THE BLACK THUMB

The Black Thumb is a 1948 novel by Constance and Gwenyth Little. Through the “Book Lovers’ Page-a-Day Calendar” A’s mom gave me for Christmas, I found out about this great publisher, Rue Morgue Press (which seems to consist solely of a husband-and-wife team), that reprints all these vintage mysteries that have fallen into obscurity—many written by women and featuring strong female detectives. My library has about 20 of them. The Black Thumb is really fun so far—it takes place in the scarlet-fever convalescent wing of a hospital, contains an axe murder, and features a sassy crime-solving young nurse who carries on witty, bickering love/hate banter with a hot doctor. All this in just 150 pages, and considering how eager I am to find out whodunit (and whether Nurse Norma scores with the hot doctor), I should be finished by tomorrow.