Spider's Web: Novelisation
by Agatha Christie, Charles Osborne
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A classic from the queen of mystery: Agatha Christie.Tags
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Oh, what a tangled web we weave
When first we practise to deceive! (Sir Walter Scott)
The irony of Spider’s Web, of course, is that our plucky heroine, the pretty, clever Clarissa Hailsham-Brown, only gets into trouble when she tries to tell the truth. An inveterate prankster, Clarissa is used to spinning tales and being believed. What makes things difficult is when Clarissa actually does stumble onto a dead body in the drawing-room. Then the ingenious Clarissa springs into action.
To say any more would be to spoil this short novel, which first appeared as a play in 1954, but was turned into a novel by Charles Osborne and published in 2000. Let’s just say that there are plenty of twists and turns and that I was caught completely by show more surprise by the ending. Even without either Hercules Poirot or Jane Marple, Spider’s Web has to rank amongst the most charming of Agatha Christie’s works.
If you have the chance to enjoy Hugh Fraser reading this work on Audible, don’t pass it up. And special thanks to Claire Wilson, who brought this book to my attention. show less
The disposal of a corpse holds a lot of comedic possibilities, and it’s been used in memorable films such as The Trouble with Harry, plays such as Arsenic and Old Lace, and even in the staging of the opera Gianni Schicchi. It should be no surprise that Agatha Christie would take a stab at this plot. This is one of Christie’s original dramas that wasn’t based on an earlier novel or story. Charles Osborne provides a readable novelization of Christie’s play, but while the plot is obviously Christie’s, it doesn’t read like a novel Christie would have written. Christie had a knack for conveying action through dialogue. Osborne’s novelization is heavy on description, and reads as if he turned stage directions into prose without show more much editing (which is probably exactly what he did). show less
This was a quick read and seemed a light hearted stand alone book with Clarissa the wife of a diplomat. She likes to tell stories and play jokes on friends. Then one night when her husband has gone to pick up a secret Russian diplomat to bring back, she stumbles over a dead body in her own drawing room. She calls some friends who are at a nearby golf course to come help her hide the body knowing her husband will soon arrive with the important foreign diplomat and she can't really tell her friends why she wants to hide the body instead of her husband coming home to police, etc. However, the killer called the police and they don't believe any of the stories Clarissa comes up with. She and a long time friend, Sir Roland Delahaye, figure it show more out in time. show less
Spider’s Web - Christie/Osborn
Audio performance by Hugh Fraser
4 stars
A bit of mystery, more than a bit of comedy, this book is a ‘novelization’ of a stage play. It was very easy to visualize the set, costumes, and all of the convenient entries and exits. There’s constant movement in and out of a single room through french doors, hall entry, and a not-so-hidden passage. Several red herrings and a bit of a plot twist are all typical of Agatha Christie. Hugh Fraser is always easy listening. I don’t think this book would work as well in print.
Audio performance by Hugh Fraser
4 stars
A bit of mystery, more than a bit of comedy, this book is a ‘novelization’ of a stage play. It was very easy to visualize the set, costumes, and all of the convenient entries and exits. There’s constant movement in and out of a single room through french doors, hall entry, and a not-so-hidden passage. Several red herrings and a bit of a plot twist are all typical of Agatha Christie. Hugh Fraser is always easy listening. I don’t think this book would work as well in print.
This is the first Christie that I owned, rather than what was lent by my sister, mother, friend, or the library. I remember wishing I could live in the big fancy house Clarissa lives in where you dress for dinner and eat chocolate mousse late at night, even if murders do happen there.
This is a novelization of one of Christie's plays. Clarissa Halisham-Brown, a diplomat's wife, finds a body in her parlor while waiting for her husband to return home with an important diplomatic guest. Her efforts to hide the murder and save her husband's career become increasingly more complicated. The body is the focal point of Clarissa's efforts, and her attempts to hide it are increasingly more difficult to execute. As the story progresses, Clarissa traps herself in a web of lies.
It is fully evident that this story was originally a play. All of the action takes place in one room, requiring only one set. There is no change of scenery, and only limited characters. It is less satisfying than Christie's novels. Those new to Christie's show more work should start with her novels. This is for the Christie fan. show less
It is fully evident that this story was originally a play. All of the action takes place in one room, requiring only one set. There is no change of scenery, and only limited characters. It is less satisfying than Christie's novels. Those new to Christie's show more work should start with her novels. This is for the Christie fan. show less
I think this should have stayed a play - as a novel it didn't quite work. The one scene setting and limited cast of characters got boring, and the solution of the mystery was obvious very early on.
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Author Information
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One of the most successful and beloved writer of mystery stories, Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie was born in 1890 in Torquay, County Devon, England. She wrote her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in 1920, launching a literary career that spanned decades. In her lifetime, she authored 79 crime novels and a short story collection, 19 show more plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language with another billion in 44 foreign languages. Some of her most famous titles include Murder on the Orient Express, Mystery of the Blue Train, And Then There Were None, 13 at Dinner and The Sittaford Mystery. Noted for clever and surprising twists of plot, many of Christie's mysteries feature two unconventional fictional detectives named Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. Poirot, in particular, plays the hero of many of her works, including the classic, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), and Curtain (1975), one of her last works in which the famed detective dies. Over the years, her travels took her to the Middle East where she met noted English archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan. They married in 1930. Christie accompanied Mallowan on annual expeditions to Iraq and Syria, which served as material for Murder in Mesopotamia (1930), Death on the Nile (1937), and Appointment with Death (1938). Christie's credits also include the plays, The Mousetrap and Witness for the Prosecution (1953; film 1957). Christie received the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for 1954-1955 for Witness. She was also named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1971. Christie died in 1976. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Charles Osborne's acclaimed Complete Operas series includes books on the operas of Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, and Richard Strauss. All are available in paperback from Da Capo Press.
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Spider's Web: Novelisation
- Original title
- Spider's Web
- Original publication date
- 1957
- People/Characters
- Henry Hailsham-Brown; Clarissa Hailsham-Brown; Sir Rowland Delahaye; Hugo Birch; Jeremy Warrender; Mildred Peake (show all 7); Pippa Hailsham-Brown
- Important places
- Kent, England, UK
- First words
- Copplestone Court, the elegant, eighteenth-century country home of Henry and Clarissa Hailsham-Brown, set in gently undulating hilly country in Kent, looked especially attractive in the moonlight which illuminated its facade ... (show all)on a clear, chilly evening in March.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Exit Clarissa mysteriously," she declaimed in a dramatic stage whisper as she disappeared into the recess, a split second before Henry ushered the Prime Minister into the drawing-room.
- Original language
- English UK
- Disambiguation notice
- This is the novel adaptation by Charles Osborne. Please do not combine it with the original stage play.
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- ISBNs
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- ASINs
- 12