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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.