Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Black Thumb: Professor Molly Mysteries, #3
    The Black Thumb: Professor Molly Mysteries, #3
    The Black Thumb: Professor Molly Mysteries, #3
    Ebook290 pages4 hours

    The Black Thumb: Professor Molly Mysteries, #3

    By Frankie Bow

    3/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    It should have been a lovely summer afternoon.

     

    When a violent death disrupts the Monthly meeting of the Pua Kala Garden society, Professor Molly Barda has no intention of playing amateur detective. But Molly's not just a witness–the victim is Molly's house guest and grad-school frenemy. And Molly quickly finds to her dismay that her interest in the murder of the stylish and self-centered Melanie Polewski is more than just…academic.
     

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHawaiian Heritage Press
    Release dateApr 19, 2016
    ISBN9781943476169
    The Black Thumb: Professor Molly Mysteries, #3
    Author

    Frankie Bow

    Frankie Bow teaches at a public university and writes two mystery series: The Professor Molly Mysteries, and licensed works in the Miss Fortune World. Unlike Professor Molly, Frankie is blessed with delightful students, sane colleagues, and a perfectly nice office chair. She thinks if life can’t be fair, at least it can be entertaining. From the author: Thank you for taking the time to read this book. If you enjoyed it, please consider telling your friends and posting a short review. Word of mouth is an author’s best friend and much appreciated. Sign up for Island Confidential, Frankie's mystery newsletter, at subscribepage.com/ProfessorMolly

    Read more from Frankie Bow

    Related to The Black Thumb

    Titles in the series (14)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Amateur Sleuths For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      EDITOR’S Note

      Oct 13, 2021

      DURING THE FINAL WEEKS OF PRODUCTION FOR THIS ISSUE, my children, like millions of others, took their first steps into a school for full-time, in-person instruction after an extended, exasperating absence. To say I rejoiced is an overstatement; I was

      2 min read

    • Article

      California Dreaming

      Mar 31, 2020

      Rishi Reddi’s first novel, Passage West, is an audacious piece of work. On the one hand, the author situates her story in a California most of us won’t recognize: the Imperial Valley early in the previous century, when South Asians worked the irrigat

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Many Careers of Joe Ide

      Oct 20, 2017

      The Many Careers of Joe Ide
      6 min read

    • Article

      ‘‘Remember That Name’’

      Jun 26, 2018

      ‘‘Remember That Name’’
      4 min read

    • Article

      Sex, Lies, Love And Regrets

      Sep 3, 2021

      Sex, Lies, Love And Regrets
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Indie Publishing Mavericks Shaking Up The UK Books World

      Jul 16, 2023

      A quiet revolution is afoot in British publishing. Earlier this year, when American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis brought out his latest bestseller, The Shards, the book came to UK readers not from his usual publisher, Picador – his home for nearly

      12 min read

    • Article

      Jeffrey J. Higa

      Oct 13, 2021

      Jeffrey J. Higa
      2 min read

    • Article

      Sun, Starfish & Seashells

      Jul 21, 2022

      Sun, Starfish & Seashells
      3 min read

    • Article

      Cooking with Octavia Butler

      Nov 30, 2018

      Cooking with Octavia Butler
      11 min read

    • Article

      Lessons Learned

      Apr 29, 2023

      Lessons Learned
      2 min read

    • Article

      “I Wore The Daily Mail Down By Still Being Here”

      Apr 25, 2021

      Broadcaster and presenter Sandi Toksvig might be the closest thing we have to lesbian royalty in the UK. As host of shows like QI and The Great British Bake Off, the 62-year-old has become a beloved household name, adored by millions. How different t

      7 min read

    • Article

      Future found family

      Feb 8, 2022

      Future found family
      7 min read

    • Article

      She’s No Saint

      Jul 3, 2022

      She’s No Saint
      2 min read

    • Article

      Dark Side Of Buffy

      Mar 24, 2022

      Dark Side Of Buffy
      2 min read

    • Article

      Yangsze Choo: Memories of Malaya

      Dec 21, 2020

      In her two New York Times bestselling novels, Yangsze Choo’s historical fiction about colonial Malaya is suffused with local legends, superstitions, and customs, a magical realism seamlessly interwoven with unusual plots involving mysterious murders,

