from mstrust

I would suggest the reader of Black Coffe remind themselves repeatedly that this is not entirely her work and therefore not her fault. There is too much of a feeling of staging for this to work as a novel. Every step is presented for the reader/audience to see so that the mystery isn't a mystery ...

from bbbart

Again, a nice murder mystery sprouted from Christie's imagination. However, one can tell that this one was particularly written as a theatre play, and only later transcribed into a novel.3 stars is perhaps a bit on the low end for this little story, but it doesn't deserve 4 either, when you compa...

from benfulton

I disapprove of authors without the creativity to come up with their own characters. But at least this adaptation doesn't claim to be new prose; it's rather based on a play that Dame Christie wrote early in her career. As such, and like most novels that are based on movies, it is a very light rea...

from storyjunkie

A very quick read, this "novel" shows its origins as a stage production very clearly. As is required for a stage production, there are a limited number of players and layers available to the story, and Osborne did not embellish with any additional ones, nor should he have. Poirot is in fine style...

from EmScape

I kept thinking that this would make a really excellent play. Come to find out, from the afterword, that it actually was a play, adapted to novel form by the author of The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie. This is fortunate, because, really it would be better seen than read. This tale seemed qu...