compare "The lamb to the slaughter" and "the speckled band."

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"The lamb to the slaughter" and "the speckled band."

Murder mysteries all have a similar plot consisting of a body, a motive, a weapon, a suspect, an alibi and detectives. Viewers and readers expect this in the text, Lamb to the Slaughter and The Speckled Band are no exception. The structures of the two stories are very different, with The Speckled Band story unfolding in chronological order, finding out the murderer right at the end, however in the Lamb to the Slaughter, the murderer is known at the beginning of the story.

The two stories are seen from two different points of view, first-person narrator in The Speckled Band as Dr Watson a character within the story and therefore limited in understanding and the all-knowing third-person narrator or omniscient in Lamb to the Slaughter as the narrator stands outside the story itself and guide the reader's understanding of characters and the significance of their story.

Most murder mysteries have the typical victims, murderers, and detectives; this is especially true in the older murder mysteries by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Speckled Band has a typical detective, the famous detective being Sherlock Holmes with his deer stalker hat