The Maid

Aspects of this book inspired me and left me in awe. Others made me roll my eyes and left me dissatisfied. First off—the genre. I'm not sure what others would categorize it as, but I found myself very excited to read for the first time what I'd call an upmarket cozy mystery. I found Molly's eccentricities endearing and right away I was rooting for her. The author provided an interesting cast of characters in a fabulous setting for a locked room mystery. The crime in question was perfectly suited to the surroundings. Through the first 50% of the book, I enjoyed every page, with only one niggling doubt—did our heroine have the wherewithal to solve this mystery? And sure enough, she did not. True, fiction revolves around characters with agency, and Molly did make decisions which resulted in personal growth, but I felt the solution to the mystery didn't have the payoff I'm used to. Actually, in my opinion the last 25% of the book kinda crumbled apart. Characters who were once intriguing and autonomous morphed into a pat one-dimensional piece in a puzzle. If I were judging this book on it's last quarter I'd rate it a three, but because the first half was so outstanding, I settled on four stars.