Both "Lamb to the slaughter" and "The speckled band" share some of the characteristics of murder mysteries. Explain the similarities and differences between the two stories and say which is more compelling to read.

Sir Aurther Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was born in Edinburgh. He attended Stonyhurst college and served as a ship doctor on a Greenland Whaling boat from 1882-1890, he practised medicine in south sea, England where he married his first wife Louise Hawkins. He was awarded a doctorate from Edinburgh for his dissertation on Syphilis in 1885. At south sea he began to send short stories to magazine editors and his first published story  “The mystery of Sasassa Valley” in 1879 was accepted by Chambers Journal. 1887 was the year when introduced readers to Sherlock Holmes, a detective who, with his ingenious skill of deductive reasoning, was based on Dr Joseph Bell, One of Doyles University Proffesors. Narrated by his companion Dr Watson, Doyle began a cycle of Holmes tales in the Strand Magazine, This was the first time that any writer had used the same recurring characters to link a series of stories. Doyle then moved to London intending to practise as an eye specialists, but soon opted to pursue his literacy Career. Despite Doyles success with holmes stories he felt uncomfertble with the popularity of the Hero he created. He wanted to have more time to write Romance novel such as “Micah Clarke” (1889), “The White Company”(1891) etc. in 1893 he attempted to resolve his problem with Holmes by him plunging to his death at the Reichenbach Falls locke in the arms of his arch enemy, Professor Moriart, but it 1901 he was persuaded to bring Holmes back to life for a novel “the hound of Baskervilles” (1902) and did another set of short stories.

Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories were written when Queen Victoria was on the Throne and the police were incompetent in capturing Jack the ripper. The people needed a hero that’s one of the reasons why Sherlock Holmes adventures were a big success.

        The speckled band and Lamb to the slaughter are quite similar to other murder mysteries. They think someone else is the killer until the very end. This only shows in The speckled band where Holmes has lots of different ideas of who the killer could be until he cracks the case at he end. In Lamb to the Slaughter the police didn’t solve the mystery in the story and we don’t know if they ever did. That for me was different and added tension to the end of the story and leaves you guessing what happens next.