Henry Poggioli books in order

Reading order

The Henry Poggioli stories are T.S. Stribling’s contribution to the classic detective fiction tradition. Poggioli is a psychology professor who finds himself drawn into criminal investigations, using his knowledge of human behavior rather than physical evidence to work out what happened. The stories are set primarily in the Caribbean, giving them an exotic flavor that sets them apart from the drawing-room mysteries popular in the same era.

Clues of the Caribbees, published in 1929, was the first collection and established Poggioli as a distinctive figure in the mystery genre. Later volumes continued the character’s adventures, with Best Dr. Poggioli Detective Stories appearing posthumously in 1976. The stories are constructed as intellectual puzzles, and Stribling’s background as a literary novelist gives them more psychological depth than typical pulp detective fare.