Product Description

The new-look series of Hercule Poirot books for the 21st Century. Sir Claud Amory has discovered the formula for a new powerful explosive, which is stolen by one of the large household of relatives and friends. Locking everyone in the library, Sir Claud switches off the lights to allow the thief to replace the formula on the table, no questions asked. When the lights come on, however, he is dead, and Hercule Poirot -- with assistance from Hastings and Inspector Japp -- has to unravel a tangle of family feuds, old flames and suspicious foreigners to find the killer and prevent a global catastophe.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #251337 in Books
• Published on: 2002-12-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Subtitled "A New Hercule Poirot Novel", Black Coffee is actually an Agatha Christie play recrafted as a book meant to be read rather than seen on the stage. The story was first produced in 1930, and Charles Osborne has done little to it except string the dialogue and stage directions together in paragraph form. Christie loyalists will welcome and applaud his dedication to the original, but it does seem as though he could have given it a bit more flair. Still, Poirot himself, bumbling Captain Hastings, and obsequious George are all in good form and it is amusing to find them engaged in another adventure, with an interesting assortment of possible murderers, blackmailers, and innocent (if suspicious) bystanders.

The novel opens as Poirot receives a summons at his breakfast table from England's premier physicist, Sir Claud Amory. Busy working on a new formula necessary for England's defence in the second world war, Amory suspects a member of his household of espionage. Of course, by the time Poirot and sidekick Hastings arrive at the scientist's country house, he is mysteriously dead. Amory himself turns out to have been not so nice, and his family, regardless of his scientific efforts, is pretty pleased with the new state of affairs. Still, Poirot manages both to save the more amiable members of the household from themselves and to protect the secrets of the British Empire. The novel is warmly evocative of another time and place and a welcome reminder of vintage Christie. --K.A. Crouch

Review
'A lively and light-hearted read which will give pleasure to all those who have long wished that there was just one more Christie to devour' Antonia Fraser, Sunday Telegraph

About the Author
Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and became, quite simply, the best-selling novelist in history. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, written towards the end of the First World War, introduced us to Hercule Poirot, who was to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. She is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 100 foreign languages. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 19 plays, and six novels under the name of Mary Westmacott.

Customer Reviews

this coffee has gone cold
I normally enjoy Hercule Poirot books, but I was distressed to find this one a hughly disapointing read. Admitedly it was not written in this form by Christie herself but the foreword disribes it as vintage Christie and with this I cannot agree. The underlying structure is based upon the original play of the same name, and this is visible throughout as it frequently feels that you are reading a play with the actions as stage directions. The characters behave in ways that are out of sympathy with their actions in the novels written by Christie herself and the plot is not convincing. To my mind it would have been better to let the novel remain unwritten than to butcher it in this manner. If you enjoy the works of Agatha Christie in any form avoid this one.

Black Coffee
VERY disappointing. This is written by a different author and is just an adaptation of a play by Christie. Have just read the first 5 pages of Peril at End House (the next REAL Christie book) and you can immediately tell it is a different author. Shame on Chrisitie's executors and publisher for allowing such a poor imitation to be published. In short don't buy this book. You have been warned!!!

excellent
As with all agatha christies books i could not let this one go. It was original and an excellent plot. Mr Poirot continues to startle me. I would recommend this to any christie lover.