28. The title of Christie's novel 'The Pale Horse' provides a vital clue as to the nature of the murders contained therein. Where did she get the title?
From Quiz But Where Did She Get Those Wonderful Titles?
Answer:
The Book of Revelation (The Revelation to John)
'Mrs Dane Calthrop's voice, deep and sonorous, spoke behind me: "Revelation, Chapter Six, Verse Eight. And I looked and beheld a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him..."' The pale horse, of course, is pestilence; the murders in the book are committed with thallium salts, a particularly vicious poison which mimics the symptoms of several diseases of which the victims are supposed to have died before the pattern is perceived. The symptoms vary and cause of death is attributed to such diverse diseases as pneumonia, paratyphoid, gastroenteritis, alcoholic neuritis, epilepsy and polio - until Inspector Lejeune discovers that in every case the victim's hair fell out.