Status Updates From Casebook of the Black Widow...

Enh. Okay. Just 3 more "stories" left.

Finally we get a little murder mystery, but it was very easy to figure out. Lady, Lady, I Did It by Ed McBain already did a variation of the premise of ‘None So Blind’, as have others. In fact, Asimov himself already did this trick in a story that appeared earlier in this very book. Repeating himself - hopefully he’ll move on and at least show new tricks in these unimpressive stories.

The stories are slightly amusing sometimes - but for me, this is just Asimov showing how smart he is about all kinds of things, but spreading his brains among about 9 guys - the Black Widowers, and Henry, a Jeeves clone - so it seems for a second that he's not being a know-it-all. The 'twists' involve some slight trick of wordplay, or trivia reveal - and again, I'm not the audience for this. Brain-teaser fluff.

Things are getting worse, in terms of these stories being my jam. Earlier, I said the tales are more for brain teaser fans, crossword puzzle fans, than Crime & Mystery lovers. And the third story actually features a crossword puzzle and Scrabble expert, leaving a murky word-clue as he dies. Like, we're literally doing crossword-puzzle stuff as the basis for a Crime story. Just Asimov showing off his brain. I dunno.

I haven’t read Black Widowers stories before, but they are of a format that I have encountered in Asimov before, and it is the type of story I like least. There is no story. A group of smart people just talk, and in doing so, become just the writer showing off how smart he is for knowing all kinds of cool stuff. Brain teasers from a guy showing off, attached to a trite almost-story doled out in endless chatter.

credo che sia una rilettura, in realtà