More Tales of the Black Widowers (The Black Widowers #2) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: More Tales of the Black Widowers
Series: The Black Widowers #2
Authors: Isaac Asimov
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 197
Words: 77K
Publish: 1976

This was exactly more of the same from Tales of the Black Widowers. I am ok with that. I love short story collections and Asimov was master of that craft. Having him switch from Science Fiction to Mystery hasn’t changed anything in his story telling ability. Thankfully.

I probably would have bumped this up half a star since I enjoyed the stories just as much as before, but once again, the interpersonal interactions between the members of the Black Widowers Club just grated on my nerves. They are jerks to each other, they are jerks to the invited guest and I can only imagine what they must be like out in the world at large. I find it very unpleasant. Reading these Tales is like having some of that sweet and sour sauce and I’m not a fan of the sour.

This cover is very well done, in that it contrasts with the first cover (which was solid white, with one black widow spider). I like little flourishes like that. It doesn’t actually make the stories themselves any better or worse, but it adds to the overall “insert pretentious french phrase about making things better in small ways”. There, now that you haven’t learned anything at Bookstoogiversity, class is dismissed!

ps,
Thanks to Scuffed Granny, I am experimenting with the "Excerpt" part of blogging. You shouldn't notice anything different unless you read my posts in the WP Reader OR get the email for each post. To you email people, let me know what you think. 

★★★☆☆

From Wikipedia.org

This book is the second 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 It collects twelve stories by Asimov, nine reprinted from mystery or science fiction magazines and three previously unpublished, together with a general introduction, and an afterword following each story by the author.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.

Contents

• "Introduction"

• "When No Man Pursueth"

• "Quicker Than the Eye"

• "The Iron Gem"

• "The Three Numbers"

• "Nothing Like Murder"

• "No Smoking"

• "Season's Greetings!"

• "The One and Only East"

• "Earthset and Evening Star"

• "Friday the Thirteenth"

• "The Unabridged"

• "The Ultimate Crime"

• All of My Asimov Review

Tales of the Black Widowers (The Black Widowers #1) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

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"

• All of My Asimov Reviews