AUDIENCES will be left in suspense with a double dose of murder mystery.

Two tales by the mistress of the thriller, Agatha Christie, will be heading to Bolton Little Theatre and Farnworth Little Theatre.

From Saturday, Farnworth will stage one of the crime writers most famous plays, Spider’s Web.

Directed by Andrew Close and starring Donna Cubbage as Clarissa, Amber Sargent as step-daughter Pippa and Chris Moxon as Inspector Lord, it was Christie’s third play to be performed simultaneously in the West End.

The show is a thriller-comedy about Clarissa, the wife of a Foreign Office diplomat,who discovers a body in the drawing-room of her house in Kent.

Desperate to dispose of the corpse before her husband comes home with an important foreign politician, she persuades three house guests to become accessories and accomplices.

However, the murdered man is known to members of the house-hold.

And the search begins for his killer, as all the while she tries to persuade a police inspector that there has been no murder at all.

Tickets for Thursday, November 17are sold out, but other nights are available to be booked online at www.farnworthlittletheatre.weebly.com

Christie wrote the play during the period of the final rehearsals for Witness for the Prosecution which, coincidentally, is the chosen production for Bolton Little Theatre

The classic courtroom drama with a twist starts on Monday.

It sees Leonard Vole accused of the murder of elderly widow Emily French who had taken a shine to him and named him as the main beneficiary of her will.

The case against him seems strong, until his German wife Christine takes the stand, not for the defence but as a witness for the prosecution.

Director Simon Mott said: “You couldn’t choose a better premise for a courtroom drama. It really keeps you guessing to the end – which is what Agatha Christie is famous for of course.”

Natalie Crompton brushes up her German accent to play Vole’s wife Christine.

She added: “I’ve portrayed a variety of accents on stage in my time including American, Irish, Geordie, Scouse and Brummie.

"But I think this is the first time I’ve played a German.

“Actually I’m doing it again in February in The Marco Player’s Kindertransport – it’s like number 13 buses!”

For tickets call the box office on 01204 524469 or visit www.boltonlittletheatre.co.uk.

Both shows run until Saturday, November 19.