Dr. Poggioli: Criminologist (The Lost Classics Book 14)
Page 26
The chauffeur leaned forward and frowned.
“I don’t quite see what that had to do—with anything.” Poggioli was surprised.
“Why, it showed the necessity of putting out the candles had been drilled into the waiter until he performed the chore automatically. This suggested that the extinguishing of the candles was of prime importance in Madame Aguilar’s business, or why should she have so stressed the act.” The psychologist glanced at the crowd. “Of course, the rest of my reasoning is clear to you all.”
The chauffeur nodded, half hypnotized by his attempt to follow the thought. “Yeh—yeh,” he agreed, nodding his smallish head on his largish body. “I—I think I see it. Now—”
Somebody in the middle of the restaurant yelled:
“Naw, he don’t see it, and I don’t either. I don’t see how the devil—” Poggioli shrugged.
“There are always one or two like that.” Then he became sarcastically explicit.
“Now listen,” he advised in a complete silence. “Extinguishing the candles was important. Why? Because that allowed them to be relighted for each guest.
Relighting was important. Why? Because a spill could be taken from the holder easily and naturally without arousing anybody’s suspicion. This was important. Why? Because the upper end of a spill can be touched in a flame, a candle lighted, the spill extinguished before it has burned away half an inch and the remainder of the paper roll can be dropped very naturally and casually on a patron’s table. Nobody would possibly suspect that a delivery of illicit—”
A variety of “oh’s” and “uh-huh’s” and “I see’s” trickled over the crowd at the scientist’s virtuosity.
A plainclothesman already was at the holders unrolling the spills. Presently a thin powder sifted from one of the rolls.
Slidenberry shouted at the man and made a desperate effort to catch some of the vanishing evidence.
Poggioli waggled a finger.
“Don’t bother. There’s plenty more left.”
“But look here, will we get it all in these spills? S’pose it’s all here?”
“Why, no, not likely. I fancy the madame put out what she thought she could use today.”
“Then where’s the rest?” cried the inspector. “I’ve got to get the whole—”
“That’s another problem,” answered the psychologist. “But get these people out, stop these plainclothesmen from jiggling about and we’ll sit down and reason out where Madame Aguilar must have secreted the remainder of her hoard.” The plainclothesmen were getting them out just as fast as they could. They were huddling Madame Aguilar, her waiters and her guests toward the door. The lawyer who had so eloquently defended the madame already had got out the door. He knew the officer at the exit and had no trouble getting clear of the speakeasy. The rest of the crowd was herded toward the police van outside.
Slidenberry started another complaint. “That damned leather-colored smuggler who brought all this in here—not a scratch to prove it actually was him. The madame will deny that was her compact. That hollow bolivar we’ve got will be laughed out of court. We haven’t a Chinaman’s chance to pin nothing—”
In the midst of this the chauffeur timidly touched Slidenberry’s elbow. “Uh—er—would you mind looking at this a minute, Mr. Slidenberry?”
“What the hell do you want now?”
“Why these here spills, sir—the ones that had the dope in ’em—some of ’em were torn out of this newspaper I picked up in Las Palmas in the old man’s bedroom.”
Slidenberry turned and stared.
“They do! How long have you known that?”
“Why ever since I got the first ’un to fit, of course.”
“Why in the hell didn’t you tell me at once?”
“Why—why—I was trying to make all the spills fit, Mr. Slidenberry. You— you said a detective had ought to be thorough.”
A POGGIOLI BIBLIOGRAPHY
T. S. Stribling never wrote a Poggioli novel. The following are the known short stories and novelettes starring Professor Henry Poggioli, Ph.D. There may be more Poggioli stories out there, forgotten or unrecorded. If you come across one, please alert the publisher (at P.O. Box 9315, Norfolk, VA 23505) and the editor (at P.O. Box 313, Williston Park, NY 11596-0313). The editor wishes to thank Richard Moore for his invaluable assistance in compiling this bibliography, and all Poggioli fans should extend a tip of the hat to Joseph Wrzos, who (shortly before this book was to go to press) discovered “The Newspaper,” a Poggioli tale not listed in any prior Poggioli or Stribling bibliography.
A. The Three Collections of Poggioli Stories
1. Clues of the Caribbees, Being Certain Criminal Investigations of Henry Poggioli, Ph.D. Garden City: Doubleday Doran, 1929; London: William Heinemann, 1930. Reprinted, New York: Dover, 1977.
2. Best Dr. Poggioli Detective Stories [ed. E. F. Bleiler]. New York: Dover, 1975.
3. Dr. Poggioli: Criminologist, ed. Arthur Vidro. Norfolk: Crippen & Landru,
2004.
B. The Individual Stories
1. “The Refugees.” Adventure, October 10, 1925. Reprinted in The New Mammoth Golden Book of Best Detective Stories (1934); The Saint Detective Magazine, June/July 1953 as “Poggioli and the Refugees”; and Classic Stories of Crime and Detection (1976), ed. Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor. Collected in Clues of the Caribbees (1929).
2. “The Governor of Cap Haitien” [novelette]. Adventure, November 10, 1925.
