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** Avalon quotes the first line from ''[[Literature/TheRubaiyatOfOmarKhayyam The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam]]'', "The moving finger writes".
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** Avalon quotes the first line from ''[[Literature/TheRubaiyatOfOmarKhayyam The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam]]'', "The moving finger writes".
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* FancyDinner: The BlackWidowers meet every month at the Milano, a fancy restaurant in New York City, tonight's dinner is manicotti and trout.
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* FancyDinner: The BlackWidowers Black Widowers meet every month at the Milano, a fancy restaurant in New York City, tonight's dinner is manicotti and trout.
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* Clock Discrepancy: Gonzalo is already awake when a phone call comes at a time that is actually an hour later than he thinks it is (because he hasn't yet set his clock forward for Daylight Savings Time) and thus unwittingly provides a [[TheAlibi false alibi]].
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* Clock Discrepancy: ClockDiscrepancy: Gonzalo is already awake when a phone call comes at a time that is actually an hour later than he thinks it is (because he hasn't yet set his clock forward for Daylight Savings Time) and thus unwittingly provides a [[TheAlibi false alibi]].
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Up To Eleven is a defunct trope
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Halsted is host tonight, and he didn't bring a guest for the grilling! He waits for the normal grilling time and puts the entire group to the question, "Who here knows of a murder?" Because the [[PreviouslyOn previous crimes]] were minor inconveniences, not big crimes, Halsted wants to solve [[UpToEleven the biggest mystery, a murder]]. One by one, the members admit they don't know of any murder mysteries to appease him. Then Gonzalo mentions his sister's death, an unsolved murder because some drug addict must've come in and tried to rob her. The members try to help him, but the police have already been quite thorough. Even Henry claims to be stumped.
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Halsted is host tonight, and he didn't bring a guest for the grilling! He waits for the normal grilling time and puts the entire group to the question, "Who here knows of a murder?" Because the [[PreviouslyOn previous crimes]] were minor inconveniences, not big crimes, Halsted wants to solve [[UpToEleven the biggest mystery, a murder]].murder. One by one, the members admit they don't know of any murder mysteries to appease him. Then Gonzalo mentions his sister's death, an unsolved murder because some drug addict must've come in and tried to rob her. The members try to help him, but the police have already been quite thorough. Even Henry claims to be stumped.
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* MysteryMagnet: Now that the club has been firmly established as [[LampshadeHanging a place that solves mysteries]], Halsted wants to solve [[UpToEleven the ultimate crime: a murder mystery]].
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* MysteryMagnet: Now that the club has been firmly established as [[LampshadeHanging a place that solves mysteries]], Halsted wants to solve [[UpToEleven the ultimate crime: a murder mystery]].mystery.
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* UpToEleven: Previously, the Black Widowers had solved some minor mysteries that wouldn't be prosecuted or harm anyone. This time, they solve a Murder.
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* TheAlibi: Gonzalo claims that Alex could not have been home during Marge's murder because they were together at nine, when the witnesses day the murder took place.
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* TheAlibi: Gonzalo claims that Alex could not have been home during Marge's murder because they were together at nine, when the witnesses day say the murder took place.
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ellery_queens_mystery_197303.jpg]]
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ellery_queens_mystery_197303.jpg]]
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The 5th story in the Literature/BlackWidowers case files, Creator/IsaacAsimov wrote it for ''Magazine/ElleryQueensMysteryMagazine'' (March 1973 issue), under the title of "The Biological Clock".
Halsted is host tonight, and he didn't bring a guest for the grilling! He waits for the normal grilling time and puts the entire group to the question, "Who here knows of a murder?" Because the [[PreviouslyOn previous crimes]] were minor inconveniences, not big crimes, Halsted wants to solve [[UpToEleven the biggest mystery, a murder]]. One by one, the members admit they don't know of any murder mysteries to appease him. Then Gonzalo mentions his sister's death, an unsolved murder because some drug addict must've come in and tried to rob her. The members try to help him, but the police have already been quite thorough. Even Henry claims to be stumped.
This story has been reprinted twice; ''Literature/TalesOfTheBlackWidowers'' (1974) and ''Literature/TheReturnOfTheBlackWidowers'' (2003).
----
!!Examples that woke up late:
* AccidentalMurder: Gonzalo asks Henry why Alex may have killed his wife (Gonzalo's sister), and Henry responds that it was probably an accident; an argument that just went a little too far. When it was over, Alex panicked and called Gonzalo to create [[TheAlibi an alibi]] for when the neighbors would've heard the murder.
* AdaptationDistillation: InUniverse, Halsted is adapting ''Literature/TheIliad'' into limericks, one book at a time. The third book goes as follows:
--> Menelaus, though not very mighty,\\
Was stronger than Paris, the flighty.\\
Menelaus did well in\\
The duel over Helen,\\
But was foiled by divine Aphrodite.
* TheAlibi: Gonzalo claims that Alex could not have been home during Marge's murder because they were together at nine, when the witnesses day the murder took place.
* AwfulWeddedLife: Gonzalo reports that Alex and Marge fought often, and it was after one of those fights that Alex asked if he could visit Gonzalo for awhile.
