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The Pale Horse (novel)
Encyclopedia
The Pale Horse is a work of detective fiction
by Agatha Christie
and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club
on 6 November 1961
and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company
the following year. The UK edition retailed at fifteen shillings (15/-) and the US edition at $3.75. The novel features her novelist detective Ariadne Oliver
as a minor character, and reflects in tone the supernatural novels of Dennis Wheatley
who was then at the height of his popularity.
The Pale Horse is mentioned in Revelation 6:8, where it is ridden by Death.
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 learns that this second girl, Thomasina Tuckerton, has died. At dinner with a friend, Poppy Stirling mentions something called the Pale Horse that arranges deaths, 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 Hesketh-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 Mark goes to Much Deeping with the famous mystery writer, Ariadne Oliver, to a village fete 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-using 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 a distance, 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 begins to decline rapidly.
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 organisation, which surveyed targeted people about what foods, cosmetics, and proprietary medicines they used.
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 Hesketh-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 was entirely a piece of misdirection
on his part, while the murders were really committed by replacing products the victims had named in the CRC survey with poisoned ones. Osbourne's clumsy attempt to implicate Venables was his final mistake.
) praised the novel in the December 8, 1961 issue of The Guardian
: "Mrs Agatha Christie is our nearest approach to perpetual motion. And not only does she never stop, but she drops the ball into the cup nearly every time; and if one is sometimes reminded of those automatic machines where one pulls a handle and out pops the finished product, that is a compliment to the automatic machine and not by any means a reflection on Mrs Christie. For the latest tug on the Christie handle produces a product which is not only up to the standard but even above it. The Pale Horse is in fact the best sample from this particular factory for some time, and that is saying plenty. The black magic theme is handled in a masterly and sinister fashion, and to give away what lay behind it would be unforgivable. This is a book which nobody (repeat, nobody) should miss."
Mr Iles further named the novel as his favourite in the paper's Critic's choice for the end of the year, published one week later, when he said, "It has not been an outstanding year for crime fiction, but as usual there have been one or two first-class items. The best puzzle has certainly been Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse."
Robert Barnard
: "Goodish late example – loosely plotted, but with intriguing, fantastical central idea. Plot concerns a Murder-Inc.-type organization, with a strong overlay of black magic. Also makes use of 'The Box,' a piece of pseudo-scientific hocus-pocus fashionable in the West Country in the 'fifties (one of the things which drove Waugh
to the verge of lunacy, as narrated in Pinfold
)."
in 1996 in a one-hour-forty-minute TV movie with Colin Buchanan
as Mark Easterbrook. This version omitted the character of Ariadne Oliver. It implausibly tries to make Easterbrook the suspect in the killing of Father Gorman. At first it seems that the murders are masterminded by Venables, who it transpires is not disabled, but ultimately Osbourne is still revealed as the murderer.
The novel was adapted again, this time by Russell Lewis
for the fifth series of ITV's Agatha Christie's Marple starring Julia McKenzie
in 2010. This version adds the character of Miss Marple
as the chief sleuth of the plot, and eliminates the characters of Ariadne Oliver, Colonel Despard, Rhoda, and Mrs Dane Calthrop. (The omission of Rhoda and Colonel Despard is probably due to the fact that in the Agatha Christie's Poirot
adaption of Cards on the Table
, Rhoda dies in place of Anne Meredith and Colonel Despard falls in love with Anne instead.) It also introduced the newly invented characters of Captain Cottam, Kanga Cottam, and Lydia Harsnet.
The novel was first serialised in the UK weekly magazine Woman’s Mirror in eight abridged instalments from 2 September to 21 October 1961 with illustrations by Zelinski.
In the US a condensed version of the novel appeared in the April 1962 (Volume LXXIX, Number 4) issue of the Ladies Home Journal with an illustration by Eugenie Louis.
Detective fiction
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...
by Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club
Collins Crime Club
The Collins Crime Club was an imprint of UK book publishers William Collins & Co Ltd and ran from May 6, 1930 to April 1994. Customers registered their name and address with the club and were sent a newsletter every three months which advised them of the latest books which had been or were to be...
on 6 November 1961
1961 in literature
The year 1961 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*First English production of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui*Michael Halliday publishes his seminal paper on the systemic functional grammar model....
and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company
Dodd, Mead and Company
Dodd, Mead and Company was one of the pioneer publishing houses of the United States, based in New York City. Under several names, the firm operated from 1839 until 1990. Its history properly began in 1870, with the retirement of its founder, Moses Woodruff Dodd. Control passed to his son Frank...
the following year. The UK edition retailed at fifteen shillings (15/-) and the US edition at $3.75. The novel features her novelist detective Ariadne Oliver
Ariadne Oliver
Ariadne Oliver is a fictional character in the novels of Agatha Christie. She is a mystery novelist and a friend of Hercule Poirot.-Profile:Mrs. Oliver often assists Poirot in his cases through her knowledge of the criminal mind. She often claims to be endowed with particular "feminine intuition,"...
as a minor character, and reflects in tone the supernatural novels of Dennis Wheatley
Dennis Wheatley
Dennis Yates Wheatley was an English author. His prolific output of stylish thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors from the 1930s through the 1960s.-Early life:...
who was then at the height of his popularity.
