I think it was a short story within an anthology, that involved a rare (maybe Venezuelan?) spider that was the most dangerous in the world, and could paralyze people. I think there was a recluse in his mansion, that included a greenhouse or conservatory, and someone maybe have been trying to get money from him? It was a library book, so I have no idea when it would have been published, but I read it in the early 1990s.
Stump the Bookseller
New format, same book stumper solving.
Could be “Spider Mansion” by Fritz Leiber:
“Tom and Helen Egan drop in on the old Orne House to escape a storm. The last time Tom met Malcolm Orne he was a midget, but now the guy’s seven foot tall and married to the beautiful, if strangely terrified Cynthia. Orne is a maniac and a sadist who has avenged himself on all who he considers to have disparaged him when he was Johnny no-legs, including his brother and the surgeon responsible for his startling transformation. He keeps everyone in check with the help of his pet, a murderous giant spider. Weird Tales, Sept. 1942”
Online (to my surprise) at
http://www.unz.org/Pub/WeirdTales-1942sep-00043
Is it the Lemony Snicket book, The Reptile Room?
I’m not sure if this will help, but your description reminds me of a short story I read years ago – probably in the 1980s. It was in an anthology of science fiction or horror stories or tales of the macabre. There was a wealthy man who had travelled to somewhere exotic (I think it was in South or Central America) and while there he encountered a tiny red spider. I don’t remember for sure where he encountered it – it might have been while touring a temple or something. Anyway, he killed it and felt quite pleased with himself for having done so. But after he returned home, the same kind of incredibly deadly spider started turning up at his home. I think at first it was just one, but later there were lots more, and they may have also gotten progressively bigger. At the end, I think they paralyzed him and were then either beginning to eat him alive or to lay eggs on him to leave him as food for their young. Something macabre along those lines, anyway. If this is the same story, maybe the additional details will help someone else to actually identify it.
Just a quick follow up – the anthology in which I read the story about the spider may have also included Anthony Boucher’s short story, “They Bite.” I know I read both stories at about the same time.