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Black Coffee is an adaptation of the classic murder mystery play starring Hercule Poirot by Agatha Christie. This adaptation was written by Charles Osborne. Summary of the Book When Sir Claud Amory finds that his ground-breaking formula for a new type of explosive has been stolen, he calls upon an expert to help him find the thief. He doesn’t wait till the expert arrives, however, and summons everyone in his house into one room. Believing that the thief is among them, he offers a deal. He would switch off the lights for one minute and give the thief a chance to put the papers containing the formula on the table in the room. When the lights come back on, all would be forgiven and no questions were going to be asked. He turns off the lights, and the people in the room hear the sound of something striking metal. When the lights turn back on, Sir Amory is lying dead in his chair and the papers are on the table. Before anyone can react, the expert arrives, a little too late to save Sir Amory. However, only the murderer has cause to worry because the newcomer is none other than the little Belgian detective with plenty of grey cells to tackle this case: Hercule Poirot. About Agatha Christie Agatha Christie was an English novelist best known for her murder mystery novels. She created several best-selling storylines centred around timeless characters such as Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence and Parker Pyne. Some of her best known books are A Mysterious Affair at Styles, Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case, And Then There Were None and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. The current title was first written by Agatha Christie as a play in 1930. The play was adapted into a film starring Austin Trevor as Poirot and Richard Cooper as Captain Arthur Hastings. About Charles Osborne Charles Osborne is a journalist, poet, novelist and theatre and opera critic. He is a former assistant editor of The London Magazine. He has also adapted Spider's Web and The Unexpected Guest into novels from Agatha Christie’s original plays. Series Reading Order Hercule Poirot fans, get ready to follow Poirot as he tries to foil a murder before it happens in Peril at End House.