The Hound of Death

The Hound of Death
Agatha Christie

A collection of macabre mysteries, including the superlative short story Witness for the Prosecution…Twelve unexplained phenomena with no apparent earthly explanation…A dog-shaped gunpowder mark; an omen from ‘the other side’; a haunted house; a chilling seance; a case of split personalities; a recurring nightmare; an eerie wireless message; an elderly lady’s hold over a young man; a disembodied cry of ‘murder’; a young man’s sudden amnesia; a levitation experience; a mysterious SOS.To discover the answers, delve into the supernatural storytelling of Agatha Christie.

Copyright (#ulink_fe23df59-53c3-5755-a2c2-2e8ce2f47380)

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

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London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by Odhams Press 1933

Agatha Christie

The Hound of Death

copyright © Agatha Christie Limited 1933. All rights reserved.

www.agathachristie.com (http://www.agathachristie.com)

Cover by www.juliejenkinsdesign.com (http://www.juliejenkinsdesign.com) © HarperCollins/Agatha Christie Ltd 2008

Agatha Christie asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

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Source ISBN: 9780008196424

Ebook Edition © December 2016 ISBN: 9780007422401

Version: 2017-04-13

Contents

Cover (#u7a077fc6-25db-5ef4-86b7-89fd37dd9d60)

Title Page (#ue4f52d19-b2d7-5f7d-8ec5-137b653b8743)

Copyright (#u23bb81c5-3abf-5f2f-9af6-32ee2e898f73)

1. The Hound of Death (#u2e6d7689-dbbb-5dfb-a03f-96c31e5a0737)

2. The Red Signal (#u0d7adb2a-a78f-58a1-9be3-21703e3637a3)

3. The Fourth Man (#u04d2390f-b546-5e55-b305-8bfdf26034be)

4. The Gipsy (#litres_trial_promo)

5. The Lamp (#litres_trial_promo)

6. Wireless (#litres_trial_promo)

7. The Witness for the Prosecution (#litres_trial_promo)

8. The Mystery of the Blue Jar (#litres_trial_promo)

9. The Strange Case of Sir Arthur Carmichael (#litres_trial_promo)

10. The Call of Wings (#litres_trial_promo)

11. The Last Séance (#litres_trial_promo)

12. S.O.S. (#litres_trial_promo)

Keep Reading … (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by Agatha Christie (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

The Hound of Death (#ulink_ed59628f-7bbc-56a3-be34-69c565981bb7)

It was from William P. Ryan, American newspaper correspondent, that I first heard of the affair. I was dining with him in London on the eve of his return to New York and happened to mention that on the morrow I was going down to Folbridge.

He looked up and said sharply: ‘Folbridge, Cornwall?’

Now only about one person in a thousand knows that there is a Folbridge in Cornwall. They always take it for granted that the Folbridge, Hampshire, is meant. So Ryan’s knowledge aroused my curiosity.

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Do you know it?’

He merely replied that he was darned. He then asked if I happened to know a house called Trearne down there.

My interest increased.

‘Very well indeed. In fact, it’s to Trearne I’m going. It’s my sister’s house.’

‘Well,’ said William P. Ryan. ‘If that doesn’t beat the band!’

I suggested that he should cease making cryptic remarks and explain himself.

‘Well,’ he said. ‘To do that I shall have to go back to an experience of mine at the beginning of the war.’