Rating: 
Summary: Read this book!
Review: I found this book very intriguing! I was first hooked on Agatha Christie books last year when we read And Then There Were None in my language arts class. The latter still remains my favorite Agatha Christie mystery, but I found Black Coffee up there with the best (along with Murder on the Orient Express and Cat Among the Pigeons). The only fault that I have discovered in mostly all of Christie's novels is the fact that most of them have a rather slow beginning (except, for the most part, And Then There Were None, although this too was a bit slow). Yet Black Coffee held my interest from the very start. I did not find the murderer very obvious, since I kept changing my opinion of who the murderer was. Although Charles Osborne did a very wonderful job of writing the novel and keeping as close to the script of the play, it was not a true work of Agatha Christie. Therefore, I could not award this book a five. (Yet I thoroughly enjoyed the overuse of dialogue.) I still remain a major fan of Hercule Poirot mysteries, and Black Coffee was one of the best. Hercule is brilliant, and it certainly showed in this particular novel.p.s. - After blabbing on and on about the wonderful Agatha Christie mysteries to my twelve-year-old cousin (whom I'm very close in relationship to), I've managed to get her hooked on the Agatha Christie novels. Hurray for me! Now I have a close friend to converse over with these wonderful books! We also exchange our Agatha Christie books with each other now, and recommend ones that we've borrowed from the library or another friend. I strongly recommended Black Coffee to her. She, too, has not read any Miss Marple mysteries yet, and is thoroughly interested in Hercule Poirot's cases. Ms. Christie has quite a brilliant mind, and we praise her for that.
Rating: 
Summary: Very dry ordinary tale, lacking in imagination
Review: I have read almost all of Christie's books and was thrilled to be able to read a new one but I was sadly dissapointed. The story is told in a very dry narrative manner and its characters fail to stir any excitement or interest. I definetly think this does better as a play than a book.
Rating:
Summary: Ugh!
Review: I have read many, many Agatha Christie novels, and this one has been just about my least favorite. Usually, at the end of one of her books, I'll be hanging on to every word. This time, when the murderer was revealed, I had one thought; "Oh, that's nice." I also found that "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" is almost identical in several points. However, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" was wonderfully written with a clever scheme behind the crime. If you must read a book about poisoned coffee cups, I highly reccommend you pass this one up and read that one instead.
Rating:
Summary: The novel was Christie all over with Osborne's words
Review: I liked this novel, originally a play by Agatha Christie. It was all of her normal intrigue and suspense. Charles Osborne's words leave much to be desired, we all know Christie's style and he just didn't cut it. I think he accurately translated the book from the play, although it would be a true masterpiece in the hands of Christie herself. I enjoyed the book.
Rating: 
Summary: What a Disappointment!
Review: I looked forward to reading this and, boy, was I disappointed! I have not read the play from which this "new" Agatha Christie novel was adapted, but I don't feel I ever need to. Charles Osbourne never moves the action out of the drawing room (obviously, the play had a single set!) and the characters' stage business and blocking -- as opposed to their feelings -- is described in tedious detail. Don't waste your money. The only fun I had was trying to guess where Acts 1 and 2 ended.
Rating:
Summary: I'm sorry I bought this
Review: I was so looking forward to reading this, and so disappointed when I did. I have read all of the Poirot books and stories, and found many instances in which a hard-core Christie fan would feel that an old friend had just taken leave of himself. How many times did Hastings swear that no gentleman eavesdrops, even in the face of Poirot's stern warnings of murders yet to come? But in this book, Hastings, on his own initiative, deliberately listened in on a conversation in the hopes that it would provide a clue. I have not read the play, though I would still like to. I just think that the author's credentials as one who had performed in the play did not make him the best person to write an Agatha Christie novel.
Rating:
Summary: A very good Book
Review: If you like Agatha Christie books you will like Black Coffee. This book is new and interesting. It features Hercule Poirot and his partner Captain Hastings.
Rating:
Summary: A Disappointment
Review: It annoys me that Agatha Christie's name is in huge letters on the cover. This is not Agatha Christie, and Osborne does not measure up. Perhaps this is harsh and the book could have stood on its own, but as it is, the book is marketed with Christie's name. In such a context it is a disappointment, almost inevitably.
Rating: 
Summary: Waaaaaaaaaaayyyyy too predictable!
Review: It would probably be one of her best novels, except that right in the beginning they tell you who the murderer is! It's a little vague, but you cancertainly tell that this person is the murderer if you read a little further! I was so dissapointed!
Rating:
Summary: Agatha Christie's dead
Review: Like a personal friend, our favorite authors have a voice we instinctively identify. We continue to read their books because we want to hear that voice again. Sadly, many of the voices we love are gone forever, and that includes Agatha Christie's. I found Black Coffee made me sad; it contained all the elements of a Christie -- the people, the place, the puzzle -- but it just wasn't right. I found myself mentally correcting the narrative to make it more "Christie-ish," the way I remember her. I won't read The Unexpected Guest, just as I didn't continue to read Robert Goldsborough's game imitation of the Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout. Rex's voice, too, is gone forever. Whether or not you'll enjoy this book depends on what you read a book for. If you find yourself reading phrases over a second time, savoring the way the author used precisely the right words to speak right to you, you won't like this book. If you like a neat little puzzle, especially in the lightweight style of the drawing-room mysteries of the '30s and '40s, Black Coffee will satisfy you, though like others, I did wonder why the author chose to focus in on the murderer's hand at that crucial moment. Mrs. Christie would be appalled.
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