Description:

''Black Coffee'' was Agatha Christieís first playscript, originally performed in 1930 and made into a now rarely-seen film the following year. Now Charles Osborne has adapted the play into a full-length novel. Combining her typically beguiling plot and sparkling dialogue with his own faithful narrative, he has produced a novel that will endure for as long as any of Agatha Christieís books. Sir Claud Amory has discovered the formula for a powerful new explosive, which is stolen by one of his 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, 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.