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Title: Tales of the Black Widowers
Series:
The Black Widowers #1
Authors: Isaac
Asimov
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre:
Mystery
Pages: 179
Words: 69K
This was a collection of short stories (as are all the books in this series) and so I knew that I would enjoy them. Asimov was an absolute master of the short story, and whether it was in SF or Mystery (as in here), he knew how to convey the most info in the shortest amount of words and STILL knock your lights out with a hidden right hook to the jaw.
So you would think this would have had a higher rating. I did too. And it would have, except for one thing, that was consistent across all the stories. The members of the club are petty and argue about the stupidest little thing, and generally made me wonder WHY they were all in the same club. They did not seem to hate each other, but they also didn’t seem to click with each other like friends do. If this was my introduction to friendship, I would want no part of it.
Without that aspect, the stories and mini-mysteries would have gotten an easy 4stars from me. Quick and punchy and never overstaying it’s welcome. Asimov also talks about each story, where it was published and something interesting about it. But! And this is most important, he does it AFTER the story is done. I get to read the story, make up my own mind about it and then he throws his own light on it. I’ve read too many anthologies where the editor thought their words and ideas were the most important and put them before the story, thus ruining the whole thing for me. Asimov was smart enough to know that The Stories the Thing. Because of that, I was able to enjoy what he wrote about them. Most of the stuff he talked about was title changes. The mystery magazine would change the title and he’d talk about why he agreed or didn’t with that decision. It also led to talking about whether he kept the title change for the story in his own book or used the original. It was all done with a very light hand and there wasn’t a note of bitterness or acrimony in it all.
I am looking forward to the rest of the series but am hoping the members become less pigheaded to each other.
★★★☆☆
From Wikipedia.org
This book is the first of six that describe mysteries solved by the Black Widowers, based on a literary dining club Asimov belonged to known as the Trap Door Spiders. It collects twelve stories by Asimov, nine reprinted from mystery magazines and three previously unpublished, together with a general introduction, and an afterword following each story by the author. Each story involves the club members' knowledge of trivia.
"The Acquisitive Chuckle"
"Ph as in Phony"
"Truth to Tell"
"Go, Little Book!"
"Early Sunday Morning"
"The Obvious Factor"
"The Pointing Finger"
"Miss What?"
"The Lullaby of Broadway"
"Yankee Doodle Went to Town"
"The Curious Omission"
"Out of Sight"
