For the millions of readers of the wildly popular Maid series of mystery novels, this week is a bittersweet moment with the release of The Maid’s Secret on April 8. It’s the final chapter of the series penned by Toronto writer Nita Prose, one that has turned her world upside down and enraptured so many.
In the world of literature, few characters have captured readers’ hearts in the way Molly, the endearing protagonist of the Maid series, has.
The spark for Molly’s creation came during a trip to the London Book Fair. Prose, who was then working as a vice president and editor at Simon & Schuster, had a chance encounter that would change the trajectory of her career. Indeed, her entire life.
“I remember surprising the woman cleaning my room at the hotel,” Prose says. “She was folding my sweaty track pants, trying to make the room look neat. It was such an intimate and invisible job, and I found myself thinking how little we know about the people who do these tasks, even though they know so much about us.”
This moment stayed with her percolating in her mind during the flight back home, and Prose says she started hearing voices. Well, one voice. One that would become Molly.
“It was clean, crisp, polished, and precise. It was basically Molly,” she recalls. “For whatever reason, I decided to pick up the napkin from under my drink and a pen, because I had no paper, and write down what I was hearing.”
The words she wrote on a napkin turned out to be the prologue for The Maid, and so began her journey into the world of writing, leaving behind her career in publishing.
“It’s a true to life napkin story that really changed directions for me in a profound way,” she added.
Despite Molly’s unique characteristics, Prose was surprised to learn just how universally relatable she became.
“When I started writing about Molly, I thought I was writing about someone deeply personal to me, someone who would be too unique to connect with others,” Prose admits. “But my readers taught me how universal she is. We’ve all felt like we don’t belong at some point, like we’re the wallflower at a party. And I think that’s what people respond to—her vulnerability, her honesty.”
It’s this relatability that has fuelled the global success of the Maid series, with millions of copies sold and translations in dozens of languages. Readers around the world have connected with Molly’s journey.
“Good eggs that they were are, as Molly would say, they see the heart in her, and they respond with their own and that, to me, has been such a wonderful gift,” Prose says.
As The Maid Secret wraps up Molly’s story for now, Prose reveals how she wanted to leave her readers with a sense of closure while also delivering a satisfying mystery.
“I wanted to create a mystery that was set in the present day, but I also wanted to introduce a new narrator, Molly’s grandmother,” she says. “For the first time, readers get to see Molly’s history from her grandmother’s perspective. It’s an epic, star-crossed love story that I hope resonates with readers and rewards them for sticking with the series.”
But what can fans expect after The Maid’s Secret?
“I love mysteries,” says Prose, “but I see myself as a writer who blends genres. I think my future work will continue that tradition—mixing a bit of suspense with uplifting fiction. My goal is to create stories that pull readers in with the who-done-it, but that leave them with a sense of hope, that they feel different at the end.”
Having lived in Toronto for most of her adult life, Prose says the city has and continues to influence her writing.
“Toronto is in my blood now. Even in a hyper-real world like the one in The Maid, elements of the city seep into the story,” she says. One such influence is the character of Mr. Preston, the doorman at the fictional Regency Grand Hotel.
“He was inspired by a real doorman I would pass every day on my way to work,” she says, of the iconic King Edward Hotel near her office. “He tipped his hat at me every single time, and there was something about him that just stuck with me. I took him from the streets of Toronto and turned him into a character in my book. In a strange way, he’s more real to me now than he ever was in person.”
As The Maid’s Secret hits shelves, Prose feels both bittersweet and proud.
“I feel like Molly’s in good hands now,” she says with a smile. “The second I’m done with a book, she’s no longer mine—she belongs to the readers.”
As readers around the world prepare to say goodbye to Molly (for now), Nita Prose is already looking forward to her next chapter, both in writing and in life. But will she ever bring Molly back for an encore?
“I will never say never.”
