Murder in Three Stages

For the first time in one volume, the three full-length novels by Charles Osborne based on Agatha Christie’s acclaimed stage plays Black Coffee, Spider’s Web and The Unexpected Guest.<br/>With 66 crime novels and 14 books of short stories to her name, Agatha Christie became the best-selling novelist in history, translated into more languages than Shakespeare. But her canon of work extended beyond books into world record-breaking stage plays.<br/>Charles Osborne, author of The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie, has adapted three of her original plays into full-length novels. Combining her typically beguiling plots and sparkling dialogue with his own faithful narrative, this trilogy of ingenious stories can now delight a new legion of fans.<br/>BLACK COFFEE: When a plan to recover a stolen formula ends in murder, Hercule Poirot must unravel a tangle of family feuds, old flames and suspicious foreigners and prevent a global catastrophe.<br/>SPIDER'S WEB: Discovering a body in her drawing-room, the wife of a diplomat attempts to unmask the murderer while convincing the local police inspector there has been no murder at all.<br/>THE UNEXPECTED GUEST: Agreeing to help concoct an alibi for a dead man's killer, an unwitting accomplice begins to wonder if he isn't shielding the wrong person after all.