A full-length Hercule Poirot novel, adapted from Agatha Christie?s stage play
by Charles Osborne Sir Claud Amory?s revolutionary new formula for a powerful
explosive is stolen. Locking his house-guests in the library, Sir Claud switches
off the lights to allow the thief to replace the formula, no questions asked.
When the lights come on, he is dead, and Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings
have to unravel a tangle of family feuds, old flames and suspicious foreigners
to find the killer and prevent a global catastrophe. BLACK COFFEE was Agatha
Christie?s first playscript, originally performed in 1930 and made into a now
rarely-seen film the following year. Combining her typically beguiling plot and
sparkling dialogue with his own faithful narrative, Charles Osborne?s
novelisation is ?A worthy addition to the Christie canon? (The Spectator)