The Pale Horse is mentioned in Revelation 6:8, where it is ridden by Death.
Plot introduction
A dying woman, Mrs Davis, gives her last confession to Father Gorman, 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.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 learns that this second girl, Thomasina Tuckerton, has died. At dinner with a friend, Poppy Stirling mentions something called the Pale Horse that arranges deaths, 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 Hesketh-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 Mark goes to Much Deeping with the famous mystery writer, Ariadne Oliver, to a village fete 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-using 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 a distance, 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
Ariadne Oliver
Ariadne Oliver is a fictional character in the novels of Agatha Christie. She is a mystery novelist and a friend of Hercule Poirot.-Profile:Mrs. Oliver often assists Poirot in his cases through her knowledge of the criminal mind. She often claims to be endowed with particular "feminine intuition,"...
, 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 begins to decline rapidly.
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 organisation, which surveyed targeted people about what foods, cosmetics, and proprietary medicines they used.
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 Hesketh-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
Thallium
Thallium is a chemical element with the symbol Tl and atomic number 81. This soft gray poor metal resembles tin but discolors when exposed to air. The two chemists William Crookes and Claude-Auguste Lamy discovered thallium independently in 1861 by the newly developed method of flame spectroscopy...
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 was entirely a piece of misdirection
Misdirection
Misdirection is a form of deception in which the attention of an audience is focused on one thing in order to distract its attention from another....
on his part, while the murders were really committed by replacing products the victims had named in the CRC survey with poisoned ones. Osbourne's clumsy attempt to implicate Venables was his final mistake.
Characters in "The Pale Horse"
- Mark Easterbrook, a historian researching the MogulsMughal EmpireThe Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
- 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-using 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 Webb, a witch (and Thyrza’s cook)
- Thomasina Tuckerton, a wealthy young woman
- Pamela “Poppy” Stirling, an employee of Flower Studies Ltd.
- Rev. Dane Calthrop, a vicar
- 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
Characters repeated in other Christie works
- Ariadne Oliver also appears in Parker Pyne InvestigatesParker Pyne InvestigatesParker Pyne Investigates is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by William Collins and Sons in November 1934. Along with The Listerdale Mystery, this collection did not appear under the usual imprint of the Collins Crime Club but instead appeared as...
, Cards on the TableCards on the TableCards on the Table is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 2 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year...
, Mrs. McGinty's Dead, Dead Man's FollyDead Man's FollyDead Man's Folly is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in October 1956 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 5 of the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.95 and the UK edition at twelve shillings and sixpence ....
, Third GirlThird GirlThird Girl is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in November 1966 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at eighteen shillings and the US edition at $4.50.It features her Belgian...
, Hallowe'en PartyHallowe'en PartyHallowe'en Party is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in November 1969 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed for twenty-five shillings. In preparation for decimalisation on...
, and Elephants Can RememberElephants Can RememberElephants Can Remember is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in November 1972 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed for £1.60 and the US edition at $6.95.It features her Belgian...
. - Rhoda Despard also appears as Rhoda Dawes, a friend of one of the suspects, in Cards on the TableCards on the TableCards on the Table is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 2 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year...
. - Colonel Despard also appears as Major Despard, a suspect, in Cards on the TableCards on the TableCards on the Table is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 2 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year...
. - Mrs Dane Calthrop also appears in The Moving FingerThe Moving FingerThe Moving Finger is detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in July 1942 and in UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1943. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence...
. - Rev. Dane Calthrop also appears in The Moving FingerThe Moving FingerThe Moving Finger is detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in July 1942 and in UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1943. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence...
.
Literary significance and reception
Francis Iles (Anthony Berkeley CoxAnthony Berkeley Cox
Anthony Berkeley Cox was an English crime writer. He wrote under several pen-names, including Francis Iles, Anthony Berkeley and A. Monmouth Platts.- Life :...
