The lamb to the slaughter and The speckled band :: English Literature

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