The Pale Horse (1961)
Blurb:
My review:
At once stylish and sinister, this convincingly handled tale of murder-by-witchcraft-for-sale is Christie's last triumph. The story begins with the murder of a man of God by the forces of evil, returning from the death-bed confession of a murdered woman; the list of names found on his corpse lead to three witches who kill by operating on the death-wish; the play with morbid psychology is unusual, and the séance rivals that of Gladys Mitchell's The Worsted Viper (1943). Characters, including the vulpine cripple Venables (the use of the invalid in the wheel-chair is superb both as red herring and as double-edged clue), the oleaginous Mr. Bradley, and the insignificant chemist Zachariah Osborne, are vivid and unusual, and it will be an alert reader who spots the identity of the villain before the professional Lejeune; and the brilliant method (showing the author's medical training) before the amateur Mark Easterbrook.