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Black Thumb

    3/5

    30 ratings11 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 1/5
      I was disappointed with this book. I think the main character was supposed to be charming but I found her unlikable and her reactions to the various events that occurred did not ring true. I see this is one in a series but I will not be picking up any others. The Hawaiian setting was unique.
    • 4/5
      Molly is a teacher at a university, and she wants to buy a historical house in Hawaii. Her roommate dies in a mysterious death, and Molly is pinned as the culprit. Molly is also having problems with her engagement, as if a murder charge wasn't enough. This book portrays Molly as pretty unlikable, but the story is interesting and the mystery is good. If you can get past Molly's high school attitude, you'll enjoy this cozy. I also liked the Hawaiian setting as well.I was given a free copy for an honest review.
    • 5/5
      A good read that takes you to Hawaii and lets you enjoy the scenery and a good mystery. I would recommend it to anyone that needs a light read.
    • 3/5
      A light read that takes place in Hawaii. the main character has a confusing relationship and a desire for an old Victorian house on the island.Great read for that "I'm still awake a 2.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed the book well enough to continue reading it in order to find out whodunnit BUT I think it could have been more tightly edited. I also thought the heroine kind of wishy washy in relations with her boyfriend - either they loved and trusted each other or they didn't. Sorry but I feel trust is just too important to let slip by. For a quick read, sure, but tighter editing and correcting grammar and typos would help enormously.
    • 3/5
      This was a cute, quick read. Molly is a transplant to Hawaii and is a professor in the commerce department, although she actually has a degree in writing. Her friend, who has come to live with her while the friend gets settled onto the island, ends up dead at a garden party they are attending, and it begins to come out that Molly and her friend weren't really friends at all, according to the writings of her friend. They actually were more "frenemies", and this puts Molly square in the sites for her friends murder. Molly is shocked that her so-called friend thought of her as an enemy and a jealous wanna-be, and Molly certainly never wanted to kill her. Molly takes it upon herself to try to figure out who is really responsible for her friend's death, and stumbles into a bad situation when she realizes who the killer is at the wrong time. A quick read, fairly entertaining.
    • 3/5
      Molly is a business professor at a small Hawaiian University (despite the fact that her training is in English Literature). She has developed an interest in buying an historic house that is too large for her and her soon-to-be husband and reported to be haunted. Her relationship is also rocky and made more difficult by the return of her boyfriend's grown son. Plus she has a catty college friend staying with her and her current best friend doesn't seem to be very nice.On the other hand, the setting is wonderful, and the pidgeon (local speech) sounds right on. Since it is a book in the middle of the series, even though it stands alone well, it may be that the relationships conflicts were all just heading toward this particular point. It will be worth reading another to find out if the characters get along a little better.
    • 3/5
      Fun, lite mystery--a good beach read. The author captures the little details about day-to-day life in Hawaii, which gives a realism almost never seen in print. The characters and situations are not exactly realistic, or sometimes even plausible, but IMO, that's not a problem. This series of books is clearly meant to entertain, and does so reliably.And I would very much like to know where I can get the batter-dipped fried spam musubi mentioned in the book....
    • 3/5
      Molly has a college friend move in with her temporarily. They are at a garden club meeting when all of a sudden a body falls from the balcony above. It is Molly's friend. Later the police show up to arrest her for her friend's murder. How can that be? Molly and her friends try to find out the truth before Molly spends the rest of her life in jail.
    • 3/5
      Dr. Molly Barda, a professor at Hawaii's Mahina State University, once again finds herself mixed up in a sudden death. An old grad school classmate, recently landed a job at the university, and she's staying with Molly until she can find a place of her own. She accompanies Molly to a local garden club meeting at a historic house. Molly has ulterior motives for attending the meeting, since Molly wants to buy the house. Molly's friend dies in a tragic accident during the meeting, but very soon Molly is charged with her friend's murder. She is forced to investigate her friend's death in order to clear herself of suspicion.I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as the other book I've read in this series. It is set in the summer when Molly isn't teaching, so the university and its politics don't have as prominent a place in this book. Molly didn't spend as much time with her friends Emma and Pat in this one, and when they were together, their relationship seemed strained. The mystery plot is unsatisfactory. Molly proves to be one of the TSTL* cozy heroines. Technically, she doesn't even solve the mystery. The murderer reveals herself to Molly when Molly gets too close to the truth. And if that wasn't enough, the murderer gets away without being caught by the police.I read cozy mysteries as brain candy, and the most important ingredients for me are the setting and the characters. The unusual setting away from the tourist areas of Hawaii and Molly herself will lure me back to this series.This review is based on a complimentary electronic copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.*Too Stupid to Live
    • 2/5
      Admittedly, when I received this from Earlier Reviewers on Librarything, I wondered it I'd made a mistake requesting the third in a series, especially as my starting point. I'm left with the impression that there are preceding stories in which (I hope) some more character development was done, but allowing this is the third installment I discount this as a negative. What I did find jarring was the incredible naiveté of the protagonist as well as her incredible thickness. To me, it is not believable that a highly educated female, involved in a University's society and politics could be as unaware of human interactions and foibles. Initially I was drawn t the book by the Hawaiian aspect of the plot hoping for some insight into the smaller island's culture and mores, and there was a little available in this regard. Otherwise it is entertaining but not challenging, what I'd consider a good beach read.

