The Pale Horse (novel)
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| Author | Agatha Christie |
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| Country | England |
| Language | English |
| Series | Ariadne Oliver |
| Genre(s) | Detective fiction |
| Publisher | Collins |
| Released | 1961 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 256 p. (first edition hardcover) |
| Preceded by | Dead Man's Folly |
| Followed by | Third Girl |
The Pale Horse (published in 1961) is a thriller by Agatha Christie. The novel features her novelist-cum-detective Ariadne Oliver as minor character, and reflects in tone the supernatural novels of Dennis Wheatley who was then at the height of his popularity.
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[edit] Plot introduction
A dying woman, Mrs. Davis, gives her last confession to a Catholic priest, but along with her confession she gives him a list of names and a terrible secret. Before he can take action, however, he is struck dead in the fog. As the police begin to investigate, a young hero begins to piece together evidence that sets him upon a converging path.
[edit] Plot summary
In the following summary, events are not given in strict narrative order.
Mark Easterbrook, the hero of the book and its principal narrator, sees a fight between two girls in a Chelsea coffee-bar during which one pulls out some of the other’s hair at the roots. Soon afterwards he sees that this second girl, Thomasina Tuckerton, has died. At dinner with a friend, Poppy Stirling mentions something called The Pale Horse that arranges murders, but is suddenly scared at having mentioned it and will say no more.
When Mark encounters the police surgeon, Corrigan, he learns of the list of names found in Father Gorman’s shoe. The list includes the names of Mark’s godmother, Lady Heskith-Dubois, who has recently died of what appear to be natural causes, and of Thomasina Tuckerton. He begins to fear that the list contains the names of those dead or shortly to die.
When Marks goes with the famous mystery writer, Ariadne Oliver, to a village fête organised by his cousin, he learns of a house converted from an old inn called The Pale Horse, now inhabited by three modern “witches” led by Thyrza Grey. Visiting houses in the area, he meets a wheelchair-bound man, Mr. Venables, who has no apparent explanation for his substantial wealth. He also visits The Pale Horse, where Thyrza discusses with Mark the ability to kill at range, which she claims to have developed. In retrospect it seems to Mark that she has been outlining to him a service that she would be willing to provide.
In the police investigation, there is a witness, Zachariah Osbourne, who describes a man seen following Father Gorman shortly before the murder. Later, he contacts the police to say that he has seen this same man in a wheelchair: it is Venables. When he learns that Venables suffered from polio and would be incapable of standing due to atrophy of the legs, Osbourne is nonetheless certain of his identification and begins to suggest ways that Venables could have faked his own disability.
When Mark’s girlfriend does not take his growing fears seriously, he becomes disaffected with her. He does, however, receive support from Ariadne Oliver, and from a vicar’s wife (Mrs. Dane Calthrop) who desires him to stop whatever evil may be taking place. He also makes an ally of Ginger Corrigan, a girl whom he has met in the area, and who successfully draws Poppy out about the Pale Horse organisation. She obtains from her an address in Birmingham where he meets Mr. Bradley, a lawyer who outlines to him the means by which The Pale Horse can kill someone for him without breaking the law.
With the agreement of Inspector Lejeune and the cooperation of Ginger, Mark agrees to solicit the murder of his first wife, who will be played by Ginger. At a ritual of some kind at The Pale Horse, Mark witnesses Thyrza apparently channel a malignant spirit through an electrical apparatus. Shortly afterwards, Ginger falls ill and begin rapidly to decline.
In desperation, Mark turns to Poppy again, who now mentions a friend (Eileen Brandon) who resigned from a research organisation called CRC (Customers’ Reactions Classified) that seems to be connected with The Pale Horse. When Mrs. Brandon is interviewed, she reveals that both she and Mrs. Davis worked for the organization, which found out what foods and proprietary medicines by targeted people.
Mrs. Oliver now contacts Mark with a key connection that she has made: another victim of The Pale Horse (Mary Delafontaine) has lost her hair during her illness. The same thing happened to Lady Heskith-Dubois, and Thomasina’s hair was easily pulled out during the fight. Moreover, Ginger has begun to shed her own hair. Mark recognises that these are symptoms, not of satanic assassination of some sort, but, of Thallium poisoning.
At the end of the novel it is revealed that Osbourne has been the brains behind the Pale Horse organisation; the Black Magic element has been entirely a piece of misdirection on his part while the real murders were committed by replacing objects in the victims’ houses with those poisoned with Thallium. Osbourne’s clumsy attempt to implicate Venables has been his final mistake.
[edit] Characters in “The Pale Horse”
- Mark Easterbrook, a historian researching the Moguls
- Inspector Lejeune, the investigating officer
- Ariadne Oliver, the celebrated author
- Jim Corrigan, the police surgeon
- Ginger Corrigan, a young woman (not related to Jim)
- Mr. Venables, a wealthy, wheelchair-bound man
- Zachariah Osbourne, a pharmacist
- Mr. Bradley, legal representative of The Pale Horse
- Thyrza Grey, a practitioner of the Dark Arts
- Sybil Stamfordis, a medium
- Bella, a witch (and Thyrza’s cook)
- Thomasina Tuckerton, a wealthy young woman
- Pamela “Poppy” Stirling, an employee of Flower Studies Ltd.
- Mrs. Dane Calthrop, a vicar’s wife
- Rhoda Despard, Mark’s cousin
- Colonel Despard, Rhoda’s husband
- Mrs. Tuckerton, Thomasina’s stepmother and heiress
- Mrs. Coppins, owner of the boarding house in which Mrs. Davis dies
- Eileen Brandon, a former employee of Customers’ Reactions Classified
- Hermia Redcliffe, Mark’s girlfriend
- David Ardingley, a historian friend of Mark’s
- Father Gorman, a Catholic priest
[edit] Trivia
- This novel is notable amongst Christie's books as it is credited with having saved at least two lives, including that of a 19-month old infant, after readers recognised the symptoms of thallium poisoning from its description in the book.
- It is also notable as several of her earlier characters reappear in this book. In addition to Ariadne Oliver, Major Despard and his wife Rhoda (who met and fell in love in Cards on the Table) also participate in the plot. Mrs Dane Calthrop from The Moving Finger also reappears in approximately the same role as she played in that book: the rational but devoted Christian who wants the Evil stopped.
- Mrs. Oliver is apprehensive of attending a fete, for reasons that will be apparent to readers of her previous appearance in a Christie novel: Dead Man's Folly.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
Adapted for television in the United Kingdom in 1997.
