Roald Dahl wrote Lamb To The Slaughter in 1954. Roald Dahl was famous for writing Children's Classic Novels. He is most famous for writing about people with strange characters. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the Speckled Band and it was published in 1982. In his stories the famous detective is Sherlock Holmes. I already know that this detective uses a magnifying glass and solves every crime.
I know things aren't right as the story is told by a narrator and that we are following the story through Mrs. Maloney's' eyes and how she feels. Mrs. Maloney talks as normal and acts normal.
Mr. Maloney doesn't chat as what I would feel as normally. From the story his drink on that night is quicker than normally, indicating that things aren't right. A good example of this is; Before he tells his wife the bad news about him leaving her 'he arrives as punctual ever'.
Which shows either he loves her dearly as a wife or that there is an urgently as ever to tell her something. He arrives and she tells him 'Hullo darling' and he replies 'Hullo'. This shows me that he is tired or there is something on his mind. She says 'Tired Darling? ' and he replies 'Yes! He drinks unusually quickly, he goes for another and Mary offers to get it for him.He is offered some 'cheese' and then some 'supper'.
She tells him that she has 'a leg of lamb', and then she is told that he is leaving her. She walks up the stairs holding the 'thin bone end of it'. As she enters the room he orders her not to make any for him as he is going out. He says it as 'for gods sake' which shows me that he is sick of her fussing over him.
Then he says 'don't make supper for me, I'm going out'. This indicates that he is leaving her. In 'The Speckled Band' the victim is Helen Stoner.In the story she is being described as being 'timid', scared and she seems to be in a state of shock. In the story it is noticed that 'she has mud splashed all over her'. She is described to look as a 'Hunted Animal', which tells me that she is hiding something.
A good quotation to show this is 'It is not cold which makes me shiver' this shows that she is scared of something, which scares her or makes her shake. I can tell this as coldness makes you shiver but it is being frightened which makes Helen shiver. Mrs. Maloney is quite content with staying in the house by herself.I know this by the way she comments on her husband being 'as punctual as ever' which shows me that she is waiting every night. She is desperately in love with her husband.
She keeps the house clean and welcoming for her husband. She is very well organized by knowing what is in the freezer when she brings up the subject of the Leg Of Lamb. Before and after the murder she seems pleasant and welcoming. During the murder she seems evil and nasty.
I think that Mrs. Maloney murders her husband, as she is angry with him for leaving her. As she was 'walking up the stairs', holding the 'thin bone end' of it.Mrs. Maloney walks over to him, without a pause and swung the leg of lamb over his head. This shows me that this was a split second action-which shows me that she didn't mean to kill him.
This shows that this was not planned, but just a moment of confusion to which she killed him over him leaving her. This shows me indirectly that she is jealous of him leaving her and so no one else can have him apart from her. This shows how both people fall victim somehow and that the respect that she gains through her husband would be obliterated through him leaving her or being killed.I can understand why she wanted to kill him.
In 'The Speckled Band' the murderer Dr Roylott is an evil man. He became the 'terror' of the village. He is a violent man as he 'hurled the local blacksmith'. He had a passion for Indian animals. That is why he kept a snake as a pet.
A good description of him is that he was 'a huge man... face barked with every evil passion, he had bile shot eyes'. This describes to me a kind of monster. He resembled 'a fierce old bird of prey'.
Which shows how evil he is. He is an impatient man as he 'strode out of the room'.The murder in The Speckled Band is planned for years. The planning of the murder and attempted murder involved the placing of an air vent, fake bell pull and bolting the bed to the floor. Dr Roylott had to train the snake to do as he wanted and make sure the snake would not bite him. Dr Roylott murdered her for money.
This makes me have little respect for Dr Roylott as he had no reason at all to kill her and he has no sympathy from me at all. In The Lamb To The Slaughter Mary is just sitting on her own, sewing.The house seems to be quiet as she is in on her own. The house warm and cozy, the blinds drawn and the curtains pulled back'. This shows that the house is warm and comforting, and there is a peaceful atmosphere surrounding the room.
I personally respond as though I am there in the story as I can imagine this setting by the way it is described. I feel slight sympathy for Patrick wanting to leave her as it is his decision and it is for his life so he is in-charge of what he does. In Lamb To The Slaughter the detectives do not treat Mrs. Maloney as the murderer. Mrs. Maloney offers them a drink and they accept the drink.
When the detectives actually go round to Mrs. Maloney's' house the house is described as being 'swarmed with police' one of them asks for a drink 'would you mind getting me a drink' and Mrs. Maloney gets him one which shows that they don't think twice about her being the murderer. In The Speckled Band, the detective first meets Helen Stoner.
He asks her questions and picks her up on certain facts. An example of this is where he picks her up on a fact about her holding a ticket in her left glove. He tries to piece together where people were on certain parts of the day.He considers everyone a suspect as being the murderer. Helen Stoner tells Sherlock about her sister's death and he compares her as a 'hunted animal' as she is shy.
He concludes this by 'her face all drawn and grey, with tired, restless, frightened eyes, like those of a hunted animal'. This quotation shows how she is shy or that she is hiding something. Holmes can automatically tell if she is indeed lying or if she actually killed him. I think that Holmes is phenomenal how he can do this and get it right every time.
When I re-read the story it came obvious.In Lamb To The Slaughter Mary gets away with it as the police eat the murder weapon. She instantly gets away with it. I feel really bad as her husband has suffered through her jealousy and then she gets away with it. This type of setup never happens in a murder mystery.
Apart from this story. The detectives don't treat Mary as being a culprit in the murder. In The Speckled Band Dr Roylott gets killed by his own murder weapon backfiring on him. I am pleased with this, as he is an evil man who deserved everything he got.
In a murder mystery this happens from time to time and so this is not rare.I like murder mysteries to end where the murderer gets found out and then ends up killing themselves. In Lamb To The Slaughter the most exciting part for me was when Mrs. Maloney killed her husband. 'Then she struck him over the head' made me want to read on and on as this shows good, exciting action, which made me want to read on. I also thought when she offers to make his supper and she comes back up, just before she hits him when he orders her 'not to make any for him'.
The Speckled Band was exciting. The most exciting part was when the body was discovered.To make me want to read on was when 'we had no feeling of security unless our doors were locked'. Another exciting part was when the speckled band was reveled as a 'swamp adder'.
I know that the Speckled Band was set in Victorian times as 'the windows are blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars. This shows the age of the building. In Lamb To The Slaughter there is an atmosphere of modern day language so I get the automatic feeling of this being a modern book. I don't find it too unusual at there being no female detectives as this could be coincidence or this could be classed as a 'male' job.
