The house is inhabited by three modern "witches", led by Thyrza Grey. When Mark goes to a village fete, organised by his cousin, at Much Deeping, with the famous mystery writer, Ariadne Oliver, he hears about a house which has been converted from an old inn called the Pale Horse. He begins to fear that the list contains the names of those who are dead or are shortly to die. The list includes the names Corrigan, Tuckerton and Hesketh-Dubois (the same name as Mark's godmother who has recently died of what appear to be natural causes). When Mark encounters the police surgeon, Corrigan, he learns of the list of surnames found in the shoe of a murdered priest called Father Gorman. At dinner with a friend, a woman named Poppy Stirling mentions something called the Pale Horse that arranges deaths, but is suddenly scared at having mentioned it and will say no more. Soon afterwards, he finds out that one of the girls, Thomasina Tuckerton, has died. Mark Easterbrook, the central character 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. In the following summary, events are not given in strict narrative order. As the police begin to investigate, a young hero begins to piece together evidence that sets him upon a converging path. Before he can take action, however, he is struck dead in the fog. The Pale Horse is mentioned in Revelation 6:8, where it is ridden by Death.Ī dying woman, Mrs Davis, gives her last confession to Father Gorman, a Roman Catholic priest, but along with her confession she gives him a list of names and a terrible secret. 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 UK edition retailed at fifteen shillings (15/- = 75p) and the US edition at $3.75. The Pale Horse is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, 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.
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