The victim should be helpless and distraught and innocent, and would suffer from the crime either emotionally or physically. The villain could directly hurt the victim or the victim could have a loved one involved in the crime and indirectly be hurt by the villain. The victim is usually caught by surprise and is usually a female character.
The structure of a traditional detective story has a beginning where the crime is already done and is described to some extent, where the reader doesn’t know who the villain is, a middle where the detective begins to gather evidence but where there is a period of uncertainty and finally there should be an end where the crime is solved and explained by the detective.
I expect the style of writing in a traditional detective genre to be able to create a mysterious feeling, but the most important thing is that the writer must have the talent of building up tension, as this is the main ingredient in a detective story.
The theme of the story ought to have several morals such as the common ones like: good beats evil, criminals always get caught, the innocent succeed and that the detective is always victorious in any
personal confrontation. The most important one is that crime doesn’t pay. This is the one, which is mostly used, in a traditional detective story.
‘The Gatewood Caper’ is an American detective story, which includes a kidnapping. Harvey Gatewood, a rich businessman, finds out that his daughter Audrey is kidnapped. He calls and hires a detective, the detective tells Mr Gatewood to pay for the ransom. However Audrey doesn’t return after the money is paid and the detective suspects that something is not right. He then goes in search of Audrey and finds her in an apartment with a man. Audrey begins to shoot at the detective through the door, but in the end they both give up.
‘The Speckled Band’ is part of a series of stories, which include a detective called Sherlock Holmes and his apprentice Watson. Helen Stoner comes to Holmes seeking protection as she is hearing noises which are reminiscent of noises heard by her sister Julia Stoner who had a mysterious death. Her evil stepfather comes and has strong words with Holmes to stay away. However Holmes travels to Stoke Moran, hometown of Helen Stoner. Holmes makes a plan to stay in Helen Stoner’s room during the night. They hear these noises and Holmes hits something travelling through the ventilator. They find out it’s a venomous snake and when Holmes hits it the snake travelled back through the ventilator and kills Dr Roylott.
The plot of ‘The Speckled Band’ was packed with dramatic events, which were very well described by the author. Before the events the suspense built up by the author was terrific, I was eager to find out what was going to happen in the end and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made me addicted to the book. However the plot was rather predictable as it was obvious who the villain was. The plot of ‘The Gatewood Caper’ was less exciting as there were not as many events as in ‘The Speckled Band’. At the end the tension was very good as Audrey had not returned after the payment and then to find out that Audrey had kidnapped herself was a great twist in the story. However it was unable to capture me the same way as in ‘The Speckled Band’ had.
‘The Speckled Band’ matched my expectations of a traditional detective plot as it had a crime and the villain had an obvious motive to commit the crime. The Gatewood Caper plot was rather odd and bizarre and was confusing at times as it wasn’t easy to understand. The plot of ‘The Speckled Band’ was simple to follow and there were more exciting events in the story.
The detective in ‘The Speckled Band’ was very sharp as he was able to pick up on any small detail like when Holmes knew that Ms Stoner had come by a dogcart because of the marks on her coat. Holmes was not intimidated by danger and the threat of Dr Roylott. For instance when Holmes was going in to the house he didn’t think twice about it, though he knew Dr Roylott was dangerous. Holmes was knowledgeable, as he knew much about the snake. He thought logically and was thorough as he worked on the facts he had, for example when he was able to conclude that it was a creature that killed Julia. He knew this from the whip and milk. He was quick thinking, as he was able to see that the bell was a dummy and that the ventilator was built for the murder. He was not interested in the money and we can see this as he only took on the strange and weird cases. This is shown when Watson says:
“He did rather for the love of his art than acquirement of wealth”
The detective in ‘The Gatewood Caper’ was a lot younger than Holmes and was really in the business for the money, as he didn’t really have to do much to solve the case. He was also less knowledgeable than Holmes. The Gatewood Caper detective was more laid-back and less formal and this detective is not given a name.
