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41st out of 428 books
—
52 voters
Black Coffee (Hercule Poirot #7)
In the first Hercule Poirot novel to appear in over 20 years, perhaps Christie's most famous and beloved detective returns to bring his 'little grey cells' to bear on one more case. In the spring of 1934, Poirot is summoned to Surrey by England's most prominent physicist, Sir Claud Amory. Amory fears that someone in his household is attempting to steal his latest discovery...more
Paperback, 290 pages
Published
September 15th 1999
by St. Martin's Paperbacks
(first published 1997)
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Black Coffee borned from Agatha's dissatisfaction with someone else's stage adaptation of her Poirot novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. She then began writing her own play, Black Coffee and later the play were staged in Embassy Theatre and West End, London with good acclaimed from the audiences. Black Coffee was also adapted into a film with the same title and received the same success as the previous 2 plays.
Black Coffee the novel was first suggested by Charles Osborne to Agatha Christie Ltd,...more
Black Coffee the novel was first suggested by Charles Osborne to Agatha Christie Ltd,...more
Well I should definitely start a straight Queen Agatha shelf on here as she is definitely one of my favorites and I always know on a library crawl that ANY one of her books will be concise, entertaining and a three star read or better, this one was no exception..With the detective stylings of the incomparable Hercule Poirot and his sidekick Hastings this mystery involves what Agatha does best, introducing you to all the suspects then placing them in a situation where they are all suspects with a...more
Nov 08, 2012
Mary
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone who likes contemporary mysteries
Recommended to Mary by:
Bookmooch
Belgian private detective Hercule Poirot and his friend and detecting partner Captain Arthur Hastings receive an urgent call for help from renowned physicist Sir Claud Amory. Sir Claud is absolutely convinced that a member of his own household is attempting to steal a secret formula created by Sir Claud, and destined for use by the Ministry of Defense. Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings travel to Sir Claud's sprawling mansion, only to discover that the famed physicist has been poisoned by his a...more
Jun 16, 2012
A~lotus
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Mystery lovers
Recommended to A~lotus by:
No one
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Christie biographer Osborne's adaptation of the grande dame's 1930 play has been blessed by the Christie estate & heartily endorsed by her grandson Michael Prichard. It's a classic "someone in this room is the murderer" tale set in 1934. Scientist Sir Claud Amory invites Hercule Poirot to his estate to collect a formula for a new atomic explosive. Prior to Poirot's arrival, Sir Claud discovers the formula is missing from his safe. He offers the thief one minute of darkness to return it but,...more
This was kind of disappointing in that it was a novelization of one of AC's plays rather than a novel that she wrote (which I didn't realize until I had already gotten the book from the library. Also I accidentally got the large print version which was rather annoying and I could have read it from 3 room away, but that was no one's fault but my own). The story was decent, but as someone who has read a bunch of her books, I could tell it wasn't written by her. Most, if not all, of the books that...more
“The first Poirot novel in twenty years” says the blurb. Except it isn’t twenty years, since Christie’s contribution was done in 1930; and it isn’t a novel, it’s a novelisation. And it’s a novelisation done by someone without the courage (and perhaps the talent) to make changes to the play. When Christie turned The Hollow into a play she kicked Poirot out of it altogether because it made a better play. I’m not suggesting that Osborne should have removed Poirot, but he should have managed somehow...more
Sou completamente fã de Agatha Christie tendo sido a escritora britânica a fazer-me adorar ler policiais. E quando pensava que já tinha lido todas as histórias do meu detective favorito, Poirot, há sempre uma surpresa agradável: Café negro, um livro que Christie tinha inicialmente escrito para uma peça de teatro e que foi adaptado posteriormente por Charles Osborne, no meu entender de uma forma bastante satisfatória.
Nesta nova aventura detectivesca, Poirot é levado a investigar um suposto inter...more
Nesta nova aventura detectivesca, Poirot é levado a investigar um suposto inter...more
For an avid Agatha Christie fan, I remember being so excited--a "new" book!
