Which prolific author created a men-only dining group called The Black Widowers for a series of mystery stories?
"collects twelve stories by Asimov, together with a general introduction and an afterword by the author following each story. 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"
"mystery to solve; after the members deliberated, Henry would offer the correct solution. This story, the first, deviates from that pattern in the nature of Henry's ""contribution"". Each month, the Black Widowers meet at a restaurant and converse over dinner with each other and their waiter. The host of the group brings the evening's guest. On this occasion, Geoffrey Avalon brings a Dr. Hanley Bartram to dinner. (All members of the club and all guests are doctors for the evening, and those with doctorates are referred to as ""doctor doctor."") Bartram tells the group of two business partners, Mr. Jackson"
"The Black Spectacles The Black Spectacles (published in the US as ""The Problem of the Green Capsule"", with the subtitle ""Being the psychologist's murder case""), first published in 1939, is a detective story by John Dickson Carr featuring his series detective Gideon Fell. This novel is a mystery of the type known as a locked room mystery (or more properly a subset of the locked room mystery called an ""impossible crime"" story). In the small English village of Sodbury Cross, pretty Marjorie Wills is suspected of having poisoned some chocolates in the local tobacco-and-sweet shop, using a method pioneered by"
"divorced 1975). Carter was a member of the Trap Door Spiders, an all-male literary banqueting club which served as the basis of Isaac Asimov's fictional group of mystery-solvers, the Black Widowers. Carter was the model for Asimov's character Mario Gonzalo. Carter was also a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America (SAGA), a loose-knit group of Heroic fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose work he anthologized in the ""Flashing Swords!"" series. In the 1970s Carter published one issue of his own fantasy fanzine ""Kadath"", named after H. P. Lovecraft's fictional setting (see ""The Dream-Quest of"
"humorously unflattering portrayal) as arrogant author Mortimer Stellar in ""When No Man Pursueth"", James Randi as stage magician The Amazing Larri in ""The Cross of Lorraine"", and Harlan Ellison as writer Darius Just (a character who first appeared as protagonist of Asimov's 1976 mystery novel ""Murder at the ABA"") in ""The Woman in the Bar."" The remaining member of the Widowers, the group's waiter and unfailing sleuth Henry Jackson, was completely fictional, though Asimov did liken the character to that of P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves from the Bertie Wooster novels. Trap Door Spiders The Trap Door Spiders are a literary male-only"
"screenplays for the 1979 movies ""Mr. Horn"" and """". Bensen was a member of the all-male literary banqueting club the Trap Door Spiders, which served as the basis of Isaac Asimov's fictional group of mystery solvers the Black Widowers. Bensen himself was the model for the character Roger Halsted. Concerning the Black Widowers, he published a poem of the same name during 1977. He was also associated with the Mystery Writers of America. Donald R. Bensen Donald Roynald Bensen (October 3, 1927 – October 19, 1997), known also as Don Bensen and listed sometimes as D.R. Bensen, was an American"
"Sprague de Camp's historical novel ""The Bronze God of Rhodes"" (1960), as ""The Seven Strangers,"" a social club holding symposia in the ancient Greek city-state of Rhodes. Such Spider elements as the rotating presidency and the question put to guests are faithfully represented in the practices of the Strangers. The club was also the inspiration for Isaac Asimov's fictional group of puzzle solvers the Black Widowers, protagonists of a long-running series of mystery short stories beginning in 1971. Asimov, a Boston resident who was often an invited guest of the Trap Door Spiders when in New York, became a permanent"
"Trap Door Spiders The Trap Door Spiders are a literary male-only eating, drinking, and arguing society in New York City, with a membership historically composed of notable science fiction personalities. The name is a reference to the reclusive habits of the trapdoor spider, which when it enters its burrow pulls the hatch shut behind it. The Trap Door Spiders were established by author Fletcher Pratt in 1944, in response to the June 7, 1943 marriage of his friend Dr. John D. Clark to operatic soprano Mildred Baldwin. The new Mrs. Clark was unpopular with her husband's friends, despite their participation"
"who comprise the Black Widowers (six who dine, and the waiter who attends them) meet at a fine restaurant and converse over dinner with each other, their guest, and their waiter, Henry. The host of the group — that is, the member who pays for everyone else's dinner that month — usually brings a guest for the evening, who will then be ""grilled,"" or questioned, when dessert has been finished and supper has reached the brandy stage. This occasion is different, for Thomas Trumbull, one of the members, wants to present to the others a problem that he faces at"
