Banquets of the Black Widowers

The Black Widowers #4

by Isaac Asimov

This book is the fourth of six that describe mysteries solved by the Black Widowers, based on a literary dining club he belonged to known as the Trap Door Spiders. It collects twelve stories by Asimov, together with a general introduction and an afterword following each story by the author. Nine of the stories were previously published; "The Driver," "The Wrong House" and "The Intrusion" are new to this collection.

Each story involves the club members' knowledge of trivia. Nearly every story here is about decoding a riddle, each of which provides a clue based on dying or last words, misunderstood words, forgotten words, or withheld words. A few are based on facts that are, perhaps, not generally known to the public – Asimov was a frequent writer of popular science and his inclination to explain anything and everything for the general public carried over into other fields, such as history and sociology – but all the mysteries play fair with the reader, who is given either enough information to figure out the solution or a satisfying conclusion that is based on previously given facts and personality qualities.

Contents
1. Introduction
2. Sixty Million Trillion Combinations
3. The Woman in the Bar
4. The Driver
5. The Good Samaritan
6. The Year of the Action
7. Can You Prove It?
8. The Phoenician Bauble
9. A Monday in April
10. Neither Brute Nor Human
11. The Redhead
12. The Wrong House
13. The Intrusion

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Anthologies, Crime, Collections

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Works of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles, The Foundation Trilogy (1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.

Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.

Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).

People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.

Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.

Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...

Reviews

[Paul Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vintage Asimov understated humour!

Asimov clearly enjoyed his creation as he assured his readers that he would continue writing them and "keep on while life and health allow." Great news for me and for all of the good doctor's many other fans!

The drill with Asimov's Black Widower mysteries (in music circles, one might call these "divertimenti") is well known to dedicated fans. Six members of the Black Widowers Club (chauvinists one and all, "no women allowed", if you puhhlease!) meet once a month at their club for a gourmet dinner. The members of the group - a lawyer, a cryptographer, a math teacher, a chemist, a mystery writer, an artist (who usually draws a portrait of the evening's guest), and Henry, their inestimable waiter - never fail to ferret out an interesting mystery, theft, disappearance, swindle or some other form of interesting puzzle during the grilling of their dinner guest which invariably starts with the formula question "How do you justify your existence?" Despite the collective intelligence of the group (which Asimov humorously portrays them as being inordinately proud of), the solution of the puzzle always seems just beyond their grasp. Henry, in a quiet, self-effacing manner that doesn't quite succeed in covering his own serving of pride, comes to the rescue with the solution and the explanations for the other members and readers alike!

Readers of previous Black Widower shorts will be thrilled to return to the publication of this posthumous "best of" collection plus a handful of previously unpublished works by the good doctor! Cynicism, word play, jokes, puns, locked room mysteries, irony, sarcasm and other quiet diversions take centre stage. Don't look for violence, mayhem or thrills in this collection. They're just not there. Almost certainly, readers will twig to some of the solutions before Henry provides the answers and those brighter armchair sleuths will undoubtedly indulge in a little chuckling at the expense of the members. Other times, Henry's explanation will result in the proverbial slap in the forehead - "Now why didn't I think of that!" In either event, every story in the collection will provide ten to fifteen minutes of thoroughly enjoyable diversion from this hectic work-a-day world and a satisfied smile at its conclusion.

Give yourself a treat and add some of Asimov's gentle humour and enjoyable puzzles to your bookshelf.


Paul Weiss

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth of six volumes of mystery short stories that Asimov wrote featuring a group of men who call themselves the Black Widowers who meet for lunch monthly and discuss a mysterious occurrence presented by a guest-of-the-month that they end up solving, usually due to the input of their waiter, Henry. They're fun puzzle stories in the tradition of Agatha Christie; nine were originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine from 1980 through 1984, and three are original to the collection. The stories are quite obviously formulaic and were wearing a bit thin by the time of this volume, the solutions sometimes rely on some obscure bit of arcane trivia, and Asimov was notoriously egocentric and a proud and devout womanizer and some of his attitudes aren't condonable in current social attitudes... but they're fun, occasionally quite funny, and still fine mental exercise.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't seem to be doing a great job finishing books recently. But this one I read fairly quickly compared to the books sitting on my official currently reading list. I enjoy Asimov's characters and mysteries. They are very civilized and decent and Henry always manages to solve them, the one who socially is the least of them. I'm sure Asimov did that deliberately to make a comment about social status not being the most important thing about a person, and that it isn't indicative of a person's intelligence. All these stories are fun. I recommend them as a nice break from the stresses of life.

