Norman Gale

In the novel Death in the Clouds, Norman Gale is a dentist. He lives at 14 Shepherd's Avenue, Muswell Hill. At the beginning of the novel, he is returning to England from a holiday spent at Le Pinet and the French coast, with one day in Paris looking at new types of dental instruments. He boards the Prometheus for the flight home, and sits opposite Jane Grey. He is described as having white teeth in a "very brown face, blue eyes", and "crisp short hair".

Norman had met Jane earlier, at Le Pinet. He had put his stake on five, and she had put hers on six. When the ball landed on five, Norman noticed how disappointed Jane was, and told her that she had placed her stake on five, and that the winnings were hers.

After word spreads that Norman was on the plane on which the murder took place, many of his patients drop out. When he says he wants to do something about it, his secretary, Miss Ross, encourages him.

Norman and Jane become romantically involved. One evening, they notice Daniel Clancy at the same restaurant as them, and follow him to his home. They meet Poirot outside, and Jane accompanies him while he calls on Mr Clancy. Norman goes to a restaurant and waits for them.

Poirot asks Norman to blackmail Lady Horbury, telling her that certain documents that formerly belonged to Madame Giselle have passed into his hands, and asking her for ten thousand pounds. Norman disguises himself, but Poirot regards his attempt at disguise to be ridiculous. Poirot attaches a fake moustache for him, and parts his hair differently.

Norman plays the part of the blackmailer successfully, and convinces Lady Horbury that he has the documents that had belonged to Madame Giselle. This motivates Lady Horbury to tell Poirot the truth about her dealings with Madame Giselle, in exchange for Poirot dealing with the blackmailer for her.

Norman later tells Poirot that his uncle, John Gale was a dentist, and wanted Norman to come into partnership with him. Norman had wanted more adventure, and to see the world, so he went to farm in South Africa. However, that did not go well, so he returned to England and set up business with his uncle.

It is later revealed that the murder was not committed using the blowpipe, as previously thought. Instead, the dart was pushed into the victim's neck by hand. It seems impossible that Norman could have done so, as by everyone's evidence, he had only left his seat to go to the toilet, and had gone straight back to his seat.

However, Poirot reveals that Norman had a dentist's white linen coat in his attaché case, and when he got up to go to the toilet, he put it on, and padded his cheeks with cotton wool. The white coat made him look like a steward, so no one noticed when he went up to Madame Giselle and pushed the dart into her neck. He also released a wasp, to make it seem possible that the victim died due to a wasp sting.

Poirot also says that Norman's ability to play the part of the blackmailer showed him that Norman could have disguised himself as an American in Paris, when he bought the blowpipe and darts, and bribed Jules Perrot to book Madame Giselle on the 12 o'clock service.

It is further revealed that the farm Norman had worked on in South Africa was a snake farm, which is how he obtained the snake venom in which the dart had been dipped. After that, when Norman returned to England, he took his uncle's name, Gale, when he went into partnership with him. Norman's real name is James Richards.

It was as Richards that he had met Anne Morisot, who was working as a lady's maid to Lady Horbury. He learned that Anne was Madame Giselle's daughter, and that she stood to inherit a large fortune when her mother died. He also learned of the connection between Lady Horbury and Madame Giselle. He thus planned to murder Madame Giselle in such a way as to cast suspicion on Lady Horbury.

The original plan was to have Anne claim her inheritance with a perfect alibi, since she would have been on a train or boat when her mother was killed. However, this did not go according to plan because Lady Horbury decided at the last minute that her maid should travel by plane, along with her.

Norman frightened Anne by telling her that if she came forward to proclaim her identity as Madame Giselle's daughter, she would immediately be suspected of the murder. Instead, he induced her to ask Lady Horbury for a few days of leave, and meet him in Rotterdam. They got married, and also made wills, each leaving everything to the other person in the event of their death.

Another complication to Norman's plan occurred when Anne went to Paris to claim her inheritance, and met Poirot. Norman was afraid that Poirot would recognise Anne as Lady Horbury's maid, and realise that she had been on the plane when the murder took place. To prevent anyone from finding out the truth, he killed Anne by administering prussic acid by force, leaving the empty bottle in her hand, to make it look like suicide.

Norman denies killing Anne, saying that it is all lies. However, when Poirot says that he had left his fingerprints on the bottle, Norman says, "You lie. I wore--", so giving himself away.

Portrayals
In the the film adaptation of Death in the Clouds in Series 4 of ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot drama series, the part of Norman Gale was played by Shaun Scott. Here he did not encounter Jane Grey at Le Pinet. Instead, they first meet at the Roland Garros tennis tournament and then later on board the Prometheus where Jane is a air stewardess. Towards the end of the episode, he is exposed the same way as in the original story.

In the NHK's anime adaptation of Death in the Clouds, the character of Norman Gale is voiced by Kôichi Yamadera. In this adaptation, Norman met Jane Grey at Nice, when his hat fell at her feet, and she picked it up for him.