Rating: 
Summary: Sorry Agatha...
Review: I was thrilled after searching for years to find a transcript for "spider's web" that it was available as a novel. The thrill was soon gone. How one can manage to turn a most charming play in a bore is a mystery to me. The large print didn't help neither. You will be better off watching the movie with Glynis Johns and John Justin or the more recent BBC tv-adaption starring Penelope Keith as the perfect Clarissa.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Christie Adaption
Review: In Cobblestone Court, Henry and Clarissa Hailsham-Brown host three guests: Sir Rowland Delahaye, Hugo Birch, and Jeremy Warrender. However, Clarissa soon discovers the corpse of an unknown guest in the drawing room. Knowing her spouse plans to bring home a bigwig, Clarissa decides to hide the body until she can get around to figuring what to do next. In the course of temporarily disposing the deceased, police Inspector Lord arrives, stating he received a tip that murder occurred here.Clarissa revises her plan to include keeping the police from knowing that someone was in deed murdered in her home. She continues to serve as a gracious host to her guests and her spouse's dinner company while at the same time deciding to uncover the identities of the body and the killer by herself. SPIDER'S WEB, the third adaptation of an Agatha Christie play to a novel (see BLACK COFFEE and THE UNEXPECTED GUEST), is pure 100-proof Christie and not lite. The story line contains the elements that have made the renowned author so beloved. Fans of Ms. Christie and anyone who enjoys a featherbrained English amateur sleuth will fully enjoy this tale that shows Charles Osborne fully understands the grandmistress of mystery. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: What a Tangled Web We Weave
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Why bother? Only if you've read all the other Christies
Review: Like "Black Coffee" an adaptation of an Agatha Christie play. Also like "Black Coffee" it is interesting as a relic, not really as a novel in its own right. Osborne has, with the desire to be true to Christie, taken her script, used the dialogue and stage directions to tell the story, with very little addition of imagination. Curiously, perhaps fortunately, the telling improves during the last third of the book; less stilted, more humourous, more real. The plot itself is pure Christie, as are the characters; they have just the right quirks that her creations are capable of. One problem, though, and this is perhaps inherent with the translation from stage to paper, is that in the biggest action of the story ~ the hiding of the dead body ~ the motivation of the three men is not clear; why do they agree to do what Clarissa wants? On stage the advantage is that the action moves more quickly, the audience has less time to wonder such questions, and there is a greater suspension of disbelief than can be assumed in a novel. The action, therefore, which probably makes perfect sense on the stage is questionable here, and since that action is a, if not the, hinge of the plot, a weakness results. This raises the question, Should plays be translated in this fashion? Answer: Probably not; except that this does make an additional way new readers can be introduced to Christie. Of course, that raises the question, With more than eighty books available, who still needs an introduction?
Rating:
Summary: Why bother? Only if you've read all the other Christies
Review: Like "Black Coffee" an adaptation of an Agatha Christie play. Also like "Black Coffee" it is interesting as a relic, not really as a novel in its own right. Osborne has, with the desire to be true to Christie, taken her script, used the dialogue and stage directions to tell the story, with very little addition of imagination. Curiously, perhaps fortunately, the telling improves during the last third of the book; less stilted, more humourous, more real. The plot itself is pure Christie, as are the characters; they have just the right quirks that her creations are capable of. One problem, though, and this is perhaps inherent with the translation from stage to paper, is that in the biggest action of the story ~ the hiding of the dead body ~ the motivation of the three men is not clear; why do they agree to do what Clarissa wants? On stage the advantage is that the action moves more quickly, the audience has less time to wonder such questions, and there is a greater suspension of disbelief than can be assumed in a novel. The action, therefore, which probably makes perfect sense on the stage is questionable here, and since that action is a, if not the, hinge of the plot, a weakness results. This raises the question, Should plays be translated in this fashion? Answer: Probably not; except that this does make an additional way new readers can be introduced to Christie. Of course, that raises the question, With more than eighty books available, who still needs an introduction?