And then I read it. It was based on a play Christie wrote--an early play. Too many elements reminded me of other, better novels (actually written by Dame Agatha Christie herself). There were no surprises, no Christie prose; Poirot didn't sound or act like *my* Poirot, and Hastings wasn't Hastings. The language was terribly forced; putting stage directions into a paragraph does not a novel make.
Don't care if Osborne is an...more
And then I read it. It was based on a play Christie wrote--an early play. Too many elements reminded me of other, better novels (actually written by Dame Agatha Christie herself). There were no surprises, no Christie prose; Poirot didn't sound or act like *my* Poirot, and Hastings wasn't Hastings. The language was terribly forced; putting stage directions into a paragraph does not a novel make.
Don't care if Osborne is an...more
This is a novelization of a play by Agatha Christie. The adapter, however, is not Agatha Christie and does not have her skills. The writing is clunky at best and the characters are stereotypes through and through. It's a testament to Christie's original plot though that this is essentially enjoyable if taken on its own terms as a simple, conventional English-country-house mystery.
What I like about Agatha Christie novels are that they are like slow poison , they work slowly taking their time and at their epitome they are too good to put down. And black coffee is exactly the same.
Sir Claud Amory has devised a new explosive which will take the world by storm. But to his dismay the formula is stolen by someone from his own house. And so Sir Claud calls upon the services of one Mr. Hercule Poirot to get his formula back before it reach in the wrong hands.
But Sir Claud is kill...more
Sir Claud Amory has devised a new explosive which will take the world by storm. But to his dismay the formula is stolen by someone from his own house. And so Sir Claud calls upon the services of one Mr. Hercule Poirot to get his formula back before it reach in the wrong hands.
But Sir Claud is kill...more
Chose in a pinch as I was in between other books, and as I hadn't read any Agatha Christie in years I'm glad I picked it up. It was definitely a quick read. Based on one of her plays, and brought into literary form by her biographer a while after her passing, it ... well, let's just say you could tell it was an earlier piece of work. It set the stage, so to speak, for later, better novels; however, seeing the formula didn't make the discovery of the murderer any less of a fun ride. Knowing that...more
Within the first several pages, I recognized a difference in style from the other Agatha Christie books I have read: namely, after several pages, I was not yet engrossed in the story. A closer look at the title page gave me my answer. This is not an Agatha Christie novel. It is an Agatha Christie play that has been adapted into a novel. Personally, I would much rather read it as a play. As it is, in many places it reads almost as stage directions, so clearly that I found it painfully awkward.
The...more
The...more
I kept thinking that this would make a really excellent play. Come to find out, from the afterword, that it actually was a play, adapted to novel form by the author of The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie. This is fortunate, because, really it would be better seen than read.
This tale seemed quite sophomoric and the murderer was revealed to any careful reader near the beginning of the book. I kept thinking it would turn out differently in the end, or perhaps I'd read it wrong, but apparently I...more
This tale seemed quite sophomoric and the murderer was revealed to any careful reader near the beginning of the book. I kept thinking it would turn out differently in the end, or perhaps I'd read it wrong, but apparently I...more
I don't think one needs to stretch a lot for making this read complete. After all who don't likes to finish the thriller all in a single go. I think all my Saturday's are to be dedicated for her work from here on.well, coming to the story line , the story revolves around the murder that takes place in the London. It was suspected that the old scientist claud was murdered for a material gain of acquiring his withered formula of powerful atom bomb. The story made me read at the edge of the chair w...more
Black Coffee, by Agatha Christe takes place in the small town of Market Cleve located on the outskirts of London. When Sir Claud notices the sudden dissappearance of his beloved formula for a revolutionary explosive, he automatically calls Detective Hercule Poirot. However, the stolen formula quickly becomes somewhat irrelevant when Sir Claud is spontaneously murdered. Throughout the book, Poirot utilizes his wit and strategy to trace the killer, who is thought to be living right in Sir Claud's...more
Don't get me wrong, I love Agatha Christie novels. I enjoy Hercule Poirot books especially.
