The 12th story in the Black Widowers case files, Isaac Asimov wrote it for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (December 1973 issue), under the title "The Six Suspects".
Trumbull is host, and his guest is Waldamar Long, an employee of NASA. Rather than meeting the characters as they enter the Milano, this story begins towards the end of the traditional dinner, in the middle of an argument about poetry.
After dinner, Halsted anticipates the appointment of griller, with the request that Rubin not be the one designated. This conversation forestalls the actual declaration, and Rubin's analysis of the guest nearly ends the night early before he can explain himself. Once he does, however, Mr Long begins to explain his recent troubles.
On a cruise ship, he was scheduled to give a talk about pie-in-the-sky projects in the space program, having been given special permission to share details. He got a call the night before the lecture to tell him the material was all classified. The frustration of losing that opportunity caused an outburst during that night's dinner. During the meal, several people had a chance to leave the table for long enough to break into his room and photograph the classified information. After the cruise, he reported the break-in to his superiors, and while the investigators found evidence that the information had been sold, none of the suspects seem to have done so. Henry helps Mr Long by pointing out one of the forgotten suspects.
This story has been reprinted four times; Tales of the Black Widowers (1974), Ellery Queens Murdercade 23 Stories From Ellery Queens Mystery Magazine (1975), Top Crime The Authors Choice (1983), and The Best Mysteries Of Isaac Asimov (1986).
There were more than six tropes:
- ASCII Art: (Conversed Trope) Avalon explains what figurative verse means to Gonzalo, saying it is arranging the letters of the poem to create a visual reinforcement of the subject, citing "The Mouse's Tail" from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
- Beneath Notice: Mr Long knows that the person who photographed sensitive documents he was carrying had to have been one of the people at his table at dinner. The spy turns out to be the waiter, who he had completely forgotten about. Naturally, the club's waiter, Henry, is able to point this out.
- "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Drake, on behalf of the members, asks Mr Long if he's about to be blackballed from the space program, and they're told that nobody is using that word to describe his career, but it does accurately describe the problem.
- Driving Question: Who photographed the classified information?
- Epigraph: The title "Out of Sight" refers to an idiom, "Out of sight, out of mind". The person who sold the classified secrets was the unobtrusive and nearly invisible waiting staff, who is overlooked in the investigation.
- Fairplay Whodunnit: The clues are all presented during the grilling, and the audience can deduce the likely culprit long before Henry interrupts with his hypothesis.
- Fancy Dinner:
- The Black Widowers meet every month at the Milano, a fancy restaurant in New York City, but we've missed tonight's dinner, starting just before the blueberry shortcake is served for dessert.
- During Mr Long's cruise, he got the bad news just before a fancy dinner where he and six others were being served. Mr Long incorrectly concludes that only those six could be suspected of stealing his information.
- Foreign Queasine: Mr Long says that curry dishes (a traditional Indonesian dish that has gotten plenty of appreciation in America) makes him nauseous.
- Framing Device: The dinner at the Milano serves to distill Mr Long's story for us and the members to solve his problem.
- In Medias Res: Most Black Widowers stories begin at some point during the arrival of the members, creating a natural conversation starter. This story, however, begins in the middle of an argument and after the main course has been served.
- The Jeeves: Henry explains that an efficient waiter should be so good, they become invisible.
- Mr. Smith: Mr Long keeps the names of the six suspects anonymous, calling them Doctor (for the ship's medical doctor), Miss Robinson, Mr and Mrs Jones, and Mr and Mrs Smith.
- The Namesake: The original title, "The Six Suspects" refer to the six people that Mr Long suspects of photographing the classified information from his stateroom.
- Orwellian Retcon: Dr Asimov didn't like the title that the magazine gave this story ("The Six Suspects"), so he changed it back when editing Tales of the Black Widowers.
- Punch Line: Halsted invents a limerick extemporaneously to demonstrate visual humour in poetic form. The punch line is provided by rhyming MS, IS, and LS (Miz, is, and Liz).
- Phone-In Detective: Henry is able to deduce the mystery of who stole the classified information by being a bit more sensitive to waiters than most people.
- Sherlock Scan: Rubin makes some sensitive deductions about Mr Long, angering him to the point where he is about to leave. Rubin then explains how he was able to identify those details. This is part of what convinces Mr Long to share his problem with the members.
- Service Sector Stereotypes: Since the majority of the staff on the cruise ship have trouble with English language, Mr Long assumed that the waiter who had served him didn't understand what he had said.
- Shout-Out:
- While explaining ASCII Art, Avalon cites "The Mouse's Tail" from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
- Trumbull accuses Halsted of trying to sneak in his The Iliad limerick without them noticing.
- Rubin paraphrases the famous phrase from Sherlock Holmes: "Elementary, my dear Dr. Long."
- Mr. Long mentions a dish of curried lamb being put under his nose during the incident. It is a possible allusion to curried mutton from "Silver Blaze", which was an important clue toward the incident being an Inside Job, just like this story..
