THE MAID by Nita Prose

Molly is a hotel maid who seems to be on the autism spectrum.  She misinterprets other people’s emotions and sarcastic comments, and consequently she is a poor judge of character.  A man whom she thinks of as a boyfriend steals her nest egg, leaving her to struggle to make ends meet.  She is, however, a model employee, very focused on tidiness, at least until she discovers the dead body of Charles Black, a wealthy and regular guest at the hotel.  Molly’s social inadequacies, if you want to call them that, make her a target for those who want to shift the blame to someone ill-equipped to fight back.  She soon discovers that she has helpful resources that she did not even know about, in addition to her own sharp memory and observations.  Molly is a plucky heroine with a strong ethical base, but she has no scruples about hiding the truth when she feels she needs to protect someone.  I would brand this a cozy mystery—no sex, no gunfire, and no resemblance to reality.  Still, I enjoyed trying to distinguish the good eggs from the bad eggs, especially since Molly’s judgment is suspect.