12/9/24

I just purchased this book and reread it. I noticed that the Black Widowers all have a strong conscience. Even when a stranger intruded on them, they, after some discussion, helped him out. This particular story actually was the only one that dated the collection. The stranger didn’t want to point blank call his sister retarded or slow. The current word disabled was not used, of course. He also didn’t want to even say the possibility that his disabled sister could be pregnant. Again, this reluctance does date the story.

I rather miss the times when people would turn to an encyclopedia to look up facts. Well, at least I can enjoy it in these stories!

[Charis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Asimov for his science fiction, and picked this book up from the library thinking it was another collection of his sci-fi short stories. I was surprised at first, but in no way disappointed in finding it to be full of mysteries! The characters are truly larger than life -- Henry, that best of waiters, the greatest of the bunch -- and I'm enamored with the idea of justifying one's existence. I'll definitely be finding the previous three editions!

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

The formula is starting to be a bit hackneyed. The last two stories of the 12 mini-mysteries were the best.

[Robin Banks · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dozen, short, Isaac Asimov mysteries, 15 pages each, with a nice premise and a lot less of the blood of normal mysteries. Six amateur sleuths host a monthly banquet where, in turn, each must provide a guest with an interesting situation or problem. No one shows up with a dismembered body in a locked room. Instead, as examples, a guest had been arrested in an iron-curtain country, accused of spying, and then, suddenly let off. Why? Or a movie maker is trying to make film of "Pirates of Penzance" and needs to know the date of the action. It's March 1 of a leap year, but which leap year? The mysteries are good, the clues are given, and I like the length, but it turns out this is the 4th in a series, and I didn't warm to the characters. Enjoying the characters is an important part of enjoying a mystery, IMHO, and I didn't quite. One guest was clearly modeled on a rival sci-fi writer, Harlan Ellison (short, with a temper, ladies man, doesn't drink, martial artist, justice warrior....). Also, two the hosts, are writers, modeled (I think) on opposite halves of Asimov; one writes fiction, the other non-fiction. Both know Asimov as a fat-head.

[Marco Baroetto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lettura poco impegnativa da spiaggia. I racconti non sono particolarmente brillanti, ma leggeri e divertenti. Ottimo per staccare la spina.

[Mark Oppenlander · Rating 2 out of 5]

Four books into this series and the formula has worn a bit thin. The group gathers for dinner, they invite a guest, the guest gets "grilled" after the meal and during the questioning it turns out the stranger has a problem to be solved or an unexplained mystery to be unraveled. After much discussion, debate and hand-wringing from the members of the Black Widowers, Henry - the genius waiter of the club - steps in and solves the conundrum.

But maybe the problem isn't with the formula; perhaps it's just that I didn't find the actual mysteries in this volume to be particularly compelling. It seems that every one of them could only be solved through knowing some arcane bit of trivia. It didn't seem to me that the average reader (whoever he or she may be) really stood a chance of solving these puzzles before Henry did. And that bugged me. I wound up liking only two or three of these stories, which isn't a good batting average.

So chalk this one up as "only for die-hard fans of the Black Widowers" or "only for Asimov completists."

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for these short stories. Objectively I know they aren't great as far as mysteries go, especially this far along into them (this is the 4th collection), but it's just very relaxing to read about the various quirky characters and their traditional dinners that always result in a puzzle solved by Henry the waiter.

