The Unexpected Guest

The Unexpected Guest
Agatha Christie

Charles Osborne

A young man, broken down in the fog, witnesses a murder he is asked to conceal… A full-length novel adapted by Charles Osborne from Agatha Christie’s acclaimed play.When a stranger runs his car into a ditch in dense fog in South Wales and makes his way to an isolated house, he discovers a woman standing over the dead body of her wheelchair-bound husband, gun in her hand. She admits to murder, and the unexpected guest offers to help her concoct a cover story.But is it possible that Laura Warwick did not commit the murder after all? If so, who is she shielding? The victim’s young half-brother or his dying matriarchal mother? Laura’s lover? Perhaps the father of the little boy killed in an accident for which Warwick was responsible? The house seems full of possible suspects…THE UNEXPECTED GUEST is considered to be one of the finest of Christie’s plays. Hailed as ‘another Mousetrap’ when it opened on 12 August 1958 in the West End, it ran for 604 performances over the succeeding 18 months and has been staged many times around the world over the last 40 years.

Copyright (#ulink_f2f7dc4c-49b4-5c19-a022-7fec4e02bd8b)

Harper

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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 1999

The Unexpected Guest™ is a trade mark of Agatha Christie Limited and Agatha Christie

and the Agatha Christie Signature are registered trade marks of Agatha Christie Limited in the UK and elsewhere.

Copyright © 1999 Agatha Christie Limited. All rights reserved.

www.agathachristie.com (http://www.agathachristie.com)

Cover by juliejenkinsdesign.com (http://juliejenkinsdesign.com) © HarperCollins/Agatha Christie Ltd 2017

Agatha Christie asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

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Source ISBN: 9780008196677

Ebook Edition © May 2017 ISBN: 9780007423033

Version: 2017-03-30

Contents

Cover (#u16bc1909-13ac-5219-afe0-acb25e55d495)

Title Page (#u282b8b40-feda-5e91-b1bd-d2f3c7233f0e)

Copyright (#uc0da1f04-6c17-510d-ac46-cb61d18490c1)

Chapter 1 (#u0e86fa6a-bdcb-5906-bbb8-5c5e8270c8c9)

Chapter 2 (#u29497e0f-fa01-5f8a-b64b-cf43cd38cb43)

Chapter 3 (#uf6d15dd5-a1d6-50a9-ab09-de7cc5f81514)

Chapter 4 (#uba75fa1a-c065-59bc-9401-fec11414f57d)

Chapter 5 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)

Postscript (#litres_trial_promo)

The Unexpected Guest (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by Agatha Christie (#litres_trial_promo)