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Discussing The Maid by Nita Prose: Ending and Other Spoilers

Discussing The Maid by Nita Prose: Ending and Other Spoilers

Let’s talk about the ending and other key twists from The Maid by Nita Prose.

Welcome to the spoiler discussion for The Maid! If you’re looking for a spoiler-free review, check out mine here. For book clubs looking for discussion questions, you can find that here.

I really enjoyed The Maid! I thought it was quite charming in many ways, which is not how you typically describe a murder mystery. I rooted for Molly throughout her journey and I really enjoyed her character development.

Overall, it’s a clever and entertaining read. Like all murder mysteries, this one features quite a few twists. And they were surprising!

First, a quick synopsis: Molly Gray is a maid at a five-star hotel. She has trouble interpreting the intentions of others and struggles in social settings. But she takes great pride in her work. Molly’s life is upended the day she enters the suite where she finds a famous guest is dead. Molly’s unusual demeanor results in her becoming the lead suspect. She’ll eventually work with a cast of characters to help clear her name.

The Big Reveals

Spoilers from here on out!

It initially appears that the mystery is fairly cut-and-dried. Rodney, the head bartender, ran a drug cartel at the hotel. He murdered Mr. Black. Case close.

But it wasn’t.

It turns out while Rodney is a very bad dude, he did not actually kill Mr. Black. It was Mr. Black’s first wife, the original Mrs. Black. I have to say, I was very surprised by this reveal! I had assumed it was Rodney all along.

I did reread a couple sections and the author does give hints that Molly knows more than what she’s letting on—to both the police and the reader.

For instance, toward the end, when Detective Stark clears Molly of all charges and says Rodney will go to jail for a long time, Molly says: “That seems appropriate. He’s a liar, an abuser, and a cheat.”

“He’s also a murderer,” Mr. Preston adds.

I say nothing.

On my initial read, I didn’t put much stock in that. But now, I can see she clearly knew Rodney did not commit the murder and also did not volunteer that information.

And when rereading Molly’s time on the stand, she never explicitly says she saw Rodney but implies it in a somewhat discreet way. Molly claims she simply told her version of the truth and how people interpret it, is up to them. But I think she knew what she was doing.

Molly and Gran

I truly enjoyed the dynamic and relationship between Molly and her gran. It was so sweet and lovely—well to a certain point in the book. I will say, Molly’s actions revealed at the end kind of clouded it for me a bit.

Gran’s pain became absolutely unbearable and they didn’t have the money to keep up with the pain prescriptions as needed or more hospital stays. So gran asked Molly to, I don’t know how else to say it, assist with her death. Molly put the remaining pills in her tea and then used gran’s pillow to suffocate her.

Again, this was gran’s idea and she pushed Molly to do it. But agh, that whole ordeal left me with a weird feeling!

A strange story choice, in my opinion. I get that this action helped with her eventual connection to Mrs. Black. But I don’t know, it was way out of left field for me. What are your thoughts about it?

The Ending

Mr. Black was a cheater, abuser and a criminal so no one was sad to see him gone. What happened the day of his murder is that Mrs. Black went to confront him and Mr. Black was pretty much drugged out but still managed to grab her by the wrists so hard that she would get bruises.

He eventually stumbled into bed and laid down. And that’s when Mrs. Black suffocated him with the pillow.

Upon this reveal, she says to Molly, “In my experience, there are times when a good person must do something that’s not quite right, but it’s still the right thing to do.”

This resonated with Molly as gran asked her to assist with her death, and while it was a horrible thing to ask, Molly felt it was the right thing to do for gran in the end. Molly says to herself, “mercy takes unexpected forms.”

Between that and the acknowledgement that many bad people seem to go free while they continue to hurt good people, Molly decided not to report that Mrs. Black was the actual murderer.

Tell Me Your Thoughts

I thought the twists was interesting—both the fact that Mrs. Black was the real murderer and that Molly knew all along. It showed Molly was more perceptive than she let on.

But still a bit strange regarding Molly’s actions with her gran’s death. And that’s one reason she bonded with Mrs. Black. It’s certainly a twist but an odd one at that.

One more item to point out that it seems Mr. Preston is actually Molly’s grandfather! I wonder why that was only heavily implied but Molly did not seem aware of it. Maybe a sequel is in store?

Still, I did very much enjoy the story, even if a couple parts were a little clunky.