Rating:
Summary: Why bother? Only if you've read all the other Christies
Review: Like "Black Coffee" an adaptation of an Agatha Christie play. Also like "Black Coffee" it is interesting as a relic, not really as a novel in its own right. Osborne has, with the desire to be true to Christie, taken her script, used the dialogue and stage directions to tell the story, with very little addition of imagination. Curiously, perhaps fortunately, the telling improves during the last third of the book; less stilted, more humourous, more real. The plot itself is pure Christie, as are the characters; they have just the right quirks that her creations are capable of. One problem, though, and this is perhaps inherent with the translation from stage to paper, is that in the biggest action of the story ~ the hiding of the dead body ~ the motivation of the three men is not clear; why do they agree to do what Clarissa wants? On stage the advantage is that the action moves more quickly, the audience has less time to wonder such questions, and there is a greater suspension of disbelief than can be assumed in a novel. The action, therefore, which probably makes perfect sense on the stage is questionable here, and since that action is a, if not the, hinge of the plot, a weakness results. This raises the question, Should plays be translated in this fashion? Answer: Probably not; except that this does make an additional way new readers can be introduced to Christie. Of course, that raises the question, With more than eighty books available, who still needs an introduction?
Rating: 
Summary: Oh, What a tangled web we weave...
Review: Originally written as a play by Agatha Christie in 1954, this book was successfully adapted as a novel by Charles Osborne in 2000. All of Christie's books are listed in the front of this book which is a nice touch for Christie fans. This is the typical English country house murder that Christie did so well. Clarissa, the main character of this book, has a vivid imagination and likes to play pranks on her friends. She is sometimes a stranger to the truth which adds to the plot. This is perfect reading for a cold winter's afternoon.
Rating:
Summary: What would Dame Agatha have thought about this?
Review: The question here is: Is watered-down Agatha Christie as satisfying as the real thing? My answer is: Not hardly. Had this book been a 150-page $4.95 paperback, I might have a different opinion; as a stretched-out 219-page hard-cover selling for $23.95, it's a wonderful lesson in padding. I read it in one sitting--slightly less than two hours--and found myself afterwards wondering why. I'm not sure that novelizing a play is a really worthwhile adventure. On stage, after all, one doesn't need descriptions of things or people in order to comprehend or understand them. One of Christie's specializations was her depth of characterization, and this is totally lacking here. There is almost no description--of anything, including motivation, which was another of her strengths. There is humor in this tale of a British Country House party, with the appropriate twists and turns to the plot to make it an engaging and different sort of tale. It is definitely a period piece--written in 1954, but clearly harking back to the early 30s in mannerisms, if not in fact. When a murder happens, it nearly turns into a farce, what with the body disappearing on a regular basis. As a light, quick read, it is enjoyable, but I kept thinking that, because of its simplicity, it could almost be more successful if marketed as a young adult or new reader book. On the other hand, if the book brings new readers to Christie's large catalog, nicely listed at the beginning of the book, then it will have succeeded admirably. The three stars I've given the book are in no way to be construed as disrespectful of Dame Agatha or her work, or that of the novel-izer, Charles Osborne, who has previously done the same to two of Christie's other plays. Rather, they are an expression of dissatisfaction with the publisher for the stretching out and over-pricing of this volume.
Rating:
Summary: What would Dame Agatha have thought about this?
Review: The question here is: Is watered-down Agatha Christie as satisfying as the real thing? My answer is: Not hardly. Had this book been a 150-page $4.95 paperback, I might have a different opinion; as a stretched-out 219-page hard-cover selling for $23.95, it's a wonderful lesson in padding. I read it in one sitting--slightly less than two hours--and found myself afterwards wondering why. I'm not sure that novelizing a play is a really worthwhile adventure. On stage, after all, one doesn't need descriptions of things or people in order to comprehend or understand them. One of Christie's specializations was her depth of characterization, and this is totally lacking here. There is almost no description--of anything, including motivation, which was another of her strengths. There is humor in this tale of a British Country House party, with the appropriate twists and turns to the plot to make it an engaging and different sort of tale. It is definitely a period piece--written in 1954, but clearly harking back to the early 30s in mannerisms, if not in fact. When a murder happens, it nearly turns into a farce, what with the body disappearing on a regular basis. As a light, quick read, it is enjoyable, but I kept thinking that, because of its simplicity, it could almost be more successful if marketed as a young adult or new reader book. On the other hand, if the book brings new readers to Christie's large catalog, nicely listed at the beginning of the book, then it will have succeeded admirably. The three stars I've given the book are in no way to be construed as disrespectful of Dame Agatha or her work, or that of the novel-izer, Charles Osborne, who has previously done the same to two of Christie's other plays. Rather, they are an expression of dissatisfaction with the publisher for the stretching out and over-pricing of this volume.
Rating:
Summary: cute and entertaining
Review: The Unexpected Guest was, in my opinion, Osborne's best adaption, so it was hard to follow that. However, like all Christie's stories, this one does have some really well drawn characters. The nosy gardener with the boisterous laugh has to be one of her best supporting players. Even when she's annoying, she's a howl. Not great but still a nice addition to the
A.C. canon.
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