The two stories are written in different ways. Lamb to the Slaughter is written in 3rd person perspective whereas The Specked Band is written from the view of Dr. Watson. I found that the view in The Speckled Band was better because Dr. Watson sees the situation like the reader. He knows part of the mystery and wants to find out more. This also adds to the suspense of the story as Holmes often gives him key details but not much after that. It also gives the reader a chance to be astonished at Holmes' intelligence and his detective skills like when the lady first arrives and without much thinking he discovers how she arrived "left arm of your jacket is spattered with mud…dog cart throws up mud in that way" and also in small parts of speech like "my attention was speedily drawn".
In Lamb to the Slaughter, the murderer is a woman called Mary Maloney. She is described at the beginning of the story as being a loving wife, a nice person and not at all capable of a murder. He does this by using descriptions like 'a slow, smiling air'. He also makes her seem beautiful. He makes her seem like this to add to the shock when she kills her husband and the father of the child inside her as they would not have expected her to commit such a crime. Her description also makes the reader hope she will get away with the crime and escape being caught.
Although she seems very pleasant I think she is slightly mad. She seems to be obsessed with Patrick which is shown when Mary loves to 'luxuriate in the presence' of Patrick. Her slight insanity might have led to her killing her husband. She also giggles near the end at the detectives' stupidity. She also acts quite cold which is clear in the quotes ' "Alright", she said to herself, "so I've killed him" ' which shows no regret or remorse of murdering her husband.
Mary appears to be more of a victim than a murderess whereas Dr Grimesby Roylott in The Speckled Band does seem to be a murderer.
The killer in The Speckled Band, Dr. Grimesby Roylott, appears to be a horrible frightening man and a murderer. He is seen as 'the terror of the village' and has 'immense strength'. He is portrayed this way so the readers feel hatred towards him and it also makes them sure that he is the killer which changes the plot of the story to how he killed her instead of who killed her
Another way in which the two murderers differ is that Mary does not have a violent past whereas Roylott does. We know that Roylott is a very violent man as he often has 'ferocious quarrels' and also has a 'violence of temper'. These lines and the fact that he had a 'fit of anger' and 'beat his native butler to death' make Roylott seem scary and the hatred for him from the readers rises.
In the two stories the victims were different as well.
In Lamb to the Slaughter, the victim is Patrick Maloney, the murderers' husband. The two main characters appear to have some sort of a routine which is indicated as Patrick enters 'punctual as always' and before he came Mary had started listening for the sounds of his entry. This routine is broken on the night that the story is set on. Patrick broke the normal routine when he 'did an unusual thing. He lifted his glass and drained it in one'. This adds to the already tension-filled atmosphere as the reader wonders what is wrong with their seemingly perfect lives. It is made clear that Patrick is unsettled and anxious and he is also quite unpleasant which is obvious when he turns down her polite offer of some cheese with a "No".
The relationship between the victim and the murderer is completely unique to other stories as they have had a complete role-reversal because the victim is usually the beautiful woman and the killer is usually the anxious agitated man. This has not only opposed the stereotypical image of a killer and a victim but shocked the reader and made them carry on reading. Because of the stereotypical views I was convinced that Patrick would be the killer because Mary didn't seem to be able to kill someone.
This contrasts with the victims in The Speckled Band. The two victims are Helen Stoner and her sister Julia. Julia had already been killed before the story started and Helen was targeted soon after so she went to Holmes for help. She went to him because she suffered from 'pure terror' and when she is introduced she is wearing black and is veiled. She was 'indeed in a pitiable state of agitated' and had 'restless frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. She is also 'desperate for help'. This is a very stereotypical view of a victim from this period. The other victim, her sister Julia, is not directly in this story although she is described as being 'but thirty at the time of her death' and her hair had also begun to 'whiten' despite her young age. It is believed by her sister that Julia died of 'pure fear'.
The investigation and detectives differed greatly in these two stories.
The detective didn't suspect Mary Maloney in 'Lamb to the Slaughter', nor did he put any pressure on her. They also didn't suspect a woman of murdering her husband and they didn't solve the crime. All of these were things they should've done. The things which they did do which they shouldn't have done were discussing the crime in front of and with Mary and eating and drinking. The investigation was very inadequate and she could hear them speaking among themselves, their voices "thick and sloppy." In my opinion this is a double meaning about the "thick" policemen and the "sloppy" investigation. The detectives were being thick because they destroyed the evidence by eating it and they ran a very sloppy case. I think that if it were set in modern days and was real then the wife would've been more of a suspect than a victim as people killing their wife or husband occurs more often than previously and also women kill more often than when this story was set.
Sherlock Holmes suspects Doctor Roylott in 'The Speckled Band', treats the investigation as a top priority, takes personal risks, solves the crime and catches the killer. This is the complete opposite of 'Lamb to the Slaughter'. He solves the crime by spotting all of the clues "my attention was speedily drawn…to this ventilator and to the ropes which hung down to the bed.' Initially I had an idea that Doctor Grimesby Roylott had something to do with the murder, mainly because he had a motive but after, when Sherlock Holmes revealed it couldn't be him I had a suspicion that it was an animal because there was a cheetah and a baboon roaming around the grounds. Sherlock Holmes is a good detective because he is very observant and picks up on clues very quickly. He also thinks very cleverly.
In my opinion, The Speckled Band was more predictable than Lamb to the Slaughter. I had already suspected that Dr Grimesby Roylott was the killer as he had been described as a horrible man and had a motive. It did not have a surprise twist at the end so I did not enjoy it as much.
Both of these stories were very different from other murder mysteries. The Speckled Band was different from others because usually the reader and the detective has to find out who killed the victim but in this story it is clear that Dr. Roylott was the killer even thought there are plenty of other suspects like the gypsies but there seems to be no possible way that he could have killed the victim so the reader has to discover how he killed her. Lamb to the Slaughter is different to others because the reader already knows who the murderer is and how they killed the victim and as a result it is less of a murder mystery.
In The Speckled Band the point at which I wanted to read on was when Holmes was investigating the room and there seemed to be no way in. This was because I wanted to see how she was killed. I also wanted to find out what the "Speckled Band" was because the victim said it and it is also the title. I knew it was probably the murder weapon in some way otherwise Julia would not have said it before she died. The most exciting part was when Dr. Roylott was killed by his own murder weapon.
In Lamb to the Slaughter, the point where I wanted to continue reading was when Mary killed her husband with a leg of lamb because I wanted to see if she would escape punishment. The most exciting part of the book was when Mary killed her husband.
I enjoyed Lamb to the Slaughter much more than The Speckled Band as it was very funny and it also did not go into great detail with the investigation so it was not as boring
In conclusion, Although The Speckled Band is a much better murder mystery than Lamb to the Slaughter, I found Lamb to the Slaughter a better story and I enjoyed it more. It also had some humour in whereas The Speckled Band did not. The differences were probably because the two books were written in very different times. When Doyle wrote The Speckled Band, the only people who could read were middle class and so the language and style was different from Dahl's era. If Lamb to the Slaughter had been written in Doyle's time, the audience would probably not have responded very well, mainly because there was a woman murderer and women did not play as big a role in society as in the 1950s. They also would've found the language strange and a bit modern.