What are your thoughts about the novel? Were you surprised by the twists? What do you hope to see in the movie version? Let me know below!

adrastos

Sunday 18th of August 2024

I am still not clear on if Mr Preston was indeed Molly grandfather, that part was not very clear. I did re-read many parts over and over to see if I was interperting it in a way that was wrong, but to no avail, I still couldn't make heads or tails of it. As for Mrs Black suffocating Mr Black with the pillow and Molly comparing both her and Mrs Blacks actions as both of them used a pillow in... I am a little disturbed that Molly did infact, suffocate her Gran. While we know that was the Grans idea, I am a little disturbed that Milly did as her Gran wished. We know it was what the Gran wanted, but still, it is murder and that is illegal. As for the medical examiner not finding out that she was indeed suffocated leaves something to be discovered because in this day and age, the suffocation would have of been discovered. I enjoyed the book, but many a parts are not really clear, so the reader has to e-read a few parts a few times.

Heather

Tuesday 27th of August 2024

@adrastos, hi, thanks for your comment! Yes, I agree the author left it somewhat ambiguous in the first novel regarding Mr. Preston's true relations to Molly. This is addressed further in the sequel, The Mystery Guest. So if you liked The Maid, I encourage you to check it out as it goes into Gran's history in more detail as well as more about Mr. Preston.

Yes, I agree regarding Molly, the pillow and Gran. I truly enjoyed the book but that story choice did not sit well with me and I wish the author would have made a different narrative choice. In the end, it was murder and that fact being glossed over, was bizarre to me. I had to reread it to be sure that's in fact what happened.

Adrastos

Thursday 25th of July 2024

I liked the book very much. I want to re-read the last chapter. I like the way you explained it all. I am thinking she also knew who the real killer was, but was not going to turn her in because in reality, Molly was a murderer herself, as she aided in her grans death. She killed her, be it right or wrong. She didn't tell anyone that Rodney didn't kill Mr Black, she said nothing I'm thinking because she knew he was a bad egg anyway. I didn't see the ending either. Then Molly ended up with Juan Manuel as her BF. I also picked up that Sunshine's son that got the job in the hotel as another maid was gay, and that didn't seem to bother Molly at all. I was happy they both got thier jobs back. It was a nice story and a good easy read. I did enjoy it.

Heather

Tuesday 27th of August 2024

@Adrastos, hi, thanks for your comment! I agree with your perspective as well regarding why Molly didn't reveal the truth about who killed Mr. Black. The author wrote a sequel, The Mystery Guest, which is also entertaining! It features flashbacks to Gran and a younger Molly. I quite liked it a lot too so definitely check out if you're looking to read more about Molly and company.

Steve Brett

Saturday 13th of July 2024

Thanks for your insights on the Maid, which I agree with. What I would add about the ending is that as well as Molly ending her Gran’s life feeling weird to me also, that this was a justification for Molly not revealing the truth about the murderer! Mr. Black may have been a terrible person but that doesn’t mean the murderer should not be brought to justice. The truth is the truth. Molly conflating her ending her Gran’s life with her reason for not revealing the murderer I found bizarre and disturbing and turned me off the book to be honest.

Heather

Tuesday 27th of August 2024

@Steve Brett, hi, thanks for your comment! I think it was a bizarre story choice too. I need to do some research to see if the author has spoken about why she made that choice. I think there could have been several different ways to have a similar ending without it resorting to Molly ending Gran's life.

Mary

Tuesday 14th of May 2024

I just finished this book too! I do wonder if (the first) Mrs. Black was never even there for the murder. I suspect it was only ever Molly, just like it was only her with her Grandma at her deathbed. And just like she hid the truth of what she did to her Grandma from us readers, she can easily twist the truth to claim it was Mrs. Black using the newspaper articles about their marriage / inheritance drama to mislead us. She always stressed how much she hates cheaters and “bad eggs,” so I think it was Molly alone who killed Mr. Black, and she’s misleading us in the story she narrates just as much as she does with the police and her friends.

I believe the fact she can only enter her Grandma’s room after she’s cleared of Mr. Black’s murder confirms this. Seeing “the good” that comes from his murder, confirms her belief that bad deeds sometimes have to be done for the greater good. When she sees this come true for Mr. Black’s murder, she can then face what she did to her own Grandma.

Heather

Tuesday 27th of August 2024

@Mary, Ooo very interesting perspective! I didn't consider it but now I see how that narrative would fit as well. I couldn't get over the fact Molly killed Gran, even if Gran asked her to do so. I'm going to see if the author has talked about this story choice in any interviews. Thanks for your comment!

Paula Barton

Sunday 30th of July 2023

Molly sees the world in black and white and has trouble interpreting the shades in between. Are the surnames of the victim and the accused of any significance?

Heather

Tuesday 27th of August 2024

@Paula Barton, Oh I bet it does for sure. Thanks for your bringing that up - I can see the connection.