Black Widowers
Starting in 1971, Isaac Asimov wrote a series of mystery short stories about a men-only dinner club called the Black Widowers. The stories were published mostly in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, with a few in Fantasy & Science Fiction and Asimov's namesake magazine, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.
The stories always follow the same convention: the six club members and a guest sit down to dinner, served by the incomparable waiter, Henry. During the meal it always comes out that the guest has a problem which the club members try to solve, but only Henry sees the correct (and usually very simple) answer.
The Black Widowers were based on an all-male club Asimov belonged to, the Trap Door Spiders. Members of the Widowers were based on real life Spiders, some of them famous writers in their own right.
Henry was based upon P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves.
