Black Coffee by
Agatha Christie
pbk out July 99
(HarperCollins)
at £5.99
"The New Poirot Novel" is a curiosity. Back in 1930 Agatha Christie's first
original play, "Black Coffee" reached the London stage; it was hardly a
success - especially not in comparison to "The Mousetrap", which was
written much later - but subsequently it has become a favourite with
amateur theatrical groups. The Queen of Crime never turned the play into a
novel, but now, almost 70 years later, Charles Osborne has undertaken the
task. He is in many respects ideally qualified to do so: he is the author
of an excellent guide to Christie's life and work and he even played the
role of Dr Carelli in a repertory run of "Black Coffee" during the 1950s.
He is not, however - and this is significant - an experienced novelist.
Poirot is summoned to Abbot's Cleve, the country house of an eminent
scientist, Sir Claud Amory. Amory has been working on a formula "to bombard
the atom" and has reason to believe that a member of his household intends
to steal it. But by the time the Belgian detective arrives at Amory's home,
the formula is missing and his host is dead. The cast of characters
includes a number of Christie's usual suspects - a mysterious foreigner, an
exotic young woman, a reserved secretary and an ageing spinster - together
with a plan of the library at Abbot's Cleve. The plot twists and turns in
time-honoured fashion and Christie completists will undoubtedly be keen to
add this novel to their collection. That said, the overall verdict must be
that Osborne's adaptation is slightly disappointing. The compressed
timescale and restricted setting - after the introductory first chapter,
all the action takes place within the confines of Abbot's Cleve - betray
the stage origins of the mystery and, although Osborne has shown proper
respect to the storyline, Christie herself, one feels, would have been much
bolder in adapting the play. A minor mystery for armchair sleuths to puzzle
over is why the book is set in 1934 rather than the year when the play was
first performed. The final verdict must be that whilst this is an
indispensable purchase for devotees, it is also nevertheless something of a
missed opportunity.
(
Martin Edwards
- author of the highly acclaimed Harry Devlin Mysteries)
Black Coffee by
Agatha Christie