Quotes from book
Puzzles of the Black Widowers

Name: Puzzles of the Black Widowers
Author: Isaac Asimov

Puzzles of the Black Widowers is a collection of mystery short stories by American author Isaac Asimov, featuring his fictional club of mystery solvers, the Black Widowers. It was first published in hardcover by Doubleday in January 1990, and in paperback by Bantam Books the same year. The first British edition was issued in hardcover by Doubleday in April 1990, and the first British paperback edition by Bantam UK in April 1991.This book is the fifth of six that describe mysteries solved by the Black Widowers, based on a literary dining club he 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 It collects twelve stories by Asimov, nine reprinted from mystery magazines and three previously unpublished, together with a general introduction and an afterword by the author following each story. Each story involves the club members' knowledge of trivia.

“In my fiction I am careful to make everything probable and to tie up all loose ends. Real life is not hampered by such considerations.”

Isaac Asimov book Puzzles of the Black Widowers

Puzzles of the Black Widowers (1984), p. 132
General sources

“Books … hold within them the gathered wisdom of humanity, the collected knowledge of the world's thinkers, the amusement and excitement built up by the imaginations of brilliant people. Books contain humor, beauty, wit, emotion, thought, and, indeed, all of life. Life without books is empty.”

Isaac Asimov book Puzzles of the Black Widowers

Puzzles of the Black Widowers (1990), pp. 74-75
General sources