Black Coffee

Black Coffee deals mostly with beverages of the black and caffeinated variety, as Hercule Poirot tries to determine who poisoned the coffee of Sir Claud Amory, an eminent scientist who has just written the formula for a powerful explosive.

The plot involves international spies, bitter family members, disloyal servants, and multiple red herrings. But it also includes a few references to cocktails, including the Manhattan, the whiskey sour and the intriguing Satan’s Whisker, which one character says is “guaranteed to put some pep into you.”