The Return of the Black Widowers [Hardcover]

Isaac Asimov (Author), Charles Ardai (Author), Harlan Ellison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2003

Until his death in 1992, author Isaac Asimov would write more than 120 ingenious tales of detection and deduction, and in 66 of them he would present his armchair detectives, the Black Widowers, with the mind-teasing puzzles that they would strive to solve in often-quarrelsome conversation. The Black Widowers club is meeting again. In a private dining room at New York’s luxurious Milano restaurant, the six brilliant men once more gather for fine fare served impeccably by their peerless waiter, Henry. At table, too, will of course be that requisite dinner guest to challenge their combined deductive wit: a man whose marriage hinges on finding a lost umbrella; a woman shadowed by an adversary who knows her darkest secrets; a debunker of psychics unable to explain his unnerving experience in a haunted house; or a symphony cellist accused of attacking his wife with a kitchen knife. In addition to six stories that have never before appeared in any collection, this volume includes the ten best-ever Black Widowers cases, among them the very first to be published, in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, as well as the first brand new Black Widowers story to appear in more than ten years.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fans of Asimov's Black Widower brain-teasers, which typically turn on wordplay and subtle observation, will welcome this sixth (and first posthumous) collection in this diverting series. The book includes Shamus nominee Ardai's choices of the 10 best Black Widower stories, six previously uncollected tales and more. In each tale, the six members of the Black Widowers club gather to dine, socialize and take a crack at solving a puzzle posed by an invited guest. Invariably, the highly literate and intelligent group-an artist, a patent lawyer, a cryptographer, a math teacher, a chemist and a mystery writer (whose real-life counterparts from Asimov's circle of science-fiction colleagues Harlan Ellison identifies in his foreword)-falls short of success, and their Jeeves-like waiter, Henry, effortlessly points out the often obvious clues they overlooked. The mysteries the club tackles range from murder to theft to the seemingly inexplicable disappearance of an umbrella into a space warp. Most are locked-room or impossible crimes, and since the author bends over backwards to play fair, many readers will easily be able to anticipate the solutions. These old-fashioned puzzle stories may not have much substance, but they never fail to entertain.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Ah, there's nothing like a Harlan Ellison rant to add some spice to a short story collection, and he delivers a beaut in the form of an introduction to this collection of the late Asimov's Black Widower stories, one of the incredibly prolific author's relatively rare ventures into the mystery genre. Asimov wrote 66 Black Widower tales in all, from 1970 until his death in 1992, and this collection brings together 6 never published in book form in addition to the editor's selection of the 10 best. Each story is framed by a meeting of the Black Widower Club, at which the members, armchair detectives all, are treated to a gourmet dinner and then, for dessert, tested with a classic puzzle mystery. The mysteries tend to be gentle and ironic, solved by deduction instead of mayhem--and explained for the slow of mind by the inimitable waiter Henry. For fans of puzzle mysteries, this one's a gem, from a kinder, gentler era. (What does Ellison rant about? Mostly the book's editor, Ardai.) Elliott Swanson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub (November 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786712481
• ISBN-13: 978-0786712489
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #944,398 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Four stars for Asimov fans, two stars for non-fans, July 25, 2006

By 

Vincent Poirier (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Return of the Black Widowers (Paperback)

Of course I had to buy it! I love Asimov, I love his style and wit. He passed away in 1992, but that only slowed his output without stopping it.

There are 11 stories repeated from previous collections, six stories gathered for the first time, one Black Widower story by someone else, and an hommage to the Black Widowers also by someone else. There's an essay by Asimov and Harlan Ellison's forward.

Ellison's forward is the first thing wrong with the book. Asimov was famous for refusing to have anyone else write introductions to his books. In his story collections he also appended miniature essays to each story, often about how he came to think of a particular plot; obviously these essays are missing here. Further, the two stories by other writers just didn't belong in an Asimov collection, they're intruding. Finally, a few of the last stories were written when Asimov was dying and they are simply no good. I read and enjoyed them for sentimental reasons only; they would disappoint readers new to Asimov or the Black Widowers.

So if you are already a fan of the Good Doctor's fiction, indulge yourself and enjoy. Otherwise, do yourself a favour and pick up another of his 400+ books.

Vincent Poirier, Tokyo

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A bittersweet return., December 9, 2003

By 

Ventura Angelo (Brescia, Lombardia Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Return of the Black Widowers (Hardcover)

As a fan of Isaac Asimov, and of his Black Widower stories, I was delighted to read this book. Here you have a selection of ten of the best Black Widower stories ( a good selection, though I'd have included "Earthset and Evening Star". But there are many I consider the best, "Early Sunday Morning" and "The Wrong House" among them); there are also six uncollected BW stories,of which "Lost in a Time Warp" is one of the better examples of Asimov's sense of humour, very like "The Redhead", also included in the volume. At the end we have a commmemorative Black Widower
story written by Ardai, a very clever homage to the Good Doctor.
It's a book well worth having, not only for Asimov's fans, but for the mystery/puzzle stories' readers, also.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Starred review from BOOKLIST magazine, November 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Return of the Black Widowers (Hardcover)

This review from BOOKLIST used to be on this page, but somehow disappeared. For those who missed it...

*Starred Review* Ah, there's nothing like a Harlan Ellison rant to add some spice to a short story collection, and he delivers a beaut in the form of an introduction to this collection of the late Asimov's Black Widower stories, one of the incredibly prolific author's relatively rare ventures into the mystery genre. Asimov wrote 66 Black Widower tales in all, from 1970 until his death in 1992, and this collection brings together 6 never published in book form in addition to the editor's selection of the 10 best. Each story is framed by a meeting of the Black Widower Club, at which the members, armchair detectives all, are treated to a gourmet dinner and then, for dessert, tested with a classic puzzle mystery. The mysteries tend to be gentle and ironic, solved by deduction instead of mayhem--and explained for the slow of mind by the inimitable waiter Henry. For fans of puzzle mysteries, this one's a gem, from a kinder, gentler era. (What does Ellison rant about? Mostly the book's editor, Ardai.)

Elliott Swanson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved.