Items related to Black Coffee
Read by John Moffat, this is a dark tale of family intrigue and murder. Available on CD for the first time.
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 catastrophe.
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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.
Review:
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
‘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
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- PublisherHarperCollins
- Publication date2005
- ISBN 10 0007212887
- ISBN 13 9780007212880
- BindingAudio CD
- Rating
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Black Coffee
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HarperCollins Publishers, United Kingdom, London
(2005)
ISBN 10: 0007212887
ISBN 13: 9780007212880
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Read by John Moffat, this is a dark tale of family intrigue and murder. Available on CD for the first time. 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 catastrophe. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR003854934
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