Compare And Contrast Fresh Bait And Lamb To The Slaughter

‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ and ‘Fresh Bait’
‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ by Roald Dahl and ‘Fresh Bait’ by Sherryl Clark are both intense crime fiction stories. In ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ a loving pregnant wife murders her beloved husband after he tells her something she did not like. Then detectives come to investigate. In ‘Fresh Bait’ a young woman is investigating and trying to find her sister's murderer by hitchhiking.
Characterisation
In both of the crime fiction stories there is a victim, villain, and detective. In ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ the victim is the villain’s husband (Patrick Maloney), the villain (and protagonist) is the pregnant wife (Mary Maloney), and the detective was the victim’s friend (Jack Noonan). In ‘Fresh Bait’ there was also a victim (Melanie), the villain was the truck driver, and lastly the detective who was Melanie’s sister. ‘Fresh Bait’ does not show much character development, or change unlike ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ where Mary had a huge character development throughout the story. At the start she was a loving wife, but then she became a bit cold.(‘Personally I think it’s right here on the premises…under our very noses…’ After Mary heard this she started giggling.’) Patrick Maloney also has some

This causes her to be so upset she loses her senses, goes down stairs, gets a lamb leg then hits Patrick on the back of his head with it. The action in ‘Fresh Bait’ peaks when the victim's sister asks the truck driver about the victim’s murder and the truck driver reveals some unknown details. Causing the victim’s sister to raise suspicion, making her say ‘It was a green sweatshirt and her hair was tied back.’ Causing the driver to think she was a cop. In ‘Fresh Bait’ the action’s peaks quicker because the author does not set up the scene, unlike ‘Lamb to the