* Clock Discrepancy: Gonzalo is already awake when a phone call comes at a time that is actually an hour later than he thinks it is (because he hasn't yet set his clock forward for Daylight Savings Time) and thus unwittingly provides a [[TheAlibi false alibi]].
* DoingInTheWizard: The club members aren't willing to let Gonzalo describe any sort of psychic abilities without challenge, and he isn't interested in defending his view.
* TheDrifter: Accourding to Gonzalo, Alex isn't very motivated and just goes from small jobs to small jobs, earning and borrowing for day-to-day life.
* DrivingQuestion: Can the club solve a murder mystery?
* ExactWords: Henry would never break the rules of confidentiality the meeting uses, which is "[a]nything said in that room can't be repeated outside", so before giving TheSummation, he and Gonzalo find an unused corner ''outside'' of the room.
* FairplayWhodunnit: The clues are all presented during the grilling, and the audience can deduce how the murderer has escaped detection after Henry has admitted failure.
* FancyDinner: The BlackWidowers meet every month at the Milano, a fancy restaurant in New York City, tonight's dinner is manicotti and trout.
* FeaturelessPlaneOfDisembodiedDialogue: Very little of the characters are described, and the room itself has more detail than usual simply to establish that Henry and Gonzalo are ''not'' in the room where they have to keep the conversation a secret.
* FramingDevice: The FancyDinner and grilling provide a location and characters to hear about the murder of Gonzalo's sister.
* GenreSavvy: Halsted's claim that between the seven members, one of them must know of a murder, is rebuked by Rubin, who insists that he's been reading too many mystery stories. SubvertedTrope, as Rubin is quite surprised to learn it's a common plot, since he doesn’t read mystery stories.
* HeManWomanHater: In this story, it's revealed that members (including guests) cannot be women. It's the only actual rule, the rest being guidelines or traditions.
* MysteryMagnet: Now that the club has been firmly established as [[LampshadeHanging a place that solves mysteries]], Halsted wants to solve [[UpToEleven the ultimate crime: a murder mystery]].
* OrwellianRetcon: Dr Asimov didn't like the title that the magazine gave this story ("The Biological Clock") because he felt it gave too much away. So he changed it back when editing ''Literature/TalesOfTheBlackWidowers''.
* PhoneInDetective: Henry is able to deduce the mystery of Marge's murder merely from having the timing described.
* PreviouslyOn: Halsted recaps the previous four mysteries, dismissing them as uninteresting compared to Murder.
* PuzzleThriller: DiscussedTrope, Halsted wants to solve a murder [[MysteryMagnet since there's always a mystery at the meetings now]]. Rubin, the resident author, explains why mysteries are a type of logic puzzle. (Note that the character describes a FairplayWhodunnit, which was Dr Asimov's preferred story.)
--> ''"A proper mystery is as mathematical a puzzle as anything you can prepare and it has to be constructed out of much more intractable material."'' -- Rubin
* ShoutOut:
** Rubin complains that Halsted has been reading too much Creator/AgathaChristie, and mentions ''Literature/MissMarple''.
** Avalon quotes the first line from ''[[Literature/TheRubaiyatOfOmarKhayyam The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam]]'', "The moving finger writes".
* TheSummation: Henry, at first, admits [[SubvertedTrope he cannot solve the mystery]]. Later, he takes Gonzalo into a different room [[DoubleSubverted to reveal how he had been tricked]] into giving a [[TheAlibi false alibi]].
* TilMurderDoUsPart: Alex kills Marge in a fit of anger, because he doesn't like the person she's trying to turn him into. Panicking, he calls up his brother-in-law to get [[TheAlibi an alibi]] for when she died.
* TitleDrop:
** The original title, "The Biological Clock", appears when Drake grouses about how he isn't an early riser like Gonzalo.
** The new title, "Literature/EarlySundayMorning", appears when Gonzalo is grousing about being an early riser, even on Sundays.
* TwinTelepathy: Gonzalo lays some claim to telepathy and precognition, but isn't willing to defend it against [[DoingInTheWizard the skeptical club members]].
* UpToEleven: Previously, the Black Widowers had solved some minor mysteries that wouldn't be prosecuted or harm anyone. This time, they solve a Murder.
----
Halsted is host tonight, and he didn't bring a guest for the grilling! He waits for the normal grilling time and puts the entire group to the question, "Who here knows of a murder?" Because the [[PreviouslyOn previous crimes]] were minor inconveniences, not big crimes, Halsted wants to solve [[UpToEleven the biggest mystery, a murder]]. One by one, the members admit they don't know of any murder mysteries to appease him. Then Gonzalo mentions his sister's death, an unsolved murder because some drug addict must've come in and tried to rob her. The members try to help him, but the police have already been quite thorough. Even Henry claims to be stumped.
This story has been reprinted twice; ''Literature/TalesOfTheBlackWidowers'' (1974) and ''Literature/TheReturnOfTheBlackWidowers'' (2003).