[Paul Brandt]

The Black Widowers is a fictional men-only dining club created by Isaac Asimov for a series of sixty-six mystery stories that he started writing in 1971. Most of the stories were first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, though a few first appeared in Fantasy & Science Fiction, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, and the various book collections into which the stories were eventually gathered.

Asimov wrote "there are few stories I write that I enjoy as much as I enjoy my Black Widowers."

In this book:

Chronicles the adventures of a club of men, the Black Widowers, who meet once a month for dinner at the Milano restaurant and attempt to solve a series of puzzles.

"Sixty Million Trillion Combinations" "The Woman in the Bar" "The Driver" "The Good Samaritan"' "The Year of the Action" Can You Prove It?" "The Phoenician Bauble" "A Monday in April" "Neither Brute Nor Human" "The Redhead" "The Wrong House" "The Intrusion"

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book follows a pretty simple concept, which is that a bunch of amateur mystery fans regularly meet with a different guest each time that they get to share their purpose for existing and to answer any questions that they might have.

This usually resolves into some sort of mystery that the Black Widowers attempt to solve in true armchair detective fashion. In fact, they’re almost always solved straight away with no need for them to leave the dining room to actually investigate.

Of course, as with any collection like this, some of the stories were better than others, and in particular there were a couple of pieces that were all about romance, which Asimov was never particularly good at. But perhaps I’m biased because I’m also personally completely uninterested in stories like that.

But for the most part, there was a lot to like here, especially if you’re not the kind of reader who tries to figure out the mystery before the big reveal. I think the joy here came from the slow but steady reveal of the mystery, rather than because you as the reader interact with the story and try to form your own conclusions. Unless you have a mind like Asimov’s, you’re probably not going to be able to figure it out.

Overall, this is definitely one that I’d recommend checking out. A fun little banquet.

[Rubén Lorenzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este es el último volumen de los Viudos Negros que me quedaba por leer. Como los anteriores, se trata de relatos de misterio en los que un invitado a la cena de los protagonistas cuenta su historia, que contiene un enigma, y entre todos preguntan sobre el mismo hasta que el camarero resuelve el caso.

Son relatos simples y simpáticos, aunque los argumentos resultan un tanto artificiales, lejos queda la brillantez del primer cuento de la saga. Por mi parte, nunca he estado ni cerca de resolver ninguno antes de tiempo, al acabar muchos de ellos me he encogido de hombros y musitado "pues vale". Además, al estar escritos originalmente en inglés, hay juegos de palabras que se pierden, pese a las notas del traductor.

En resumen, una saga divertida y muy fácil de leer, pero que no alcanza las cotas que se preveían al principio de la colección.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another collection of tales about the monthly meetings of the Black Widowers and their waiter Henry. In which there always seems to be some problem to think over only for Henry to solve them after all others fail. This is the fourth collection and I think the first dud was in this collection, the first story is a stretch in my mind but still enjoy the gathering and the characters. The other eleven are fun like usual.

Highly recommended, even if one tale didn't suit me the other eleven did and that's a great percentage.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every month the Black Widowers invited a guest to dinner. And every month brought a new problem for them to solve - along, of course, with Henry, the waiter who just might be the best Black Widower of all…

This was a fond reread for me. The characters - irascible and irritating Manny Rubin, enfant terrible Mario Gonzales, dignified Jeff Avalon, brusque Tom Trumbull et al - were evidently people whose fictional company Asimov enjoyed. The puzzles, ranging from personal issues to Cold War espionage, also range in interest and quality, but are still worth a read.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the mystery genre I think Asimov's efforts are genial but not as inspiring as the work by the competition. What works in sci-fi does not seem to translate well here for me - the condensing of the argument to the purest form, the dense language and the serial form of the short mysteries just didn't quite do it for me. A giant in science fiction, but in mystery he sets up very strict parameters and then leaves little fantastical or enjoyable - just a puzzle too wordy to lay out easily, but not literary enough to have atmosphere.

I did enjoy this a bit, but overall it didn't hit the mark.

[Abigail Pankau · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of short mystery stories that I read a few at a time between other books. The mysteries are good, solid, and interesting. However, they are horribly dated in their views of the world.

