Black Coffee by Agatha Christie

I am a huge sucker for mystery novels. They are by far some of my favorite novels to read, and fall just seems to be the perfect time for them as well. Recently, I finished Black Coffee by Agatha Christie and edited by Charles Osborne. When Christie was alive, Black Coffee was play she wrote, but then after her death, Charles Osborne adapted it into a novel. The mystery novel is adult fiction, and surrounds Hercule Poirot’s investigation of the mysterious death of Sir Claud Amory and the disappearance of his secret formula made for the Ministry of Defense.

What was you favorite part of the book?

My favorite part of the book was actually the set up of the story. Sir Claud sends for Hercule Poirot to help him uncover a traitor in his own house, but Sir Claud dies just before Poirot arrives. This makes the detective’s job much more difficult since he is unsure of what Sir Claud wanted from him in the first place. Overall, the beginning of the story is unique, and the rest of the story is made much more engaging because of so many missing pieces at the beginning. In a sense, the reader is looking for the pieces of the puzzle alongside the great Hercule Poirot.

What was your least favorite part?

Honestly, I think some of the personalities of the characters in Sir Claud’s house were obnoxious or annoying. They were overbearing or inconsiderate at times, and some were simply inappropriate or flippant with remarks to one another. However, with much of these, Christie creates a reason for their personalities to be just so by using it for character development or having it fit in with the overall plot line. So while these personalities and comments are not my favorite, they did not stop me from enjoying the story as a whole.

Did you race to the end, or was it more of a slow burn?

Now, this is a tough question to answer because my little one has been an attention hog lately (#momlife), but whenever I did get a chance to read, I was pretty focused. I had to wait until the plot got going a little more though for me to really have a hard time putting it down, but once it did, I finished it within a couple hours.

Would you read another book by this author? Will you keep this book or donate it?

Agatha Christie is a very popular author that I just started reading within the last year and a half, and I can honestly say that I have enjoyed all of her books that I’ve read. Black Coffee is not one of my favorites of hers though, so while I will definitely be reading more of her mysteries in the near future, I will be donating my current copy.

What do you think? Have you ever read Black Coffee or other Agatha Christie novels? What are your thoughts on them? Let me know! I would love to hear from you either in the comments here or on Instagram @godsgiftofcreativity.

Thanks for reading, and stay creative! 🙂

-Chelsey