I love a good whodunit and I had never read one in play form. It was fun but I suppose you really would need a whole novel to get a more exciting story (this was fun but just a bit simple).

I picked up this book with low expectations. In fact, if I wasn't such an awful completist I would have skipped this little outlier altogether. Being merely an adaptation of Agatha Christie's foray into playwriting, it lacks the Dame's impeccable style. It's too heavy on dialogue, and sometimes is too deceptively easy to figure out. I'm saying "deceptively" because after all it is still Christie's storyline. Surprisingly, it was an enjoyable light read. Perhaps not on the level of her average work, and certainly not even close to her defining volumes, but Black Coffee cannot be called a waste of time. I don't know what took me so long to finally read it.

A dead scientist, a missing formula, five suspects who are family and there is our expert, Hercule Poirot. Unlike other Christie's novels, I loved this one simply for its characters and witty humour.

A dead scientist, a missing formula, five suspects who are family and there is our expert, Hercule Poirot. Unlike other Christie's novels, I loved this one simply for its characters and witty humour.

Hercule again! Dang this one has a lot of bad reviews, but this won't be one of them!!! I read this in one day! It was written initially as a play (Agatha’s first) and then years later adapted (by someone else) into a novel which is what I read, sorry if that isn’t authentic enough for you, it was for me! Good mystery, made even more fun by the constraints of the stage. You could tell it was written to have minimal sets etc. is what I’m saying, but it was no loss to me. Was mostly hilarious but mean to Italians.

Rating: 4 Stars This book is amazing! I know that it is technically not written by Agatha Christie herself but Mr. Osborne does an amazing job capturing the original Hercule Poirot we Christie fans have come to love. The story was well written and flowed very well. If I didn't know better, I'd say Ms. Christie wrote this herself. It is so nice to know that authors were so inspired by her work that they continue to write in her name and carry on her beloved characters!