SPOILERS!!!
I enjoyed the book and the ending was a big surprise, but I have to say that this is not the best mystery by Agatha Christie I have read.
Mark is certain that he needs to do something about the Pale Horse because he feels that something untoward is happening. The vicar's wife agrees and tells him to find someone to help him. He tries to engage Dr Corrigan and Hermia, but the former thinks that this theory is just nonsense, and the latter is too busy. Then he thinks of Ginger, the girl who was at the fete.
Ginger does not hesitate and agrees to help him. So the first thing he does is befriend Poppy, the girl who first mentioned the Pale Horse. Through her she learns that the arrangements are done through an agent in Birmingham. Mark also confirms that there is something sinister about Tommy's death when he goes to see her stepmother under the pretense of writing an article about the house. When he mentions the Pale Horse, the woman blanches.
Mark also goes to see the agent in Birmingham. The agent, Bradley, is not specific and simply says that what they do is bet that someone could die on some date, and payment won't happen until the deed is done. Mark says that he needs to think about it. When he and Ginger talk, they say that the only way to sort out the thing is to become clients. Then Mark tells her that he was married before the war. It was a brief marriage that ended when his wife had a car crash which killed her in Italy. As she died in Italy, there is no register in England. Ginger says that it is ideal for their case, and she will pass herself off as his wife. He will go to Bradley and say that his wife has reappeared and refuses to give him a divorce so that he can marry again. Mark thinks that it is dangerous for her, but Ginger is adamant and wants to do it. Mark reluctantly agrees but he says that they need to tell the police.
Mark goes back to Bradley and he records his request about his wife dying in a month. Then he tells him that he needs to go to Much Deeping and attend the seance at the Pale Horse. After that, he needs to remove himself from London. He says that he will stay with his cousin Rhoda and then he will stay in Bournemouth.
That is what happens, and Mark attends a strange seance in which the three witches perform a horrible ceremony. A cockerel is slaughtered and Ginger's glove is dipped in its blood, and they also use some kind of box with lights. After the seance, Mark decides to go and talk to Mr Venables as he wonders if it is possible that he may be involved. When he leaves Venables, he sees a man near the house, and the man says that he is about to catch a bus. Then the man introduces himself as Zachariah Osborne, the chemist who told the police that the man who followed Father Gorman was Mr Venables. Mr Osborne tells Mark everything, and he says that he has doubts that Venables is telling the truth, because the man who goes to the doctor may not be Venables himself and he is faking his illness. When he leaves, Mark is thoughtful.
Mark and Ginger have agreed that he will call her to see how she is doing. And when he calls, Ginger says that she has a sore throat and achy limbs, which frightens Mark, especially when she admits that she may be coming down with flu. She also tells him that she has only talked to a few people: the gas meter reader, a woman making a survey about medicines and cosmetics, and some other people. Ginger promises to call the doctor, and the doctor says that she has the flu but there is nothing strange in that. Yet, Ginger becomes worse and worse.
Mark needs to know what is happening, and he goes to see Poppy, and the girl tells her that if someone has information about the Pale Horse is a friend of hers, Ellen. Mark talks to Ellen, who incidentally used to work for the company Mrs Davis did. It was a company surveying the public tastes in medicine and cosmetics, and she remembers Mrs Davis. Ellen says that she left when she started to think that there were strange questions and some people died.
Then Mark gets a call from Mrs Oliver, who gives her the key. She says that as her maid is sick, she has used a temporary servant, who turned out to be Mrs Lady Hesketh-Dubois's maid, and the woman says that her mistress was healthy until he fell sick. The strange thing is that her hair started to fall off, and Ariadne says that this also happened to Mary Lafontaine, and Mark also saw how the fight between Tommy and Lou, the latter pulled out Tommy's hair easily. That is how Mark realises that all these people have been poisoned with Thalium.
Mark tells the police, and he, Inpector Lejeune, Dr Corrigan and Mr Osborne call on Mr Venables. The theory is that someone disguised as plumbers or gas meter readers accessed the homes of the intended victims, and using the information from the ladies in the survey company, he exchanged the product with one containing Thalium. The twist comes when Lejeune turns to Osborne and says that he couldn't have identified Venables the day Father Gorman was killed because it was foggy and he was inside his shop. Osborne turns out to be the person who killed all these people using this method. I have to say that the resolution about Osborne did not sound too believable for me, but it was a nice twist.
Ginger gets better, and at the end of the book Mark asks her to marry him, and she accepts.
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