recommend). The Maid is designed to be innocent, enjoyable, warm, cozy. I think it would make for a perfect read under a blanket in the depths of winter with a cup of tea.
The one thing that really makes me like The Maid - is a realistically, well rounded female character with neurodivergence. The way Molly approaches things, daily tasks, her job, her relationships is very endearing. She ultimately wants to believe that people are good, the world is a good place, and it’s her job to fit into the system and to uphold the system. Whether it’s fairness around paying her rent and debt, protecting her grandmother from unfortunate events, seeing the good in everyone and every situation, seeing her role as extremely important in the wider presence of the hotel, she never seems to tire or get frustrated by it all. Even when things are looking pretty dire for her, she sticks firmly to the truth believing that this will absolve her of any accusations of wrong-doing.
The Maid is a really enjoyable, sweet, charming novel that isn’t changing the world, or doing anything particularly revolutionary, but I highly recommend this book. It’s a quick-ish read, with enough narrative mystery to keep you hooked, with a delightful protagonist who brings a refreshing viewpoint to her world.
The Maid is available via Amazon Kindle currently available for 99p for the Kindle edition.