----
!!Examples that woke up late:
* AccidentalMurder: Gonzalo asks Henry why Alex may have killed his wife (Gonzalo's sister), and Henry responds that it was probably an accident; an argument that just went a little too far. When it was over, Alex panicked and called Gonzalo to create [[TheAlibi an alibi]] for when the neighbors would've heard the murder.
* AdaptationDistillation: InUniverse, Halsted is adapting ''Literature/TheIliad'' into limericks, one book at a time. The third book goes as follows:
--> Menelaus, though not very mighty,\\
Was stronger than Paris, the flighty.\\
Menelaus did well in\\
The duel over Helen,\\
But was foiled by divine Aphrodite.
* TheAlibi: Gonzalo claims that Alex could not have been home during Marge's murder because they were together at nine, when the witnesses day the murder took place.
* AwfulWeddedLife: Gonzalo reports that Alex and Marge fought often, and it was after one of those fights that Alex asked if he could visit Gonzalo for awhile.
* Clock Discrepancy: Gonzalo is already awake when a phone call comes at a time that is actually an hour later than he thinks it is (because he hasn't yet set his clock forward for Daylight Savings Time) and thus unwittingly provides a [[TheAlibi false alibi]].
* DoingInTheWizard: The club members aren't willing to let Gonzalo describe any sort of psychic abilities without challenge, and he isn't interested in defending his view.
* TheDrifter: Accourding to Gonzalo, Alex isn't very motivated and just goes from small jobs to small jobs, earning and borrowing for day-to-day life.
* DrivingQuestion: Can the club solve a murder mystery?
* ExactWords: Henry would never break the rules of confidentiality the meeting uses, which is "[a]nything said in that room can't be repeated outside", so before giving TheSummation, he and Gonzalo find an unused corner ''outside'' of the room.
* FairplayWhodunnit: The clues are all presented during the grilling, and the audience can deduce how the murderer has escaped detection after Henry has admitted failure.
* FancyDinner: The BlackWidowers meet every month at the Milano, a fancy restaurant in New York City, tonight's dinner is manicotti and trout.
* FeaturelessPlaneOfDisembodiedDialogue: Very little of the characters are described, and the room itself has more detail than usual simply to establish that Henry and Gonzalo are ''not'' in the room where they have to keep the conversation a secret.
* FramingDevice: The FancyDinner and grilling provide a location and characters to hear about the murder of Gonzalo's sister.
* GenreSavvy: Halsted's claim that between the seven members, one of them must know of a murder, is rebuked by Rubin, who insists that he's been reading too many mystery stories. SubvertedTrope, as Rubin is quite surprised to learn it's a common plot, since he doesn’t read mystery stories.
* HeManWomanHater: In this story, it's revealed that members (including guests) cannot be women. It's the only actual rule, the rest being guidelines or traditions.
* MysteryMagnet: Now that the club has been firmly established as [[LampshadeHanging a place that solves mysteries]], Halsted wants to solve [[UpToEleven the ultimate crime: a murder mystery]].
* OrwellianRetcon: Dr Asimov didn't like the title that the magazine gave this story ("The Biological Clock") because he felt it gave too much away. So he changed it back when editing ''Literature/TalesOfTheBlackWidowers''.
* PhoneInDetective: Henry is able to deduce the mystery of Marge's murder merely from having the timing described.
* PreviouslyOn: Halsted recaps the previous four mysteries, dismissing them as uninteresting compared to Murder.
* PuzzleThriller: DiscussedTrope, Halsted wants to solve a murder [[MysteryMagnet since there's always a mystery at the meetings now]]. Rubin, the resident author, explains why mysteries are a type of logic puzzle. (Note that the character describes a FairplayWhodunnit, which was Dr Asimov's preferred story.)
--> ''"A proper mystery is as mathematical a puzzle as anything you can prepare and it has to be constructed out of much more intractable material."'' -- Rubin
* ShoutOut:
** Rubin complains that Halsted has been reading too much Creator/AgathaChristie, and mentions ''Literature/MissMarple''.
** Avalon quotes the first line from ''[[Literature/TheRubaiyatOfOmarKhayyam The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam]]'', "The moving finger writes".
* TheSummation: Henry, at first, admits [[SubvertedTrope he cannot solve the mystery]]. Later, he takes Gonzalo into a different room [[DoubleSubverted to reveal how he had been tricked]] into giving a [[TheAlibi false alibi]].
* TilMurderDoUsPart: Alex kills Marge in a fit of anger, because he doesn't like the person she's trying to turn him into. Panicking, he calls up his brother-in-law to get [[TheAlibi an alibi]] for when she died.
* TitleDrop:
** The original title, "The Biological Clock", appears when Drake grouses about how he isn't an early riser like Gonzalo.
** The new title, "Literature/EarlySundayMorning", appears when Gonzalo is grousing about being an early riser, even on Sundays.
* TwinTelepathy: Gonzalo lays some claim to telepathy and precognition, but isn't willing to defend it against [[DoingInTheWizard the skeptical club members]].
* UpToEleven: Previously, the Black Widowers had solved some minor mysteries that wouldn't be prosecuted or harm anyone. This time, they solve a Murder.
----