THIS BOOK WAS NOT INTENDED TO BE A NOVEL.
It was written as a play, and reads more like a play than a classical Christie novel. The dialogue is lacking and description is less rich- obviously the actors are supposed to bring life to the emotions rather than having a clear picture in our minds as most of Agatha Christie's novels inspire one to imagine. This book was published after Christie's death with an e...more
THIS BOOK WAS NOT INTENDED TO BE A NOVEL.
It was written as a play, and reads more like a play than a classical Christie novel. The dialogue is lacking and description is less rich- obviously the actors are supposed to bring life to the emotions rather than having a clear picture in our minds as most of Agatha Christie's novels inspire one to imagine. This book was published after Christie's death with an e...more
I’m not much of a mystery reader, but I’ve never read Agatha Christie and I wanted to, so thus, this book. I read the first fifty pages in a flash. This is not what I’d expected from Agatha, I thought. This is light reading. Lots of dialogue, minimal action.
As I looked more carefully at the book, I found out why. Despite the enormous AGATHA CHRISTIE written on the front cover, Black Coffee, the book, was not actually written by Christie. It is derived from a play Christie wrote, but it was actua...more
As I looked more carefully at the book, I found out why. Despite the enormous AGATHA CHRISTIE written on the front cover, Black Coffee, the book, was not actually written by Christie. It is derived from a play Christie wrote, but it was actua...more
I didn't notice that this book was written by another author, off of a play by Agatha Christie, until I got to the end. I'd been wondering why the feel was different, and it seemed really inferior to her other books! The worst part about "Black Coffee" is that it was obvious who the murderer was. With Agatha Christie mysteries, that should never be obvious. I wasn't impressed that I'd guessed who it was, because the author practically tells you who it is early on. There is no point in knowing, a...more
This was just okay. I've not read the play. The story is like classic Christie at her best--dealing with personal relationships and people's characters, but contrary to published reviews, it didn't read like classic Christie to me (and I really was pre-disposed to like it)--there were small inconsistencies with her books that I wouldn't have expected from what I'd read of the author/adaptor--almost as if he really hadn't read many of her books, which was odd. Beyond being a decent story, the cha...more
I was very curious how it would be to read a book which was not written by AC. To be honest, I could feel it. Though I can't complain. The plot and the dialogues are obviously hers, which is great, as nobody could imitate Hercules Poirot's speech, neither Hastings' :p It is a pleasurable reading, though quite short. The story itself was good, though for the first time I had impression that something went very wrong, as it is clearly shown (told/written) how did it at the very beginning of the bo...more
Another one I have trouble justifying the number of stars I gave it. The plot devices and tropes probably weren't cliche' when the story was written.
Still, this was a simple book that in another's hands would not be merely so simple. The key points and plot requirements are effortlessly set up so the murderer (somewhat of a surprise) could be caught.
The one problem with the shortness of the book is that the murderer's backstory was not filled in enough. I read the book quickly but not quickly en...more
Still, this was a simple book that in another's hands would not be merely so simple. The key points and plot requirements are effortlessly set up so the murderer (somewhat of a surprise) could be caught.
The one problem with the shortness of the book is that the murderer's backstory was not filled in enough. I read the book quickly but not quickly en...more
Black Coffee by Agatha Christie and adapted by Charles Osborne. This was originally a play but adapted as a novel featuring Hercule Poirot, one of my favorite literary characters by one of my favorite writers of all time. While it doesn't come close to Christie's genius, it was still a nice faithful tribute, staying true to the character. Also, Charles Osborne wasn't just a random guy chosen to take on such a daunting task to bring back the famous Belgian detective but he had written a very supe...more
This is a adaptation of an Agatha Christie play by Charles Osborne. Through it all I could see the play being performed on a stage in my mind.
