Book Smart Kate

Book: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Audiobook: 🌟🌟 💫 Spice: N/A

by Nita Prose

This book had been on my physical TBR for almost a year, and I’m so glad I finally had time to read it. It is a quick murder mystery with a unique neurodivergent main character in Molly the Maid.

Molly may struggle with social skills but thrives on order, structure, and detail – three things that have made her one of the best maids at the five-star Regency Grand Hotel. She is obsessive about cleaning, which means she loves her job. Infamous businessman Charles Black and his wife-du-jour have been staying at the Regency for years, but on this occasion, when Molly goes to clean their suite, she finds Mr. Black to be very, very dead. Because Molly handles social situations much differently than many, the police find her behavior suspicious. Soon, Molly is the prime suspect in Black’s murder, and she must band together with her fellow Regency employees to discover the real killer before it is too late.

What a fun read, an exciting whodunit, and a thoroughly unique main character (with an inexplicable love for the Olive Garden). I adore Molly and the cast of characters working at the Regency who band together to help her. The way she translates the world is an interesting element of the story. The mystery had many interesting twists but, at under 300 pages, also had a tightly constructed and efficient storyline. 

This is one of those rare books where I will tell you to refrain from listening to the audiobook. When reading the print version, you get a sense of Molly’s neurodivergence and understand how she struggles to understand the words and actions of others through her very unique lens. However, in the audiobook narration of the story, Molly comes across as somewhat more childlike, which I do not believe is the book’s intent.