Union Club Mysteries

This is a delightful collection of very short mysteries. Each story is about 6 pages long. A group of 3 friends discuss a topic, a slant on it arises, a fourth one, Griswold, tells a mystery associated to it, chellenges them to solve it, which they fail to do, and then explains it to them. And there are 30 of these here! To be sure, they are of a light nature, which is understandable due to their length, but make for a quick, entertaining read.

More condensed than the Black Widower's Club, these are the `5 Minute Mystery' type stories. And while some are eminently solvable (if you're really smart), there are others that are severely dated. Specifically, the library book mystery - not something the younger generations (especially those living in big cities) would ever get. Still, unless you have to be able to solve them, it's still a fun and worthwhile read. And because they are very short, it's easy to squeeze on in before bed, while waiting on take-out, or in the doctor's office. A great little book to have around for just such time-wasting emergencies. But if you're looking for really great (if a little longer) mysteries with much better characters, I recommend the Black Widowers series. Even though this book rates pretty high, those are far superior.

There are basically two types of mysteries, those that are long and involved, requiring a full novel in order to prepare and complete the tale and those that are completed in a few pages. This volume is a collection of short stories that Asimov wrote for Gallery magazine. The setting is the library of an aristocratic club where a small set of members gather to momentarily restore their roles of gentlemen in a society where their time has passed. The "hero", an arrogant, yet effective gent named Griswold, has a tale to tell about every topic that comes up. The mysteries are not profound or deep, but they are challenging enough so that you will find it difficult to solve them. They truly fit the criteria of such stories, where the solution is difficult to grasp but easy to understand once it is given. I am not a big fan of mysteries, but I liked this collection because the solutions are puzzles to be interpreted rather than psychological quirks to be untangled. If you are a fan of puzzles, then you will most certainly like these.