Black coffee

240 pages

English language

Published Aug. 6, 2015 by Thorpe.

ISBN:
978-1-4448-2577-0
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
922699881

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3 stars (1 review)

Fearing for the security of his revolutionary new formula for a powerful explosive, Sir Claud Amory requests the assistance of Hercule Poirot in transferring it safely to the Ministry of Defence. But when the formula disappears from its safe, Amory must change his plans. Locking his houseguests in the library, he informs them that the thief has precisely one minute of darkness in which to return the formula anonymously - or face the great detective even now on his way. The lights go off; by the time they come on again, Amory is dead in his arm-chair ...

17 editions

Review of 'Black Coffee (Hercule Poirot Mysteries)' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

This book was not written by Agatha Christie, it is a novelized version of the play of the same name that she wrote. This matters because the book does not read as a conventional Agatha Christie novel. The story takes place in the house of a famous physicist, Sir Claud Amory, who asks Poirot to help him because he thinks someone in his household will betray him.

I enjoyed the book but I read it as a play, and not as a crime fiction novel. Although I am sure this works much better watching it as a play, I enjoyed reading the characters and I truly believed any of them had reasons to be the culprit. Nevertheless, I am confused by the reading order as Poirot refers to the "killing of Lord Edgware" in this story, and that book is supposed to be the 9th of the series whereas this …

Subjects

  • Fiction
  • Classified Defense information
  • Private investigators

Places

  • England
  • Surrey (England)
  • Surrey