| “ | I'll tell you. He cheated his partner in County Mayo, then used the money for profiteering in the war. And people liked him! He boasted about it and people applauded! | „ |
| ~ Archie Havering to Hastings about his uncle, Harrington Pace (TV Series exclusive) |
Harrington Pace is a minor character and the primary victim in "The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge", a short story collection which was included in Dame Agatha Christie's 1924 short story collection, Poirot Investigates. He was a wealthy man and the uncle of Roger Havering.
While Pace in the original story was just a generic victim, his counterpart in Agatha Christie's Poirot was thouroughly corrupt, unlikeable and villainous. However, the process of his murder remained faithful to the original short story.
He was portrayed by the late Bernard Horsfall in Agatha Christie's Poirot.
NOTE: For the sake of this wiki, this page is mainly about Harrington Pace from ITV Series adaptation instead of the original short story.
History
In the original short story, Pace remained unseen since the investigation started after his death, and his characterization had remained generic. There is nothing known about him beyond the fact that he is American (Havering's mother was a Miss Pace from New York) and that he did not get on well with Roger's father and elder brother. Pace lived with his nephew Roger at their house in Newmarket but took occasional trips to Hunter's Lodge on the weekends.
However, in Agatha Christie's Poirot, he was described as an unlikeable and unscrupulous man throughout. According to his nephew, Archie Havering (an original character that is also Roger Havering's unfavored brother), Pace had made his wealth by cheating his partner and then profiteering during the war. He treated his relatives like servants, making Stoddard (his half-brother) a gamekeeper and himself his estate manager. He was also more favorable to Roger instead of Archie, something which was merely mentioned in the books. As such, Archie held great hatred towards Pace and considered him "beneath contempt".
In both of the versions, Pace was killed by Roger and his wife, Zoe, who murdered Roger directly and disguised as a maid in order to give herself an alibi. Their purpose was to obtain Pace's fortune and almost confused Hastings and the police, but were saw through by Poirot. In Agatha Christie's Poirot, on the other hand, it was stated that due to his corrupt nature and wealth, Pace had made several enemies and would have many suspects, including his own relatives, that would be connected to his murder, though the real culprits were as same as the original story.
