Black Coffee - Agatha Christie (review)

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Black Coffee - Agatha Christie

Black coffee is a crime mystery novel by Agatha Christie. Inventor, Sir Claud Amory is gripped by caution when he learns that someone staying in his own house stole the formula for his new explosive. He allows the thief to replace the formula which turns into a catastrophe as there is a murder that night.

I like the themes that were implemented in the story. Even if you suspect something, you have to know the full story to fully understand. For instance, everyone in the story was suspecting the Italian doctor because something unforeseen happened to take place when he arrived at their house. There were other aspects of the story that pointed to him as guilty too. It is of course never the most likely suspect, however, his true motive caught me by surprise. In the same sense, you never really know the whole story until the very end. This novel keeps you guessing until the last page. In Hercule Poirot stories, he always knows things ahead of time and plans accordingly. This made the scene where the thief and murderer is finally confronted more interesting.

What I didn't like about the novel so much is that it the criminal had a very common motive: money. I would have appreciated if there was a deeper intention on top of that. In addition to this, I personally felt that the foreshadowing of who the murderer was could have been more consistent throughout the book. That character wasn't on my mind so much during the middle. I actually suspected them right at the start and only remembered about it towards the end due to their low profile throughout the story. The largest issue I had with the story is that I wasn't very invested in it as a result of the pacing. It was originally written as a screenplay and then adapted into a novel by Charles Osborne. It is well presented and if I didn't know this information would have thought Agatha Christie wrote it herself. I guess it would make a better screenplay because that is how it was intended to be. But when presented as a novel, I feel that there is a bit too much exposition and dialogue.

Overall, it just felt like another mystery novel with nothing specifically special or interesting about it. This could be just because I've read so many mystery stories already that some of the tropes grow quite stale. However, I do enjoy a mystery and this one wasn't poorly executed which is why I will give it 3 stars. If you're a new mystery novel reader or want to grab any mystery story you can find, I think this book would be a good fit for you. It still an interesting story, but it is just kind of lost in the sea of other Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot stories.

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