Spider's Web

Agatha Christie's book Spider's Web is a great companion to And then There Were None. Clarissa invites three houseguests to her wonderful elegant country mansion just out side out of London. The house is full of happiness. Clarissa is telling everyone the game of supposing she plays. Like suppose I found a dead body in the house what would I do. Or what if the house got robbed. But all fun games soon turn to seriousness when she finds a dead body in her drawing room. She tries to hide the body trying to save her husbands foreign office career and tries to get the guests to help and not tell. But suddenly a police inspector knocks on the door saying there has been a call that there was a murder here. Will the inspector find the body or will Clarrissa's lies keep the police away and have you spinning a round in a Spider's Web. 'I suppose when you're making things up you get carried away and that makes it sound more convincing.' Will she get caught in the Web? With every lie she goes deeper and deeper. I liked this book because it kept on getting interesting causing this book to be a fast read. Almost every chapter a new character walks into the spider's web and Clarissa makes a desperate lie to get out of the web.

In this play adapted as a novel, Clarissa Hailsham-Brown discovers a body in the drawing room. If that isn't bad enough, she has to dispose of it before her husband Henry returns home with an important foreign politician. She gets her three house guests, Sir Rowland Delahaye, Hugo Birch and Jeremy Warrender to help her in her attempts to hide the body when the police ring her doorbell in response to an anonymous tip about a murder. Now, she must keep the body hidden, convince a police inspector that there has been no murder, while attempting to uncover the identity of the murderer while the plot seems to spin around in circles, like a spider's web. I really liked this story and I believe it's as good as anything Agatha Christie has ever done. If you like the way she hooks you into a murder, than you'll like this book.

This is the 3rd and final Osborne adaptation of an Agatha Christie play into novel form. I liked it the best of the three. It reads more like a play than a novel--so if you are expecting the normal Christie novel, you may very well be disappointed. However, if you have read the novels, this is a lovely addition to your list of Christie's and a rare opportunity to envision her plays. True, the plays could just as easily have been bound and published. But, Osborne has apparently done little, if anything, to detract from the plays themselves. So, IMHO, he has done a great service both to Agatha and to the mystery reading public by publishing these works. As for the content, this particular work is a riot! I loved the story, the twists and turns (and there are many of them), the cleverness, etc. It IS after all, a Christie! And a very good one at that. Enjoy!

This was one of the best books I've ever read! It's a definate for all Christie fans. When Clarissa finds a dead body in her living room, she has no idea what to do. She convinces three men to rid the body of her house - before her husband comes home with a vey imporant guest. But the men have no time to dispose of the body - because the police arrive first! Panacking, Clarissa stirs up a lie to fool the police with. With more twists, turns, lies, and surprises than a soap opera, everybody will love this book.

and Charles Osborne has transcribed it beautifully in his third novel adaptation of Christie's plays. Spider's Web is a light, easy, and fun read that encompasses all the elements of an English houseparty. The mansion complete with French doors for easy entrance by a murderer, the lovable hostess, the diverse houseguests, the professional detective, the required red herrings, the secret panel, and just for good measure, a sympathetic child---all combine for a delightful mystery. Clarissa is the beloved mistress of the manor, and her self-proclaimed duty is to hide a body she finds in her parlor so that it won't interfere with her distinguished husband's entertaining a V.I.P. later in the evening. Into her web of lies and deceit she brings her three doting houseguests, a brusque female gardener, and the butler. Truth will out in the end, and whether you guess the culprit or not, you will enjoy this fast-paced, delightful evening with the British upper class.