"in the Korean War with the United States Army. He was a member of the all-male literary banqueting club the Trap Door Spiders, which served as the basis of Isaac Asimov's fictional group of mystery solvers the Black Widowers. He was also very fond of owls and trains. He resided in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania where ""Weird Tales"" was edited in his basement, followed by Rockville, Maryland. Scithers died April 19, 2010, two days after suffering a heart attack. George H. Scithers George H. Scithers (May 14, 1929 – April 19, 2010) was an American science fiction fan, author and"
"of Isaac Asimov's fictional group of mystery solvers the Black Widowers. Cant himself was the model for the Thomas Trumbull character. After Cant died, Asimov dedicated the collection ""Banquets of the Black Widowers"" (1984) to his memory and to that of Frederic Dannay. Gilbert Cant Gilbert Cant (September 16, 1909 – August 1, 1982) was a London-born American journalist. Cant arrived in the U.S. in 1934 and began working for the ""New York Post"" in 1937. He was a war correspondent in the Pacific during World War II and wrote three books on the subject, ""The War at Sea"", ""America's"
"Service"" stories, ""Strictly Diplomatic"" and ""The Black Cabinet""; ""The Black Cabinet"" is a story in which an attempt to assassinate Napoleon III is foiled by a contemporaneous historical figure from another context. Sir Henry Merrivale: A novelette, ""All in a Maze"". The Men Who Explained Miracles The Men Who Explained Miracles, first published in 1963, is a volume of short stories written by John Dickson Carr; the stories feature his series detectives Gideon Fell, Henry Merrivale and Colonel March, of the ""Department of Queer Complaints"". This volume of short stories is of the mystery genre, most of the type known"
"nonfiction beginning in the 1960s. During World War II, de Camp served as a researcher at the Philadelphia Naval Yard along with his fellow writers Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein. De Camp eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy as a reserve officer. De Camp was a member of the all-male literary and dining club the ""Trap Door Spiders"" in New York City, which served as the basis of Asimov's fictional group of mystery solvers the ""Black Widowers."" De Camp himself was the model for the character named ""Geoffrey Avalon."" De Camp was a"
"The Hollow Man (Carr novel) The Hollow Man is a famous locked room mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr (1906–1977), published in 1935. It was published in the US under the title The Three Coffins and in 1981 was selected as the best locked room mystery of all time by a panel of 17 mystery authors and reviewers. Professor Charles Grimaud and his circle are meeting at a tavern when they are interrupted by a mysterious stranger who claims that men can arise from their graves and walk through walls. The stranger, illusionist Pierre Fley, claims to"
"or quote Gilbert and Sullivan. He was a prominent member of The Baker Street Irregulars, the leading Sherlock Holmes society, for whom he wrote an essay arguing that Professor Moriarty's work ""The Dynamics of An Asteroid"" involved the willful destruction of an ancient civilized planet. He was also a member of the all-male literary banqueting club the Trap Door Spiders, which served as the basis of his fictional group of mystery solvers, the Black Widowers. He later used his essay on Moriarty's work as the basis for a Black Widowers story, ""The Ultimate Crime"", which appeared in ""More Tales of"
"Collin Wilcox (writer) Collin Wilcox (September 21, 1924 – July 12, 1996) was an American mystery writer who published 30 books in 30 years. Born in Detroit, Michigan, September 21, 1924, his first book was ""The Black Door"" (1967), featuring a sleuth possessing extrasensory perception. His major series of novels was about Lieutenant Frank Hastings of the San Francisco Police Department. Titles in the Hastings series included ""Hire a Hangman"", ""Dead Aim"", ""Hiding Place"", ""Long Way Down"" and ""Stalking Horse"". Two of his last books, ""Full Circle"" and ""Find Her a Grave"", featured a new hero-sleuth, Alan Bernhardt, an eccentric"
"choices it did – many of them quite possibly wrong, but necessary for its development."" For a number of years in the 1970s, Del Rey, himself, helmed the review column for Analog Science Fiction and Fact entitled ""The Reference Library"". Del Rey was a member of an all-male literary banqueting club, the Trap Door Spiders, which served as the basis of Isaac Asimov's fictional group of mystery solvers, the Black Widowers. Del Rey was the model for ""Emmanuel Rubin"". ""There is no writer in this field who is more steadfast in practicing the rule that fiction is first of all"
