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Poirot - Black Coffee: Novelisation
 
 
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Poirot - Black Coffee: Novelisation [Paperback]

Charles Osborne , Agatha Christie
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 208 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins; Masterpiece edition (Reissue) edition (1 July 2008)
  • Language French
  • ISBN-10: 0006511376
  • ISBN-13: 978-0006511373
  • Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 16,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charles Osborne
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Product Description

Review

‘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

Review

'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

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an interesting read - a novelization of a Christie play where Poirot is called to investigate a potential case of espionage but which turns quickly to a murder situation. Osborne makes a good job of emulating Christie's style, and the personalities of Poirot and Hastings are spot on.

It does however read like an adaptation, Osborne has taken no liberties at all it seems, so almost the entire book takes place in one room. The actions are described just like in a script, obviously necessary for the reader to see the clues, but it could have been better disguised.

It's very short as a novel, even for a Christie, and I read through it in a couple of hours at most. As such, it doesn't give the reader a lot of time to consider what has happened and try to solve the mystery themselves. I imagine on the stage it has an interval which serves this purpose. There are several rather distracting references to Poirot's other cases - presumably a stage tactic to sell books - which seem out of place, especially as one of them (afaik) had not been published when this play was written, and so I have not yet read it.

Overall, it was an okay read, but nothing special. I could easily visualise it on the stage, however, and think it was probably better suited to its original medium.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
In the play version, I'm sure there's a stage direction mentioning when the murder occurs. I'm also sure that stage business is intended to distract you from that. Showing the murder happens works on the stage, where you can distract the audience, keep them baffled, and if by chance they do see it, they feel clever.

Simply telling us who the murderer is and how he did it at the point he did it does not work in an Agatha Christie story. It's rather appallingly badly handled - the description - removing the name of the murderer - is something along the lines of "[Censored] tipped the poison into the coffee, their face turning into one of devilish glee."

If that was cut, it'd have been a fairly good, albeit a bit workmanlike adaptation. As it is, I can't really recommend it to any fans of Agatha Christie's work, and those who aren't fans have so many better books to choose from, like Appointment with Death
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I didn't enjoy the book at all. The whole affair was a drag, and there was no major surprise as to the identity of the killer. A credible effort but it could be better.
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