Groovy: isn’t there a stringToMap out of the box?

You might want to try a few of your scenarios using evaluate, it might do what you are looking for.

def stringMap = "['a':2,'b':4]"
def map = evaluate(stringMap)

assert map.a == 2
assert map.b == 4

def stringMapNested = "['foo':'bar', baz:['alpha':'beta']]"
def map2 = evaluate(stringMapNested)

assert map2.foo == "bar"
assert map2.baz.alpha == "beta"