"Chocolate Alphabet"". Strange Wine Strange Wine is a 1978 short story collection by American writer Harlan Ellison. The book contains the following stories (as well as Ellison's own introduction for each tale): Ellison wrote ""Strange Wine"" while sitting in the window of Westwood-area science fiction bookstore, A Change of Hobbit. Stephen King considered this one of the best horror fiction books published between 1950 and 1980 in his 1981 non-fiction book about the horror genre, ""Danse Macabre"", specifically reviewing the stories ""Croatoan"", ""Hitler Painted Roses"", ""Lonely Women are the Vessels of Time"", ""Emissary from Hamelin"" and ""From A to Z,"
"Jessica, and Emma. Collin Wilcox (writer) Collin Wilcox (September 21, 1924 – July 12, 1996) was an American mystery writer who published 30 books in 30 years. Born in Detroit, Michigan, September 21, 1924, his first book was ""The Black Door"" (1967), featuring a sleuth possessing extrasensory perception. His major series of novels was about Lieutenant Frank Hastings of the San Francisco Police Department. Titles in the Hastings series included ""Hire a Hangman"", ""Dead Aim"", ""Hiding Place"", ""Long Way Down"" and ""Stalking Horse"". Two of his last books, ""Full Circle"" and ""Find Her a Grave"", featured a new hero-sleuth, Alan"
"member of the club when he moved to the area in 1970. Asimov loosely modeled his fictional ""Black Widowers"" on six of the real-life Trap Door Spiders. He gave his characters professions somewhat more varied than those of their models, while retaining aspects of their personalities and appearances. Asimov's characters and their real-life counterparts are: Other real people, including members of the Spiders and others, also occasionally appeared in the series in fictional guise. These included Fletcher Pratt (albeit deceased and offstage) as Widowers founder Ralph Ottur in the story ""To the Barest,"" and (as guests) Asimov himself (in a"
"but that no one notices. The Judas Window The Judas Window (also published as ""The Crossbow Murder"") is a famous locked room mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr (1906–1977), writing under the name of Carter Dickson, published in 1938 and featuring detective Sir Henry Merrivale. In a poll of 17 mystery writers and reviewers, this novel was voted as the fifth best locked room mystery of all time. ""The Hollow Man"" also by John Dickson Carr was voted the best. James Caplon Answell arranges to visit his future father-in-law, Avory Hume, at his house in London. Hume"
"on my corner"", ""A Few Good Women"", ""Deep Heet!"", and ""Remain Silent"", among many others. In the novel ""Strange Angel"", author George Pendel describes Clifton's as ""a bizarre experience"", and a ""kitsch cafeteria provided millions of low-priced meals to the out-of-work and destitute during the darkest days of the depression"", and that it provided a ""surreal sanctuary from a broken world"". Science fiction author Ray Bradbury ate at Clifton's as a struggling writer, often taking advantage of the policy that anyone who couldn't afford to pay didn't have to, and in the 1930s attended meetings of the Los Angeles Science"
"He has been poisoned by curare, which must be absorbed into the body through a break in the skin, but no wounds of any kind are found on the body. Henry Merrivale must solve the mystery. The Red Widow Murders The Red Widow Murders is a mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr (1906–1977), who published it under the name of Carter Dickson. It is a locked room mystery and features his series detective, Sir Henry Merrivale. An oddly assorted group of people draw cards to see who will spend the night locked into a room said to"
"The Union Club Mysteries The Union Club Mysteries is a collection of mystery short stories by American author Isaac Asimov featuring his fictional mystery solver Griswold. It was first published in hardcover by Doubleday in 1983 and in paperback by the Fawcett Crest imprint of Ballantine Books in 1985. The book collects thirty stories by Asimov, most reprinted from magazines and a few previously unpublished, together with a foreword and afterword by the author. Each story is set at a club known as the Union Club, in which a conversation between three members prompts a fourth member, Griswold, to tell"
"Door Spiders. Members of the Widowers were based on real-life Spiders, some of them famous writers in their own right: Club waiter Henry Jackson was not based on a real person, but Asimov explained that he might have been inspired in large part by Wodehouse's immortal character Jeeves. Asimov was a P. G. Wodehouse fan and a member of the Wodehouse Society. The deceased founder of the club, Ralph Ottur, on whom the plot of the story ""To the Barest"" turned, was based on the real-life founder of the Trap Door Spiders, Fletcher Pratt. Some guests were also based on"