Out of the two detectives Sherlock Holmes best matched my expectations of a traditional detective. Holmes was the more traditional one as he did the job for the love of the art unlike ‘The Gatewood Caper’ detective who was more modern and was in the job for the money. Both the detectives had confrontations with the villain and ‘The Gatewood Caper’ one was more traditional as it had violence unlike ‘The Speckled Band’, which was more of a mind game. Both the detectives had assistants, but Holmes was more traditional as he worked alone unlike ‘The Gatewood Caper’ detective who was working for an agency. I strongly feel Sherlock Holmes was the more classic detective. He was the fascinating detective who couldn’t do a thing wrong. He would do the unexpected and like a classic detective he would solve the mystery before anybody else. Sherlock Holmes would comfort and sympathise with the victim and help them just like a heroic classic detective would.
The victim in ‘The Speckled Band’ was Helen Stoner and the victim in ‘The Gatewood Caper’ was Audrey, even though she kidnapped herself. Both the victims in the two stories were women and they had a problem with their fathers. Audrey’s grudge was mainly due to the loss of her mother. Both of their fathers had towering figures for example Harvey Gatewood is described as:
“He was a big bruiser of a man, something over 200 pounds of hard red flesh and a czar from the top of his bullet to the toes of his shoes”
From this description we can see why Audrey had problems with her father, like when he lost his temper what could Audrey do with a man with that physique this also applied to Helen Stoner as Dr Roylott had the same temperament and physique. However, Dr Roylott was a stepfather. Ms Stoner was completely innocent unlike Audrey who took the law into her own hands instead of seeking help which Ms Stoner did. Ms Stoner was the more traditional as she was helpless and frightened of her father unlike Audrey was who kidnapped herself trying to hurt her father and from victim she turned to villain.
The villain in ‘The Speckled Band’ was Dr Roylott and the villain in ‘The Gatewood Caper’ was Audrey, as well as being the victim. Both of the villains were cunning and smart and they both had motives, but Dr Roylott was the more traditional as he was mean and aggressive. Dr Roylott also had a criminal history as Helen Stoner tells us:
“He beat his native butler to death, and narrowly escaped a capital sentence.”
Audrey wanted to hurt her father mentally and financially and had an accomplice, which wasn’t traditional as the villain should be alone. The ingredients required to be a villain are present in Dr Roylott and in Audrey as both had quarrels, but unlike Dr Roylott, Audrey didn’t commit an evil crime. Audrey just ran away from home because she was sick of being tied to her father Harvey Gatewood. She fooled everyone by claiming to have been kidnapped because she wanted revenge on her father by getting his money, but there was no real harm done.
The villain, Dr Roylott in ‘The Speckled Band’ also added to my enjoyment of the story. Whenever his huge towering figure would arrive in the story I would get so tense and eager because I was worried that his actions would be fatal. This feeling made me feel as though I was inside the story. You couldn’t even identify who the victim and villain was in ‘The Gatewood Caper’ let alone feeling you were a part of the story and there wasn’t enough background information which would make it easy to understand.
Both the settings in the stories were good and added to the enjoyment of the story. ‘The Gatewood Caper’ was set in the city in a rich area. However, ‘The Speckled Band’ setting was more isolated and mysterious and was more eerie as it was set in the countryside in a big mansion which for me is more traditional. The fact that there were gypsies and animals in the set made the story more enjoyable to read.
The setting also added to my enjoyment of the story mostly because of the extras like the baboon, cheetah and gypsies which made the setting like an extra character in the story. The whole creepy and unusual feeling about Stoke Moran funnily made the setting more pleasant for me to read. The setting of ‘The Gatewood Caper’ was good, but it didn’t get me involved with the plot.
Both stories followed my anticipation of a classic detective story structure. ‘The Speckled Band’ and ‘The Gatewood Caper’ had the crime being described at the beginning of the story. The story started with the report of the crime. But in ‘The Speckled Band’ I didn’t discover the problem straight away; I was made to wait for a while which built up suspense, as I was eager to discover the crime. Both stories had a period of uncertainty in the middle of the story where the investigation was proceeding and the detective began to gather evidence. In this section the main similarity between the two stories was the fact that the detective in each story had already solved the crime, but me, being the reader was made to wait until the end of the story to discover the outcome. Both stories also had a period where the case was solved and explained by the detective at the end. The main difference in the structure of the story between the two stories was the fact that unlike ‘The Speckled Band’ the criminals in ‘The Gatewood Caper’ were not punished at the end of the story. I also found the structure of ‘The Gatewood Caper’ hard to follow and confusing at times. Therefore I have chosen ‘The Speckled Band’s structure as being the more classic detective structure.