Collected in Clues of the Caribbees (1929).
3. “Cricket.” Adventure, December 10, 1925. Collected in Clues of the Caribbees (1929).
4. “The Prints of Hantoun.” Adventure, January 20, 1926. Reprinted in Sleuths: Twenty-Three Great Detectives of Fiction and Their Best Stories (1931 or 1932), ed. Kenneth MacGowan. Collected in Clues of the Caribbees (1929).
5. “A Passage to Benares.” Adventure, February 20, 1926. Reprinted in The New Mammoth Golden Book of Best Detective Stories (1934); Great American Detective Stories (1945), ed. Anthony Boucher; The Arbor House Treasury of Mystery and Suspense (1981), ed. Bill Pronzini, Barry N. Malzberg, and Martin H. Greenberg; and The Great American Mystery Stories of the Twentieth Century (1989). Collected in Clues of the Caribbees (1929).
6. “A Pearl at Pampatar.” Adventure, June 1, 1929. Collected in Dr. Poggioli: Criminologist (2004).
7. “Shadowed” [novelette]. Adventure, October 15, 1930. Collected in Dr. Poggioli: Criminologist (2004).
8. “The Resurrection of Chin Lee.” Adventure, April 15, 1932. Reprinted in 101 Years’ Entertainment: The Great Detective Stories (1941), ed. Ellery Queen. Collected in Dr. Poggioli: Criminologist (2004).
9. “Bullets.” Adventure, May 1, 1932. Reprinted in Challenge to the Reader (1938), ed. Ellery Queen; and Half-a-Hundred: Tales by Great American Writers (1945), ed. Charles Grayson. Collected in Dr. Poggioli: Criminologist (2004).
10. “The Cablegram.” Adventure, November 1, 1932. Reprinted in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Fall 1941; Best Stories from Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (1944), ed. Ellery Queen; Rogues’ Gallery (1945), ed. Ellery Queen; Contraband: Stories of Smuggling the World Over (1967), ed. Phyllis R. Fenner; and Stories Not to Be Missed (1978; one of a
20-volume set Masters of Mystery), ed. Ellery Queen. Collected in Dr. Poggioli: Criminologist (2004).
11. “The Pink Colonnade.” Adventure, February 1, 1933. Collected in Dr. Poggioli: Criminologist (2004).
12. “Private Jungle.” Blue Book, August 1933. Collected in Dr. Poggioli: Criminologist (2004).
13. “The Shadow.” Red Book, February 1934. Reprinted in Twentieth Century Detective Stories (1948), ed. Ellery Queen; Nero Wolfe Mystery Magazine, June 1954; and Twelve American Detective Stories (1997), ed. Edward D. Hoch. Collected in Dr. Poggioli: Criminologist (2004).
14. “The Newspaper.” The Big Magazine, March 1935. Collected in Dr. Poggioli: Criminologist (2004).
15. “The Mystery of the Chief of Police.” Elle
ry Queen’s Mystery Magazine, July 1945. Reprinted in To the Queen’s Taste (1946), ed. Ellery Queen. Collected in Best Dr. Poggioli Detective Stories (1975).
16. “The Mystery of the Sock and the Clock.” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, January 1946. Collected in Best Dr. Poggioli Detective Stories (1975).
17. “The Mystery of the Paper Wad.” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, July 1946. This story is uncollected.
18. “Count Jalacki Goes Fishing.” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, September 1946. Reprinted in The Queen’s Awards, 1946 (1946), ed. Ellery Queen. Collected in Best Dr. Poggioli Detective Stories (1975).
19. “A Note to Count Jalacki.” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, October 1946. Collected in Best Dr. Poggioli Detective Stories (1975).
20. “The Mystery of the 81st Kilometer Stone.” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, July 1947. Reprinted in The Queen’s Awards, 1947 (1947), ed. Ellery Queen; and The Saint Detective Magazine, September 1959 as “Suggestion of Death.” Collected in Best Dr. Poggioli Detective Stories (1975).
21. “The Mystery of the Seven Suicides.” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, April 1948. Collected in Best Dr. Poggioli Detective Stories (1975).
22. “A Daylight Adventure.” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, March 1950.
Reprinted in Ellery Queen’s Anthology, Volume V (1963), ed. Ellery Queen; and The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories (1996), ed. Tony Hillerman and Rosemary Herbert. Collected in Best Dr. Poggioli Detective Stories (1975).
23. “The Mystery of the Personal Ad.” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, May 1950. Collected in Best Dr. Poggioli Detective Stories (1975).
24. “The Mystery of the Choir Boy.” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, January 1951. This story is uncollected.
25. “The Mystery of Andorus Enterprises.” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, September 1951. Collected in Best Dr. Poggioli Detective Stories (1975).
26. “The Mystery of the Half-Painted House.” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, April 1952. Collected in Best Dr. Poggioli Detective Stories (1975).
27. “Death Deals Diamonds.” Famous Detective Stories, November 1952. This story is uncollected.
28. “Figures Don’t Die.” Famous Detective Stories, February 1953. This story is uncollected.
