Black Widowers

The Black Widowers are a fictional men-only dining club created by Isaac Asimov for a series of mystery stories he wrote starting in 1971. Most of the stories were first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, though a few first appeared in Fantasy & Science Fiction, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, and the various book collections into which the stories were eventually gathered.

Related Topics:
Isaac Asimov - Mystery - Stories - 1971 - Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine - Fantasy & Science Fiction - Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine

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The stories always follow the same convention: the six club members and a guest sit down to dinner, served by the incomparable waiter, Henry. During the meal it always comes out that the guest has a problem which the club members try to solve, but only Henry sees the correct (and usually very simple) answer.

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The Black Widowers were based on a literary dining club Asimov belonged to known as the Trap Door Spiders. Members of the Widowers were based on real life Spiders, some of them famous writers in their own right.

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• Geoffrey Avalon (L. Sprague de Camp)
• Emmanuel Rubin (Lester del Rey)
• James Drake (Dr. John D. Clark)
• Thomas Trumball (Gilbert Cant)
• Mario Gonzalo (Lin Carter)
• Roger Halsted (Don Bensen)

Henry was based upon P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves.

Related Topics:
P.G. Wodehouse - Jeeves

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