"of whom would tell tall tales in a club or bar setting. However, the element of fantasy was a new wrinkle, and would inspire such disparate later descendants as L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt's ""Tales from Gavagan's Bar"", Arthur C. Clarke's ""Tales from the White Hart"" (specifically acknowledged by Clarke in his introduction to the first Jorkens omnibus volume), Sterling E. Lanier's Brigadier Ffellowes stories, Rhys Hughes's ""Tallest Stories"", Larry Niven's Draco Tavern stories, Isaac Asimov's Black Widowers and Union Club mysteries, Spider Robinson's tales of Callahan's Place, and even the animated cartoon series ""The World of Commander"
"The Judas Window The Judas Window (also published as ""The Crossbow Murder"") is a famous locked room mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr (1906–1977), writing under the name of Carter Dickson, published in 1938 and featuring detective Sir Henry Merrivale. In a poll of 17 mystery writers and reviewers, this novel was voted as the fifth best locked room mystery of all time. ""The Hollow Man"" also by John Dickson Carr was voted the best. James Caplon Answell arranges to visit his future father-in-law, Avory Hume, at his house in London. Hume invites the prospective bridegroom into"
"The Suicide Club (short story collection) The Suicide Club is a collection of three 19th century detective fiction short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson that combine to form a single narrative. First published in the ""London Magazine ""in 1878, they were collected and republished in the first volume of the ""New Arabian Nights"". The trilogy introduces the characters of Prince Florizel of Bohemia and his sidekick Colonel Geraldine. In this cycle they infiltrate a secret society of people intent on losing their lives. It has been described as: ""The Prince’s investigation of the macabre club and its criminally inclined president"
"Strange Wine Strange Wine is a 1978 short story collection by American writer Harlan Ellison. The book contains the following stories (as well as Ellison's own introduction for each tale): Ellison wrote ""Strange Wine"" while sitting in the window of Westwood-area science fiction bookstore, A Change of Hobbit. Stephen King considered this one of the best horror fiction books published between 1950 and 1980 in his 1981 non-fiction book about the horror genre, ""Danse Macabre"", specifically reviewing the stories ""Croatoan"", ""Hitler Painted Roses"", ""Lonely Women are the Vessels of Time"", ""Emissary from Hamelin"" and ""From A to Z, in the"
"of other clubs. An amusing description of it and the rationale behind its size may be found in Chapter Ten of the spy novel ""The Sixth Column"" (1951) by Peter Fleming (brother of Ian Fleming). The Club is thinly disguised as ""Black's"". Whilst the club does not have members' accommodation, facilities include a private dining room and a billiards room. The menu revolves around British game: grouse, partridge, wild salmon, gull’s eggs, potted shrimps, smoked eel and smoked trout. There is also a vegetarian option, but it is unpopular. In one seven-year period, only three vegetarian portions were sold. White's"
"The Red Widow Murders The Red Widow Murders is a mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr (1906–1977), who published it under the name of Carter Dickson. It is a locked room mystery and features his series detective, Sir Henry Merrivale. An oddly assorted group of people draw cards to see who will spend the night locked into a room said to be haunted by the ""Red Widow""—a legendary figure who was married to the executioner who guillotined French aristocrats. In the morning, the victim is found dead, locked inside a room whose door was continuously under observation."
"The telling is done in Carter Dickson's usual long and diffuse talk which he thinks conversation; oddities are added for pseudo suspense; people shout, whirl, say What! in italics, and generally the thing is irritation unrelieved even by a second murder."" The White Priory Murders The White Priory Murders is a mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr (1906–1977), who published it under the name of Carter Dickson. It is a locked room mystery and features his series detective, Sir Henry Merrivale, assisted by Scotland Yard Inspector Humphrey Masters. Marcia Tait is a Hollywood star who has come"
"the matter, ""Dynamics of an Asteroid,"" which was published in ""Beyond Baker Street: A Sherlockian Anthology"" (Bobbs-Merrill, 1976). Asimov was so pleased with the result that he decided that his ideas deserved a wider audience, and so as soon as he finished writing the article he expanded it into a Black Widowers mystery story, ""The Ultimate Crime,"" for publication in ""More Tales of the Black Widowers"". Ronald Mason is the guest at the monthly dinner of the Black Widowers club. He is a member of the Baker Street Irregulars, but he has never contributed an article on the subject of"