29. “The Warning on the Lawn.” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, March 1953. Collected in Best Dr. Poggioli Detective Stories (1975).
30. “Dead Wrong.” Smashing Detective Stories, March 1953. This story is uncollected.
31. “The Mystery of the Five Money Orders.” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, March 1954. This story is uncollected.
32. “Poggioli and the Fugitive.” The Saint Detective Magazine, December 1954.
Collected in Best Dr. Poggioli Detective Stories (1975).
33. “The Telephone Fisherman.” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, January 1955. Collected in Best Dr. Poggioli Detective Stories (1975).
34. “Murder at Flowtide.” The Saint Detective Magazine, March 1955. This story is uncollected.
35. “The Case of the Button.” The Saint Detective Magazine, September 1955.
Collected in Best Dr. Poggioli Detective Stories (1975).
36. “Murder in the Hills.” The Saint Detective Magazine, February 1956. This story is uncollected.
37. “The Man in the Shade.” The Saint Detective Magazine, April 1957. Collected in Best Dr. Poggioli Detective Stories (1975).
Final note: Magazine dates are for American editions. Both Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and The Saint Detective Magazine had British editions; typically the Poggioli stories would see the light of day first in the American edition and later, under a different cover date, in the British edition.
DR. POGGIOLI: CRIMINOLOGIST
Dr. Poggioli: Criminologist by T. S. Stribling, edited by Arthur Vidro, is set in 11-point Times New Roman and printed on 60-pound natural shade acid-free paper. The cover painting is by Barbara Mitchell, and the Lost Classics design is by Deborah Miller. Dr. Poggioli: Criminologist was published in October 2004 by Crippen & Landru Publishers, Norfolk, Virginia.
Crippen & Landru Lost Classics
Crippen & Landru is proud to publish this series of short story collections by great authors who specialized in traditional mysteries. All first editions, each volume collects “lost” tales from rare pulp, digest, and slick magazines, and each book is edited by a recognized expert in the field.
The Following Books Are in Print
Peter Godfrey, The Newtonian Egg and Other Cases of Rolf le Roux, introduction by Ronald Godfrey
Craig Rice, Murder, Mystery and Malone, edited by Jeffrey A. Marks
Charles B. Child, The Sleuth of Baghdad: The Inspector Chafik Stories
Stuart Palmer, Hildegarde Withers: Uncollected Riddles, introduction by Mrs. Stuart Palmer
Christianna Brand, The Spotted Cat and Other Mysteries From Inspector Cockrill’s Casebook, edited by Tony Medawar
William Campbell Gault, Marksman and Other Stories, edited by Bill Pronzini; afterword by Shelley Gault
Gerald Kersh, Karmesin: The World’s Greatest Criminal – Or Most Outrageous Liar, edited by Paul Duncan
C. Daly King, The Complete Curious Mr. Tarrant, introduction by Edward D. Hoch
Helen McCloy, The Pleasant Assassin and Other Cases of Dr. Basil Willing, introduction by B.A. Pike
William L. DeAndrea, Murder – All Kinds, introduction by Jane Haddam
Anthony Berkeley, The Avenging Chance and Other Mysteries From Roger Sheringham’s Casebook, edited by Tony Medawar and Arthur Robinson
Joseph Commings, Banner Deadlines: The Impossible Files of Senator Brooks U. Banner, edited by Robert Adey
Erle Stanley Gardner, The Danger Zone and Other Stories, edited by Bill Pronzini.
T.S. Stribling, Dr. Poggioli: Criminologist, edited by Arthur Vidro
Margaret Millar, The Couple Next Door: Collected Short Mysteries, edited by Tom Nolan
Gladys Mitchell, Sleuth’s Alchemy: Cases of Mrs. Bradley and Others, edited by Nicholas Fuller
Rafael Sabatini, The Evidence of the Sword, edited by Jesse Knight
Phillip S. Warne, Who Was Guilty?: Three Dime Novels, edited by Marlena Bremseth
Michael Collins, Slot-Machine Kelly: Early Private-Eye Stories, introduction by Robert J. Randisi
Julian Symons, Francis Quarles: Detective, edited by John Cooper; afterword by Kathleen Symons
Lloyd Biggle, Jr., The Grandfather Rastin Mysteries, introduction by Kenneth Biggle
Max Brand, Masquerade: Nine Crime Stories, edited by William F. Nolan, Jr.
Hugh Pentecost, The Battles of Jericho, introduction by S.T. Karnick
Mignon G. Eberhart, The E-String Murder, edited by Rick Cypert and Kirby McCauley.
Erle Stanley Gardner, The Casebook of Sidney Zoom, edited by Bill Pronzini
Please check our website for updates: www.crippenlandru.com
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
A PEARL AT PAMPATAR
SHADOWED
THE RESURRECTION OF CHIN LEE
BULLETS
THE CABLEGRAM
THE PINK COLONNADE
PRIVATE JUNGLE
THE SHADOW
THE NEWSPAPER
A POGGIOLI BIBLIOGRAPHY
Crippen & Landru Lost Classics