Friday Focus: The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings

 

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an eBook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Today I'm featuring a recent read, The Maid by Nita Prose. The excerpts shared are from a large print edition borrowed from the library.

 

Beginning:  I am your maid. I'm the one who cleans your hotel room, who enters like a phantom when you're out gallivanting for the day, no care at all about what you've left behind, the mess, or what I might see when you're gone.

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Page 56:  I consider what it is the detective really wants to know and what I'm prepared to divulge.

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My thoughts:  Molly Gray leads a simple, sheltered life and toils at a job as a hotel maid that allows her to avoid uncomfortable personal interactions and remain relatively invisible. Molly's life is literally and figuratively turned upside down, however, when she discovers the lifeless body of Charles Black, one of the Regency Grand Hotel's VIP guests, in his suite. While at first glance he appears to have died of natural causes, a police investigation determines that Mr. Black was the victim of foul play. Detectives zero in on Molly as their prime suspect, but Molly is a gentle soul incapable of such a crime. She has been methodically framed, but by whom and why? And whom can she trust in the effort to clear her name?

This story's setting, characters, and touches of humor and irony are very engaging and entertaining. Readers will root for the awkward, vulnerable protagonist as she navigates the complex situation she finds herself in and the upstanding characters who step in to support her and restore one's faith in humanity.

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From GoodReads:  Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by.

Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life's complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.

But Molly's orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what's happening, Molly's unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black—but will they be able to find the real killer before it's too late?

A Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit, The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different—and reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart.

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This Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for the blog, bookclublibrarian.com.  It cannot be republished without attribution.