It isn't as good as one of her novels but I did like it. It is the story of the theft of a secret formula for a new explosive and the murder of the inventor. Hercule Poirot is called in to take the formula back to London but arrives just after Sir Claude is found dead. It is a classic locked room mystery and Poirot must use his "little grey cells" to find...more
It isn't as good as one of her novels but I did like it. It is the story of the theft of a secret formula for a new explosive and the murder of the inventor. Hercule Poirot is called in to take the formula back to London but arrives just after Sir Claude is found dead. It is a classic locked room mystery and Poirot must use his "little grey cells" to find...more
Agatha Christie did not write this book. She wrote it as a play and then 68 years later Charles Osborne, the foremost and in my opinion a very poor Christie 'expert', came along and turned it into this godawful mess of a novel. For someone who is supposed to be a Christie aficionado, he clearly has little to no knowledge of the basics of Christie's characters and their personal idiosyncrasies.
For example, at a key part of the story, Hercule Poirot's sidekick Captain Arthur Hastings eavesdrops o...more
For example, at a key part of the story, Hercule Poirot's sidekick Captain Arthur Hastings eavesdrops o...more
En cette belle matinée de 1934, Hercule Poirot, retiré des affaires, savoure son petit déjeuner dans son appartement de Mayfair...
Mais, lorsque sir Claude Amory appelle au secours le détective, le chocolat crémeux et la brioche dorée ne sont plus qu'un lointain souvenir.
Les recherches de ce célèbre savant atomiste suscitent bien des convoitises, y compris dans sa propre maisonnée...
Première pièce de théâtre d'Agatha Christie, Black Coffee contient déjà les ingrédients qui feront le charme de...more
Mais, lorsque sir Claude Amory appelle au secours le détective, le chocolat crémeux et la brioche dorée ne sont plus qu'un lointain souvenir.
Les recherches de ce célèbre savant atomiste suscitent bien des convoitises, y compris dans sa propre maisonnée...
Première pièce de théâtre d'Agatha Christie, Black Coffee contient déjà les ingrédients qui feront le charme de...more
Not really an original Christie, this, and it shows in the writing. Originally a play, Black Coffee has been adapted as a novel here (with permission of Christie's family) by Charles Osborne. It's a good locked room mystery, and would be great fun as a stage performance, but as a novel it isn't quite up to Christie's usual standard. Also, the font size is large, for some reason, for a paperback (it isn't meant to be a large print edition) which kept throwing me off.
It was fine, but it was totally not like a typical Agatha Christie b/c despite the author being listed as Christie, it's really only an adaptation of a play she wrote. I'm sure it's a very good play, but the adaptation did not read smoothly as a novel. But it still has the same plot twists and characters and Christie's original creations. So if you're reading it for the story - go for it. But if you're reading it because of the writing - it's not for you.
In the first Hercule Poirot novel to appear in over 20 years, perhaps Christie's most famous and beloved detective returns to bring his 'little grey cells' to bear on one more case. In the spring of 1934, Poirot is summoned to Surrey by England's most prominent physicist, Sir Claud Amory. Amory fears that someone in his household is attempting to steal his latest discovery, a formula critical to England's defense. Poirot, with Captain Hastings at his side, rushes to Surrey but arrives too late....more
I hate to give a Christie book only two stars but I didn't particularily enjoy this book. I believe it was because this was originally written as a play which means there is only one room involved & its overall rather simpilistic. The ending was rather mellowdramtic and almost like a cheesy comedy (I kept thinking of scenes from "The Princess Bride"). On a good note, as always I can appreciate Christie's clean, crisp writing & the ever intelligant Poirot.
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Agatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.
Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born in Torquay, Devon, England, U.K., as the youngest of three. The Millers had two other children: Margaret Frary Miller (1879–1950), called Madge, who was eleven years Agatha's senior, and Louis Montant Miller (1880...more
More about Agatha Christie...
Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born in Torquay, Devon, England, U.K., as the youngest of three. The Millers had two other children: Margaret Frary Miller (1879–1950), called Madge, who was eleven years Agatha's senior, and Louis Montant Miller (1880...more
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“Poirot thought it not quite professional to begin a routine working day before ten.”
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Dec 08, 2012 06:17pm