‘The Maid’s Secret’ by Nita Prose       (2025) – 320 pages

‘The Maid’s Secret’ is a fun, if not deep, read.

The lively plot, especially that involving the Fabergé egg, is quite contrived and far-fetched, but that didn’t matter. I suppose that the plot being incredibly unlikely is part of the fun. It’s full of life and emotion and true to its heartfelt feelings.

When it comes to fiction. rare is it for me to defend or even notice best sellers. My interests are usually more literary than that. I suppose I am that terrible thing, a literary snob. And yet,…

I somehow found and much enjoyed Canadian writer Nita Prose’s first Molly the Maid novel, ‘The Maid’. It has now been adapted into a movie by Universal Pictures, starring Florence Pugh.

In the well-written ‘The Maid’s Secret’, Molly has a fiancee now, Juan Manuel, who is a pastry chef at the hotel. Juan is such a wonderful person he falls into the unbelievable category. That didn’t matter to me either.

The television hosts Beagle and Brown are at the Regency Grand Hotel where Molly works. Molly has been promoted to the position of Head Maid and Special Events Manager, but she is still the same old level-headed Molly. Beagle and Brown have brought their Hidden Treasures show to be filmed at the hotel. Molly has an old shoe box of knick-knacks for them to evaluate on their show. Most of them are worthless, of sentimental value only. But, wouldn’t you know it, buried at the bottom of the box is a jeweled egg. Beagle and Brown determine that it is a Fabergé egg with a minimum value of at least five million dollars.

Molly is such a hit on television, she becomes an instant reality TV star. The phrase “I’m just a maid” becomes the country’s top catchphrase. A film crew follows Molly and Juan Manuel around for a few days.

Of course this is silly stuff, but Nita Prose has a light touch which makes this story enjoyable to read. This light touch reminds me of Agatha Christie or Anne Tyler or even Jane Austen herself. For me, these Molly the Maid novels are like a vacation from my more heavy duty reading.

The chapters alternate between Molly with the Fabergé egg in the present and the story of her deceased gran, grandmother, Flora Gray in the past. Flora Gray’s story is told through her locked diary which she had kept especially for Molly. Molly learned some of her most important life lessons from her gran Flora Gray. Here is Flora polishing silver:

“With a bit of elbow grease, the tarnish was eradicated. Real life is never that easy – the filth is much harder to wipe away.”

Flora’s parents want her to marry the son of one of their business competitors while Flora falls in love with the son of their butler.

I realize that these Maid novels are far, far from Dostoevsky. Even I can see that they lack depth. However Nita Prose writes about likable characters in lively plots that keep moving, so I give her a break in the profundity department.

Of course there is a grand finale, the wedding.

Grade:    A

‘The Maid’ by Nita Prose   (2022) – 289 pages

There are seasons in publishing just as there are in nature. New fiction by established writers often gets published in October so it is ready and available for Christmas shopping. By December, too late for Christmas, little fiction is published. What about January? January is the time for debut novelists who will then have nearly a full year for the public to get acquainted with them before the next Christmas shopping rush.

“The Maid” by the debut novelist Nita Prose was published this month, January 2022.

Consider the maids in a luxury hotel, in this case the Regency Grand. It makes no difference where the hotel is located since the situation is the same around the world. The maids must clean up whatever messes the guests have made and leave their assigned rooms in perfect condition. They are probably paid minimum wage or thereabout, yet they are around luxury and well-to-do people their entire workday. Do they make much in guest tips? I don’t know. There is a tendency to take the maids for granted.

“It’s easier than you’d ever think – existing in plain sight while remaining largely invisible. That’s what I’ve learned from being a maid. You can be so important to the fabric of things and yet be entirely overlooked. It’s a truth that applies to maids, and to others as well so it seems. It’s a truth that cuts close to the bone.”

What gives this murder story its charm is that it is told from the perspective of the maid Molly. Molly loves her job as a maid at the Regency General. Her grandmother who brought her up instilled in Molly the old-fashioned values – honesty, outward cheerfulness, and reliability.

Being brought up in quite isolated circumstances by her grandmother, now Molly is grateful when anyone does any act that indicates they may want to be friends with her. Thus she is a poor judge of character. She has not learned that “Poor company is worse than none”.

What Molly is very good at is cleaning up each hotel room she is assigned and returning it to a state of perfection. She also practices “Discreet courtesy, invisible but present customer service.” She is totally and completely dedicated to her job, yet she is accused of the murder of a prominent business man who rents a penthouse room in the hotel along with his wife.

This is the kind of murder mystery that you don’t examine the details too closely with a critical eye for inconsistencies or improbabilities. You just go with the flow and feel the warmth. Some of the surprises are telegraphed way, way ahead of time, and you would have to be a imbecile not to see them coming. This is a story for the heart, not the intellect.

This is not a heavy-duty demanding read like a lot of my reading. I enjoyed this lighter fare and the engaging personality of Molly the Maid for a change.

Grade:   A