This morning, (May 20th, 2026) I finished reading Puzzles of the Black Widowers (the 5th collection) and immediately started The Return of the Black Widowers, the 6th and final collection. (And once again I am grateful for the Internet Archive, which provided me access to this book for free. I looked at used copies online and they ranged from the eyebrow raising $35 range to the oh my god $100 and more.)
I immediately saw some great bonuses in this collection. The introduction was written by Harlan Ellison, who has been with me since my teenage years. And the volume was edited by the most wonderful Charles Ardai, the Main Man at Hard Case Crime and the writer of some excellent novels, such as Little Girl Lost, Songs of Innocence, and Fifty-To-One, the first two of which were written under the pen name Richard Aleas. (Highly recommended!)
Also, there was a Black Widowers story written by Mr. Ardai. What a bonus.
And speaking of Charles Ardai, in his introduction to this collection, Harlan Ellison refers to him as "the traitorous and untrustworthy Ardai...." He also calls him "heartless" and swears to get revenge on him...and refers to him as "the Beast" and "poltroon." Yowza. You've got to be SOMEbody for Harlan Ellison to lay into you like that...even if HE was just playing (which I assume is the case here).
This collection is an oddity in the series in that it only has six "new" Black Widowers stories by Asimov, and then eleven of the "best" stories from the previous five collections. My memory is bad enough that I think I should be able to re-read all of those stories with enthusiasm.
So let's go.
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