The lamb to the slaughter and The speckled band

Wide Reading: The lamb to the slaughter and The speckled band

For me, a good murder mystery needs to contain a mixture of aspects.

Like in mid-summer murders and Morse it needs to include the following

things, a good setting, there needs to be a good setting so that it

sets up the whole of the story, it needs to be somewhere quiet and

peaceful.

The characters need to be strong characters that all relate to each

other, there also needs to be a twist in the characters to add depth

an mystery, perhaps the last clue to the murderer. The murderer has to

be someone unexpected, someone who perhaps wasn't the strongest

character. The victim has to be someone who has mystery but perhaps

gave the killer reason to, so you might feel that they deserved it but

you might have sympathy for, it also needs to be someone you least

expect to be killed, perhaps the stronger character. And the detective

has to be someone who everyone can sort of relate to, who has a slight

mystery behind him or her so that even when you think you know them

there is a skeleton in their closet.

The murder weapon has to be something of power and something that

represents some element in the play. It also has to be something

unexpected like an exotic animal or as in lamb to the slaughter, a leg

of lamb!

Also the plot has to be thick and unexpected, with plenty of twists

and red herrings. It also needs to make the reader feel included in

the story so you feel as if you were there.

Finally the ending of the story has to be meaningful and it needs to

draw a conclusion. The killer has to be found, the reasons to be

explained and the murder it self be told and what happened prior to

the event. This finishes off what happened and lets us draw our own

conclusions, although for a good murder mystery something's need to be

left a mystery.

I am going to compare the different areas in each story. I shall be

comparing the following

· Settings

· Characters

The settings for Lamb To The Slaughter and The Speckled Band a very

different. The setting for the speckled band is in Victorian England,

in the earlier 1900's. it is set in a country town, in a big mansion.

A wealthy family lives in it. It is torn apart by deceit, greed and

the death of the lady of the household. The back ground to the story

goes a little something like this. The lady of the Stoke morans first