Black Coffee: A Hercule Poirot Novel (Hercule Poirot Mysteries)

SUMMARY: Nearly a quarter-century after her death, Agatha Christie remains the most popular mystery writer of all time. Now, in a celebrated publishing event, fans and newcomers alike are treated to another Christie novel. Created in 1930 as a stage play and faithfully adapted by Charles Osborne, Black Coffee brings back beloved detective Hercule Poirot to exercise his ''little grey cells'' one more deliciously deductive time... An urgent call from physicist Sir Claud Amory sends famed detective Hercule Poirot rushing from London to a sprawling country estate. Sir Claud fears a member of his own household wants to steal a secret formula destined for the Ministry of Defense. But Poirot arrives too late. The formula is missing. Worse, Sir Claud has been poisoned by his after-dinner coffee. Poirot soon identifies a potent brew of despair, treachery, and deception amid the mansion's occupants. Now he must find the formula and the killer...while letting no poison slip 'twix his low lips. In the first Hercule Poirot novel to appear in over 20 years, perhaps Christie's most famous and beloved detective returns to bring his 'little grey cells' to bear on one more case. In the spring of 1934, Poirot is summoned to Surrey by England's most prominent physicist, Sir Claud Amory. Amory fears that someone in his household is attempting to steal his latest discovery, a formula critical to England's defense. Poirot, with Captain Hastings at his side, rushes to Surrey but arrives too late. Amory has died, his formula is missing, and anyone in this country house, full of relatives and guests, could have been responsible. Originally written by Agatha Christie in 1930 as a three-act play, now adapted as a novel by Charles Osborne (an expert on Christie's life and work as well as a world-renowned theater and opera critic), Black Coffee is class Christie at its finest, sure to delight newcomers and devotees alike. An urgent call from physicist Sir Claud Amory sends famed detective Hercule Poirot rushing from London to a sprawling country estate. Sir Claud fears a member of his own household wants to steal a secret formula destined for the Ministry of Defense. But Poirot arrives too late. The formula is missing. Worse, Sir Claud has been poisoned by his after-dinner coffee. Poirot soon identifies a potent brew of despair, treachery, and deception amid the mansion's occupants. Now he must find the formula and the killer ... while letting no poison slip 'twix his own lips Inventor Sir Claude Amory feels a bitter taste in the mouth, when the new formula for explosive material stolen by someone in the household. In order to quickly remedy the situation, Sir Claude locks the door and turns off the light, giving the thief a chance to return the formula without being detected. But darkness brings death and Hercule Poirot has to untangle family strife, love and suspicious visitors tangle in order to clarify the murderer and prevent disaster. Originally written by Agatha Christie in 1930 as a three-act play, Black Coffee has been adapted as a novel by Charles Osborne, an expert on Christie's life and work. In this novel, Hercule Poirot returns to bring his "little grey cells" to bear on one more case A novel based on a 1930s play in which detective Hercule Poirot investigates the murder of a British scientist and the theft of his formula for an atomic explosive. Suspects range from his son, heavily in debt, to an Italian lady spy Physicist Sir Claude Amory has come up with a formula for an atom bomb. Sir Claude is poisoned (in his coffee, naturally) and Hercule Poirot is called in to solve the case. Adapted as a novel by Charles Osborne in 1998. A partir d'une pièce de théâtre inédite qu'Osborne a transposée en roman, voici une enquête d'Hercule Poirot qui ravira lecteurs et lectrices. HERCULE POIROT SAT AT breakfast in his small agreeably cosy flat in Whitehall Mansions.