Black Coffee (Poirot)

Description

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)

Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and became, quite simply, the best-selling novelist in history. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, written towards the end of the First World War, introduced us to Hercule Poirot, who was to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. She is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 100 foreign countries. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 19 plays, and six novels under the name of Mary Westmacott.

'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 'Reads like authentic, vintage Christie. I feel sure Agatha would be proud to have written it' Mathew Prichard, Agatha Christie's grandson