    Book preview

    The Black Thumb - Frankie Bow

    dbook_preview_excerpt.html\˒HvxOV8‹ +Vj%u1^9 $lH|l /g̗s3AU8*{=/_}/^|^|/>޼7~]|M|͹ۮ]]7 )64CẪx(N~)t"ttΕbwE!SBY|;m.MG)Nn*|׍E8nxWu[ǗZmʷ^+]a儡 |z|n,!GreWn#F߸ q ?;wC( a=_tM79aª?)sE >z v_cΛ"bbc,܌W 'qӋo> ;`Y*Gq0Ӷ>;?lE3 $8asB)9=`VŠQơ߹"6/ԋKǎ,~C ~{ld97ICa+ܕ7CQE;cOЩV-# q1征"Mj B42#x:QKkP]/@:ʊ܆*LЀ,&#N@RZ~$w~$H2:n>xB34of?jac ބ L<~na[_~ȍD3oXn0N{}p`$d HŞY%t=zߛ+'a˻N}q 'p[U :gᑲ-CupC- $\͡t#k~5^~ Op8Bቬbvp&sq;A`JFq]5,V| tL./ס1ZËYG[{ɲRܜ985,>ň{@ 5IzkqFR60:[ ߊC8L)1BDIj `sԌ`ےdHD[lpm2HP b4;ޢA4tXNQ`Ǝ7i ,qu:7ou@qvj`ua<u:sq|es$5:䨠E@zz+RټEnoN?]JMiVЅ9I.Z|>u@;_ 4ߵ QP :R)X iǀ3İnMMbkgWMZ:2bRT4Wk4M'#qd}ZWXٱ'R;ah[+#!]ɦtظI<(}M>?](ut4 |6\Iƍ,89  Ś8kFa FflGwpʸ2B6jOvu:5B@D*`"Wi(Ŷcb`= Q> FH`KDLQ8zExv$Zi7:1|;xh_N8e \N'{l#b504~C[ <¡\diԧat7̃3c> qds]\~#ڤxʈ !щw$39y.lh+ZE*BVC[塰JE[p=)ܸDFzdFEo ~P%;[Dޑ2LPKjxR f齰G&xK YJX4s+/-dڤNɕGD^!&+)Wbbtxݞ1ipWYSZЊy$T|,<2aB/oQ>rPa=U"[Z,"螎:U0jA PUBcAޗAp:]H,`s2/ <*{fJܒ^ɻ` #46ue2b3;>[Qyk[R1{II09阥6Y@JJ@|~iLj&'lɵ7d :__4 U+ pSwp`jZFL6}JdpHcApdFw+u(j:.Z;鼭#_f;הJ#wI[ğs,n'eNܠx@ؘFu19!vS ,̡HU֎Ͻ`_-§ 3c@jay:wf<S=r l806RF@'b D%lr>p<`.lkҖ螱1 +(kr[GJ_`F"K\ف&])"<č{y, ftt$l('TajJ2=ڬO/%@ :}2j7>: 0K6X,u.u{`,NO_}Z2ꕷA+ 86Y=:jDr'du,UaIH "1L­#sa;?r~ڸ JX<0 ƜMWYX['< BgcaEL,V6$NOl#|H?