Spider's Web (novel)
| Spider's Web | |
|---|---|
 Dust-jacket illustration of the first UK edition | |
| Author | Agatha Christie |
| Cover artist | Not known |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Crime novel |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
Publication date | September 2000 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 250 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | 0-00-226198-7 |
| OCLC | 43820679 |
Spider's Web is a novelization by Charles Osborne of the 1954 play of the same name by crime fiction writer Agatha Christie and was first published in the UK by HarperCollins in September 2000 and on November 11, 2000 in the US by St. Martin's Press.
The book was written following the successful publication of the novelizations of the 1930 play Black Coffee in 1998 and the 1958 play The Unexpected Guest in 1999. Like those books, the novelization is a straightforward transfer of the stage lines and directions of Christie's script into a written narrative. Osborne chose not to add characters, lines or scenes which would alter in any substantial way what had been presented on the stage although minor amendments were made to produce suitable chapter endings.
Osborne contributed a section to the book on the history of Christie's plays.
Plot
Clarrisa Hailsham Brown was the wife of a foreign diplomat officer Henry .Once she had guests - her godfather Sir Rowland "Roly" , Hugo Birch and a young lad named Jeremy Warrener.Soon when Jeremy was given the opportunity of being alone with Clarrisa , he confessed his love for her.But Clarrisa , taking her duties of being a faithful wife to Henry and a step mother to Pippa , rejected his proposal.Later when Pippa returned from school she indulged herself in exploring the manor house along with Jeremy.The guests then made their departure.Meanwhile, Clarrisa was approached by a guy named Oliver Costello who was Pippa's mother's second huband as well as a drug addict.He demanded Pippa's stay with her mother , only to find himself driven out of the house by Miss Peake , the manor house's caretaker.A few minutes later Henry made his way home and innocently exposes the secret of the arrival of the Soviet Premier's in London and said that it was to be kept a secret.He had to make a go for it and promised to return by the next morning.Just then , Oliver had been sneaking around the living room but Clarrisa soon discovered that he was dead/killed in the secret passage along the library.It was believed that Pippa had killed him with a golf stick in desperation and dilemma.Unfortunately even before they could dispose the body , the police arrived and they stated that they got an anonymous call of a murder that happened there. This showed that the murderer was amongst them as only the murderer would put the burden on some one else.When questioned , all of them lied about the facts to cover up for "the murder Pippa had committed ". Clarrisa lied the most and got herself entangled in a spider's web. After the policemen departed , they found that Oliver's body was missing.It was found that it was taken by Miss Peake to her cottage so that the police wouldn't come across it while they investigated when the individual interviews took place. Later when Jeremy was alone , in an attempt in pretending to warm Pippa , he slowly tried to smother her but stopped reluctantly as Clarrisa approached them.Clarrisa , who was keen and acute at in-taking things discovered that it was Jeremy who had murdered Charles Sillon an antique shop owner and the previous owner of the manor house for he had something valuable in his possessions. He killed him the same way he tried to kill Pippa.The thing which Jeremy had been looking for was some where in the house and not in the shop.That was why Oliver approached Clarrisa thinking that she was Mrs Brown , the previous owner of the manor house after Sillon and she also partnered him in his antique shop business.It is then revealed that Miss Peake was Mrs Brown (Clarrisa was Mrs Hailsham Brown). Since Jeremy was on the same mission as Oliver , Oliver had to be eliminated.The thing which the rogues had been searching for was an error stamp which would have fetched them a sum of 14,000 pounds.He didn't restrain to kill Clarrisa in the end for she was the only one remaining to know his secret.But the police who were eavesdropping on them then arrested him.The guests then made their way home as they didn't want Henry and the Premier to be confused.But when Henry returned home , Clarrisa learned that the Premier was unable to reach due to some problems.In the on the note of showing that very thing ended well , Christie brings to our notice that the Premier had to make an emergency landing at the Hailsham-Brown threshold , allowing Henry to reach out to him and live his dream of "political hospitality".
