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The book collects thirty stories by Asimov, most reprinted from magazines and a few previously unpublished, together with a foreword and afterword by the author.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 about a mystery he has solved. These are often tall stories, and often based on his time in US intelligence. The format is based on that utilized by P. G. Wodehouse in recounting his golf stories.

According to reviewer John H. Jenkins, these stories are not rated particularly well by Asimov fans, and are less well regarded than his better known Black Widowers mysteries. He does regard a few of them more highly, particularly "No Refuge Could Save" and "Hide and Seek," but feels the brevity and format of the stories allows the author little scope.^[1] It is also open to question whether they are supposed to be serious mysteries or tall stories.

Contents

• "Foreword"
• "No Refuge Could Save"
• "The Telephone Number"
• "The Men Who Wouldn't Talk"
• "A Clear Shot"
• "Irresistible to Women"
• "He Wasn't There"
• "The Thin Line"
• "Mystery Tune"
• "Hide and Seek"
• "Gift"
• "Hot or Cold"
• "The Thirteenth Page"
• "1 to 999"
• "Twelve Years Old"
• "Testing, Testing!"
• "The Appleby Story"
• "Dollars and Cents"
• "Friends and Allies"
• "Which is Which?"
• "The Sign"
• "Catching the Fox"
• "Getting the Combination"
• "The Library Book"
• "The Three Goblets"
• "Spell It!"
• "Two Women"
• "Sending a Signal"
• "The Favorite Piece"
• "Half a Ghost"
• "There Was a Young Lady"
• "Afterword"

References