Rating: 
Summary: Grave Robbing
Review: Charles Osborne writes the novel "Black Coffee" as an adaptation of Agatha Christie's original play. This is a typical Hercule Poirot mystery with Poirot being called to the home of Sir Claud Amory, a scientist who suspects that someone in his household is trying to steal his secret formula. Poirot arrives just after Sir Claud is poisoned. He knows that the killer had to be someone in the room so he begins his investiation of the the four family members and two others who might be involved. The usual red herrings are thrown out before Poirot reveals the real culprit. This is an average Christie story and doesn't contain any of the clever twists that distinguish her best work.
Rating: 
Summary: Adaptation of an Agatha Christie play
Review: Charles Osborne writes the novel "Black Coffee" as an adaptation of Agatha Christie's original play. This is a typical Hercule Poirot mystery with Poirot being called to the home of Sir Claud Amory, a scientist who suspects that someone in his household is trying to steal his secret formula. Poirot arrives just after Sir Claud is poisoned. He knows that the killer had to be someone in the room so he begins his investiation of the the four family members and two others who might be involved. The usual red herrings are thrown out before Poirot reveals the real culprit. This is an average Christie story and doesn't contain any of the clever twists that distinguish her best work.
Rating:
Summary: Weak Coffee --The Watered Down Version of Hercule Poirot
Review: Dame Agatha took her plays a bit differently than her novels. Based on The Mousetrap and Black Coffee, her plots were simpler, her character development lighter, and her misdirection more obvious. I assume that is because she assumed a different audience for the plays than for the novels. Nevertheless, the plot is quite elegant in its simplicity and resolution. It is well within the classic English drawing room mystery genre. A secret formula disappears from a safe. The scientist demands its return. He turns the lights off to allow for an anonymous resolution. When the lights come on, he is dead by poison. Hercule Poirot and Hastings arrive in the middle of the incident. Poirot unravels the murder and catches the murderer. The best part of the plot is that one of my favorite techniques is used for the key clue (hint: the same kind of one is in The Hound of the Baskervilles). My main disappointment was that Poirot does not really flourish as Poirot. He seems watered down, like weakly brewed black coffee. It is as though an imposter is playing his role. The full edge of the arrogance and self-centeredness are not quite there. A positive side of the novel is that it keeps many of its dramatic elements. You can almost see the action unfolding before your eyes in the same room, as you would in the theater. If you have read all of the other Agatha Christie novels, then you definitely should read this one. If you have not yet read A Mysterious Affair at Styles, The Secret of Chimneys, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The Seven Dials Mystery, The Murder in the Vicarage, Murder on the Orient Express, The A B C Murders, Death on the Nile, The Regatta Mystery, N or M?, Death Comes in the End, Witness for the Prosecution, And Then There Were None, or Postern of Fate, I suggest you start with these. I hope you grow to find Agatha Christie's mysteries as irresistible in their clear thinking as I do.
Rating: 
Summary: Christie fans will love this
Review: Early in the 1930's, scientist Sir Claud Amory asks Hercule Poirot to come out to his estate that lies twenty-five miles to the southeast of London in order to protect a new atomic explosive. However, before Hercule arrives, Claud realizes that someone has stolen the formula. Claud tells everyone that if the guilty party would anonymously return the missing paper, no prosecution will occur. Claud turns off the lights. When they come back on, Claud lies dead and Hercule, on cue, makes his appearance. Hercule begins his investigation, suspecting everyone because all of the people present had a motive and an opportunity. Could the deceased's son do it in order to pay off a debt? Or did the daughter-in-law, the secretary or his sister kill him? Hercule realizes that anyone of them could have done the act, but it is up to him to determine who actually did it. Surprisingly, Charles Osborne's adaptation of a Christie play is a brilliant rendition of on! e of the world's most beloved detectives. The story line is classic Christie with its "someone in this room is the murdererer". All of the individuals present having strong motives and opportunity, a classic Chritie trademark . Readers will not be able to separate Osborne's rendition of Poirot from Christie's as the adaptation strictly adheres to the original character. Fans of Christie, especially Poirot, will want to read this wonderful addition. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: excellent ýt ýs one of the mysteriest one of agatha
Review: Eventhought I lýve ýn Ankara. Turkey I am very happy to fýnd thýs web sýte for agatha I hope thýs book wýll be very well sold ýn around the world because ýt ýs excellent one of Agatha
Rating:
Summary: It deserves 3 stars
Review: For those diehard Christie fans who read her novels for their interesting plots and well written prose, this one will be somewhat of a disappointment. Reading this relatively short novel it will become immediately obvious that it was written as a play. Osborne cannot be blamed for keeping it in that state as the whole book essential takes place in a single room. What the reader can expect is a faithful continuation of the Poirot/Hastings interactions and 'feel' of a Poirot novel, minus the more expansive and intricate plots that normally serve as a trademark for Christie's wonderful stories. The average rating of three stars at the time of submission of this review is reasonable, and those considering purchase of this novel might base their decisions after reading some of the preceding reviews that result in this average.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfully Entertaining!
Review: How great is Agatha Christie? I mean, who else can keep you on your toes for so long? She is a master at story telling, although with this particular novel she can not take all the credit. Charles Osborne creates a superb novel based on a screenplay that Christie had originaly completed who knows when, I know it was before her death sometime (obviously right?). i thouroughly enjoyed this novel, simple, easy to read and very charismatic, one of the finer 'light' mystery novels of the 90's. Four-out-of-Five.
Rating: 
Summary: A pale imitation of the Queen of the Mystery
Review: I am an avid Agatha Christie fan and was thrilled to think of the appearance of a "lost" work - much as I was about Dorothy Sayers' "Thrones, Dominations". However both books proved that you cannot really recreate another's unique style, but Black Coffee much more so than the other. In the hands of Agatha Christie herself I'm sure this would have been a stylish mystery, but here is is merely a pale imitation, a ghostly image of what might have been. The characters are cardboard and lifeless. The writing does not have the unique verve and humor of Agatha Christie. The plot seems obvious and forced in scenes where you are forced to witness a certain character's actions, which I presume is a result of following the stage directions. It would have been much more subtle if Dame Agatha had written it herself. Instead it is merely serviceable. Agatha Christie is one author whose books I reread again and again just for the sheer pleasure of her writing style, but I have no desire to reread Black Coffee. I'm sorry I wasted the money to buy it in hardback
Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: I couldn't put this book down. It was very interesting. The ending is very suprising!
Rating:
Summary: Overall a good book but missing something
Review: I feel that the book was well written and adapted smoothly from its original play format. Charles Osborne has tried to keep as closely as possible to Agatha Christie's writing style, and I definitely liked the English country house atmosphere. However, I was a bit disappointed by the plot, which I thought was too simplistic and lacked the drama of some of Christie's other works (I'm a huge Agatha Christie fan and have read every single one of her novels). I realize that since the book was originally a play, it may have required a simpler plot, but I felt that Osborne should have tried to add some complexity to the story in its book form. I also didn't like the fact that it was not written in the style of the other Poirot-Hastings collaborations, where Captain Hastings was always the narrator. His observations were always interesting, even when wrong and made the novels something special. Narrated in the third person, it sounds a bit flat. Still, overall it was a good read and so nice to find one of Dame Christie's "lost works".
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