Do Not Disturb, Kick Crime to the Curb: All's Well That Ends Well in the Gran Scheme of Things

For our latest book club pick, my sister chose Nita Prose's The Mystery Guest.  It's the follow-up to Prose's The Maid, the heartbreaking yet heartwarming story of an unusual maid who must dust her way out of a murder accusation.  You may recall that I enjoyed The Maid but sometimes found it painful to read.  So I wasn't sure what to expect from The Mystery Guest.

This time, the murder victim is mystery author J. D. Grimthorpe.  Once again, Molly is a suspect -- as is her protégé, the equally awkward Lily.  Also as before, Molly relies on her late Gran's wit and wisdom to make her way out of the mess.  Indeed, Prose alternates between the present and the past, delving deeper into Molly's childhood to help us understand who she is.  And although there are more than a few sad memories, I wasn't as disturbed as I was when reading the first book.  I think it's because I feel that these details, disconcerting though they may be, ultimately lead to light instead of darkness.  

That said, the plot has some intriguing twists, the least significant of which is whodunit.  Because as with The Maid, the point of The Mystery Guest isn't to solve the murder so much as it is to chart Molly's growth.  As Gran (and John Lennon) always said:  

"Everything will be okay in the end.  If it's not okay, it's not the end." 

And it's certainly not the end for Molly.  Because Prose has at least two more maid books coming out. 😏

Maid in the Shade, Then the Sunshine

When my sister chose Nita Prose's The Maid to read for our book club, I thought it was Maid, the novel that became a gritty Netflix series.  Naturally, I was relieved to find out that it wasn't that book.  But once I started turning the pages of Prose's debut not-quite-whodunit, my concern returned.  

Twenty-five-year-old Molly Gray is a maid at a fancy hotel.  But she isn't a clock puncher eager to trade her Pledge for party clothes after her shift.  Cleaning is Molly's life.  She takes unparalleled joy in "returning rooms to a state of perfection" and maintains a rigorous home housework schedule in the tenement she shares with her grandmother.  Molly and her grandmother are best friends.  Actually, Gran is Molly's only friend.  Her wisdom, often dispensed as aphorisms, helps Molly navigate the daily challenge of social situations as well as the sometimes not-so-nice (i.e. cruel) colleagues and guests she encounters.

So it isn't easy being Molly.  And it gets more difficult when she finds a dead body while cleaning the penthouse.  What happens next tests everything Molly knows -- and doesn't know -- about how people work.  Their characters, their motivations, and their shockingly common tendency to bend the truth.  Watching her forge through the forest that is this puzzle is painful, memories of her grandmother and other past moments mingling to reveal the extent of her struggles.          

Prose's story isn't so much about solving a murder mystery, or even the mystery of Molly herself.  It's about understanding -- and ultimately respecting -- people who are different.  Because as Gran herself often says, "We're all the same in different ways."  By placing Molly in a dangerous situation, Prose magnifies her otherness, rousing our sympathies.  But she also shows us that Molly has the rare kind of courage that just might save the day.   

Poignant and human and sometimes hard to read, The Maid is a metaphor for life's messes.  In the end, I was glad we read it for book club.

If only as a little reminder that we're each equipped with our own kind of mop.