Agatha Christie, The Pale Horse

Amy Lee (The Open University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1961

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Crime and Detective
Novel
Story

Resources

The Pale Horse is a converted Tudor Inn which enjoys sinister reputations: to the curious public, the middle-aged female proprietors are three witches who practice the black arts and communicate with agents of the other world; to those anxious to remove unwanted rich relatives, The Pale Horse and its mysterious attendants mean arranged natural death through unknown forces.

At the beginning of the narrative the famous historian Mark Easterbrook is eating at a Chelsea pub where two young girls, among a bunch of friends with very brightly coloured hair, are ragging each other over some boys. Through this scene of young people's unruly behaviour, Mark hears of The Pale Horse in a causal remark by a friend's friend. From then on, …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

609 words

Citation: Lee, Amy. "The Pale Horse". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 October 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7328, accessed 25 November 2024.]

Save this article