The style of writing in ‘The Speckled Band’ was very detailed, well described and precise. But it moved slowly which led to building up suspense holding my interest. The language was very different, but both were formal and the vocabulary used was of early 1900’s. ‘The Speckled Band’ had been written in Standard English unlike the ‘The Gatewood Caper’ which was written in American English.
‘The Gatewood Caper’s style of writing was less detailed, but it moved fast and got to the point quicker than ‘The Speckled Band’. Because it moved fast it built up the suspense much quicker, but it wasn’t that effective for me. The language was very different from ‘The Speckled Band’ as it was more modern and used vocabulary from the era we are in now. Overall ‘The Speckled Band’s style of writing was more like a classic detectives style of writing. ‘The Gatewood Caper’ moved and started faster and tended to get to the point quicker, which is the style in which writers like to write these days. ‘The Gatewood Caper’ was more modern as well as there wouldn’t have been a shopping mall in the time of Sherlock Holmes and there were not many agencies in traditional detective stories.
The themes raised by ‘The Speckled Band’ were exactly what I had expected for a traditional detective story. The themes of a classic detective story were very straightforward and ‘The Speckled Band’ raised all these themes. For instance crime doesn’t pay. Dr Roylott didn’t fulfil his evil motive by killing Helen Stoner. Good beats evil; Sherlock Holmes was able to unravel the evil truth behind the death of Julia Stoner.
The themes raised by ‘The Gatewood Caper’ were exactly what I didn’t expect. Because good and evil were not easy to spot as the themes were not what they seemed and the whole truth doesn’t come out. It didn’t seem that Audrey got punished and the whole thing was a waste of police time as the only thing which was solved was a family problem. The morals of the story were quite different from what I expected as running away doesn’t solve problems is not a theme I would expect in a detective story.
The theme raised by ‘The Speckled Band’ was another reason that made the story more enjoyable to read. The theme raised by ‘The Speckled Band’ was very common to most detective stories. In normal detective stories you may discover the theme that the guilty are punished after villains are sent to jail, this theme is discovered after a very normal and unimaginative event. But in ‘The Speckled Band’ this theme was demonstrated after a venomous snake had killed the villain, Dr Roylott, in mysterious circumstances. The way the themes were discovered added to the excitement of the story.
Both stories had the same issue of the troubles in relationship between father and daughter. In ‘The Speckled Band’ Dr Roylott was more violent and bad tempered and even though he was their stepfather he was practically all the girls had. To save his money he killed Julia and attempted to kill Helen. On the other hand in ‘The Gatewood Caper’ the relationship between father and daughter was less violent as Audrey looked for attention. A classic detective story would have the more violent storyline of ‘The Speckled Band’ as it is more explosive. This relationship issue made Dr Roylott more of a feared character and this induced more tension, which a classic detective story would want.
In every category ‘The Speckled Band’ obeyed the rules applied to a classic detective story. The themes raised by ‘The Speckled Band’ were identical to themes raised by a classical detective story. Like a traditional detective story ‘The Speckled Band’ identified the hero, villain, and victim very clearly and they were very simple to follow.
‘The Gatewood Caper’ was unable to do this even at the end of the story I was struggling to identify the villain and victim in the story, as there were two possibilities. For some people this is an enjoyment and they like reading this type of story, but for me I was lost in finding the villain or victim that I couldn’t understand the story.
I personally preferred ‘The Speckled Band’ rather than ‘The Gatewood Caper’, and there are multiple reasons for this. I found the plot of ‘The Speckled Band’ extremely entertaining and that it was wrapped up at the end. This is because events such as the snake built up suspense which made me eager to read on. The plot events were enjoyable to read because it was easy to build up a picture from the description. There were far more dramatic events full of suspense and drama in ‘The Speckled Band’ rather than ‘The Gatewood Caper’ which had a lot less description. The main reasons I believe I personally preferred ‘The Speckled Band’ was better because the story had the ability to include interesting characters by using great description. It included many exciting
events which built up suspense making me eager to read on and find out what happened. It also included puzzles and mysteries for me to solve during the story. All these factors fulfilled a description of a classic detective story. ‘The Speckled Band’ was like a classic detective story which is why I preferred this story to ‘The Gatewood Caper’ story.