=kӊ9HS*c3%Y%J~* Su{~Neɲ +N.ecּ"O 4)Nx1@E N)~DOhߕ5U}۽U߁xC"e>BODghX[%G$ӢpxJj4r+8SSz˜G)jgM+Ef.K'h'زU ETLD5aKNJZvcܒ 0 .5=fƅ1pnPB e'_EqGVqڂ(&f)3ǟ8B3)4®5լ17^E8:# ֞ =xجx kO7?h#qZRg_솛b x aLht&]"gFJR Wwv_@$3Y g3Xž1Ε~jxR/Ś!F>R⬰ÊLrDL3~3[f/J#n,'Rm^ ~dP?rc3}{G@#Ò?rGNpe+T1bx5aTyCTtJ هD\0f$&A\;,SN )P80p)>cNՓmPvMhoBD\37>dzt k>$JۙKWR*,KlfĂ AB Ӽ0k꬜iK&pIsRUlf: c^>nZ~=` 1W%gH O#s)"ɮ%e;=(P;%谮b)&Igp13NmΘ`:R9fSRi`x:nɧ2Y˔O eTDfY*rl7IijU&cK0Ш ISˆD%D {qD lA:s";A)b J?lGgR]antAɉ1/[@sea)t Dh|erON~j;@ǹ[b=QK^ĪyU ;5,,qx/ lՇC$`X ˛UVbгN0[)ADdw/E ;OKk/j.kwҐRI[MQ߆ rugJy+Ɋk_ՐR@:{&qhʶ; $%b' JtqeX} )3>+@#,^E%=4ݯn:Ȝ o/*Ss[> "d抲o̭sYRe{pJU0b$].w`A7֡@mѰլAGʨQHQWnNh;[׃1#MJz*Ù_OI? %~zJ,m$s&KٌtA4Ch~sgFiSRٍ`ݴ? !ԼY6(Y  s,a8Ymrl [!oIf× ` 4OCkZ\"2ڻx4`nwI knY$2r =g`g"NJcDs߰š6^<6 jU~}GgKM MTPU )9#)_u.^y=+HQMξPҪ32] r{ݺaϻ! YWҵ,/{.|%%lwL#u>X`0@T:ӱ*(fV:1EDtW6.\CڜJZC' )]0E02f.^(]{S*s]=xZc,µZ:ߕ]iXhwgJ2&.+ DYef*v8x 챼Frő.uB|%׉^ڤÛK%`˰T7e&_i%aM0 탈Ui-,kUY X81ߣ̸T+ET^ ~ovFx^eJ_͟lp= 1Ƨ,3`6u0*<#)Z UbvhٽЭ{fDY@=@`_v+w4P +_ 6u \3 JɅ[&%e Hoz֏Hc,dNu(kI]J0r]Ė/fSk7Y+EXY,Pѕ=X>Tg7޺}ǎ=/r0n..2 ;ZͲԧik}^֩sK\084V#4|_Tc3_nos l ;f~!8B.;Щ Ko6S ev')A+[,UhI7|j]B-݇bղMKQR B`g|!"bt b l)[vËfQ)[8VEߒϠօf?o u Wh|gS.A kw,=w[ne]TJ4 s5Mf₥Otgs-GK.`jzv R@ ~aO2[&@/l%bqYECg>PONHq~zL٦:v?r?F/el3͍'@Kq'ݎ!r;5C$\IaR%_^sb4 *@o_;7e)oJTl.||U(S rHVhZ }x?̛V ԧ{Ř"_{ƥذ4&7 2O`rj7& aB2W檡BQϱmveMe]ԒdRiiyKj¨^q9-Y+ C5AzD-1rk`/R j?F,b⭼~K@KZT fXre@=2j}1]epweW,6]{]gZtV eNբR;*ؗ"ariMN'q"D}Ss2L_-rs! W)ҷGԬuD:3"'H7/=Sk4H$5?׷¹3Kv躅?A<̿ `?uJJT1 Sպw蓱ȋ/ݞՍzjp+%3!,y~$m*[KٮO/q<,t[pXQCY2dPq#Q>;[%oꈡڹ;Գʙjp jlK>>bm̙e(:]׆⋪8/
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1