While You Are Waiting...The Maid
March 28, 2022 Reading Room Library Staff
You may be one of the many readers eagerly waiting for The Maid by Nita Prose. It is a locked room mystery, featuring a neurodivergent sleuth (the maid of the title), with a heartwarming cast of characters - no wonder this book is getting so much buzz!
To me, the most intriguing part of the premise is the locked room mystery, a fun sub-genre in the mystery and thriller category. The stories are based on a crime, usually a murder, which occurs in a seemingly impossible place - a location that is locked, sealed off, or cut off from the outside - leaving the cast of characters to figure out the crime on their own. All the while knowing one of their number is the criminal! Of course, the best known example of this is And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. Modern thriller writers like Lucy Foley (The Guest List, The Hunting Party), Ruth Ware (The Woman in Cabin 10, One By One), and Peter Swanson (Every Vow You Break, Nine Lives) have continued the tradition. See our list for some other great books to try, including: They All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell Hall, A Death in the Family by Tessa Wegert, Nine Perfect Strangers by Lianne Moriarty, and Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins. Happy Reading!