When I first discovered Asimov's stories back in HS, I thought they were the best. Reading some stories now, I am surprised at the undercurrent of casual (and sometimes blatant) misogyny flowing through them. The world has changed, and unfortunately these stories have not aged well.

[Devero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Se devo essere sincero, questo mio primo approccio al club dei Vedovi Neri è stata una simpatica lettura, merito del compianto Asimov.
Come gialli qualcuno li considera un classico, può essere vero ma io quando penso ad un giallo penso a qualcosa di abbastanza diverso. Sarà colpa di A.C. Doyle, dico io, ma preferisco ancora qualcosa alla Sherlock Holmes.
Comunque 3 stelle a questa raccolta che si legge veramente bene.

[Francesco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non tutti i racconti sono stati interessanti, in particolare ho trovato poco avvincenti quelli troppo incentrati su dettagli specifici della politica americana.
Ma nel complesso mi è piaciuto molto il variare delle tematiche, con più "casi" di interesse generale e filosofico.
Come sempre, la ciliegina sulla torta la fanno i commenti di Asimov dopo i racconti. A volte sono quasi più avvincenti del racconto stesso.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a ok collection of stories, it is a little dated and, although I realized Asimov had set the context of the stories in a masculine setting, it did reduce my enjoyment of the book with the lack of female involvement in the majority of the stories. Having said that, I liked the puzzles overall and enjoyed the comments of the various characters. I was curious to see the other types of genres that Asimov wrote in but will say that I prefer his science fiction stories more.

[Davide G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Questa nuova raccolta di racconti ha lo stesso problema di tutte le altre (eccettuata la prima) : i particolari che portano alla soluzione dell'enigma sono un po'... Pretestuosi. Pur adorando Asimov e i suoi personaggi, devo ammettere che solo 4 racconti su 12 risultano degni di nota. Per il resto si tratta di una lettura senza lode e senza infamia.

[Francesco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arrivato al quarto libro ho finito i commenti generici su quanto fosse maledettamente geniale Asimov a tirare fuori questi piccoli gialli con dei colpi di scena (quasi) sempre inaspettati.
Questi sono stati particolarmente apprezzati perché molto variegati e perché hanno anche presentato alcuni interessanti variazioni rispetto al solito schema dell'interrogatorio.

[Clyde Tosalini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars. Not great mysteries, but skillfully written. They hold your attention throughout. Natural, lively dialog. The second to the last story, "The Wrong House," is the best, in my estimation. The last story features a rather stereotypical Italian-American New Yorker, cartoonish and perhaps not fancy enough to be in their fancy exclusive ritzy high-falutin club.

[Gianluca Capasso · Rating 3 out of 5]

È impossibile non rimanere intrattenutə da un racconto di Asimov, ma trovo che il giallo si adfica meno allo stile di racconto breve di Asimov. Inoltre la capacità di Asimov di farti immergere in un mondo diverso dal nostro ovviamente viene meno quando la storia è ambientata in una realtà verosimile.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I read any Asimov. Had forgotten how much I enjoy his stories. 13 short stories in this one, as is typical for the Black Widowers collections. Solved one of them before the group did, which isn't bad since I don't think too hard as I'm reading them.

[Mizar · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit repetitive. I read this book before the others (I didn't know that it was the fourth one) and while some of the stories were funny and interesting, the majority of them seemed quite boring to me.

[Nickolai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Данный сборник понравился мне меньше трех предыдущих. Из очень хороших рассказов можно назвать только два последних: The Wrong House и The Intrusion. Кроме того, более-менее интересны The Phoenician Bauble и A Monday in April.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories are easy nuggets of fun. Some of the themes are just great. In only one story was the answer obvious to me from the beginning.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable short story collection - definitely better than #3

[Anthony Faber · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another collection of his Black Widowers stories, about the same as his other Black Widowers. I find the characters & characterizations too 2 dimensional and clichéd (in a pulp way).

[Dale Alan Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, fun, FUN!