) praised the novel in the December 8, 1961 issue of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
: "Mrs Agatha Christie is our nearest approach to perpetual motion. And not only does she never stop, but she drops the ball into the cup nearly every time; and if one is sometimes reminded of those automatic machines where one pulls a handle and out pops the finished product, that is a compliment to the automatic machine and not by any means a reflection on Mrs Christie. For the latest tug on the Christie handle produces a product which is not only up to the standard but even above it. The Pale Horse is in fact the best sample from this particular factory for some time, and that is saying plenty. The black magic theme is handled in a masterly and sinister fashion, and to give away what lay behind it would be unforgivable. This is a book which nobody (repeat, nobody) should miss."
Mr Iles further named the novel as his favourite in the paper's Critic's choice for the end of the year, published one week later, when he said, "It has not been an outstanding year for crime fiction, but as usual there have been one or two first-class items. The best puzzle has certainly been Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse."
Robert Barnard
Robert Barnard
Robert Barnard is an English crime writer, critic and lecturer.- Life and work :Born in Essex, Barnard was educated at the Colchester Royal Grammar School and at Balliol College in Oxford....
: "Goodish late example – loosely plotted, but with intriguing, fantastical central idea. Plot concerns a Murder-Inc.-type organization, with a strong overlay of black magic. Also makes use of 'The Box,' a piece of pseudo-scientific hocus-pocus fashionable in the West Country in the 'fifties (one of the things which drove Waugh
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...
to the verge of lunacy, as narrated in Pinfold
The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold
The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold is a novel first published in 1957 by English writer Evelyn Waugh. Strong parallels may be drawn between events in the novel overtaking the eponymous protagonist, Gilbert Pinfold, and episodes in the author's own life...
)."
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
The novel was adapted for ITVITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
in 1996 in a one-hour-forty-minute TV movie with Colin Buchanan
Colin Buchanan (actor)
Colin Buchanan is a Scottish actor who is best known for playing Pascoe in Dalziel and Pascoe. He has also appeared in All Quiet on the Preston Front , The Bill, Between the Lines, Dangerfield, Heartbeat, Space Island One and Brief Encounters and A Touch of Frost...
as Mark Easterbrook. This version omitted the character of Ariadne Oliver. It implausibly tries to make Easterbrook the suspect in the killing of Father Gorman. At first it seems that the murders are masterminded by Venables, who it transpires is not disabled, but ultimately Osbourne is still revealed as the murderer.
The novel was adapted again, this time by Russell Lewis
Russell Lewis
- Career :Lewis began his career as a child actor, first appearing in the 1969 film adaptation of The Looking Glass War. He also starred as George Gathercole in The Kids from 47A...
for the fifth series of ITV's Agatha Christie's Marple starring Julia McKenzie
Julia McKenzie
Julia McKenzie is an English actress, singer, and theatre director. She is best-known for her performance in Fresh Fields, but to current television audiences, she is best known for her role as Miss Marple in Agatha Christie's Marple...
in 2010. This version adds the character of Miss Marple
Miss Marple
Jane Marple, usually referred to as Miss Marple, is a fictional character appearing in twelve of Agatha Christie's crime novels and in twenty short stories. Miss Marple is an elderly spinster who lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur detective. She is one of the most famous...
as the chief sleuth of the plot, and eliminates the characters of Ariadne Oliver, Colonel Despard, Rhoda, and Mrs Dane Calthrop. (The omission of Rhoda and Colonel Despard is probably due to the fact that in the Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot is a British television drama that has aired on ITV since 1989. It stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was originally made by LWT and is now made by ITV Studios...
adaption of Cards on the Table
Cards on the Table
Cards on the Table is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 2 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year...
, Rhoda dies in place of Anne Meredith and Colonel Despard falls in love with Anne instead.) It also introduced the newly invented characters of Captain Cottam, Kanga Cottam, and Lydia Harsnet.
Publication history
- 1961, Collins Crime Club (London), 6 November 1961, Hardback, 256 pp
- 1962, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), 1962, Hardback, 242 pp
- 1963, Pocket BooksPocket BooksPocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.- History :Pocket produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in America in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry...
(New York), Paperback - 1964, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollinsHarperCollinsHarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
), Paperback, 191 pp - 1965, Ulverscroft Large-print Edition, Hardcover, 256 pp
- 2011, HarperCollins; Facsimile edition edition Hardcover: 256 pages ISBN-13: 978-0007395729
The novel was first serialised in the UK weekly magazine Woman’s Mirror in eight abridged instalments from 2 September to 21 October 1961 with illustrations by Zelinski.
In the US a condensed version of the novel appeared in the April 1962 (Volume LXXIX, Number 4) issue of the Ladies Home Journal with an illustration by Eugenie Louis.
External links
- The Pale Horse at the official Agatha Christie website
- Social Affairs Unit article on The Pale Horse