A Lamb To Slaughter
This week's story is a bite sized murder story from an unlikely culprit...
The Facts
Text: Lamb To Slaughter Author: Roald Dahl
Genre: Mystery, horror Year: 1954
Available: Online here
Spoilers Below! I recommend reading this one first!
The Fiction
We're in the final three weeks! Last week I wrote about a great female detective, the sharp and clever Miss. Marple and her human nature focused approach to solving murders. So this week why not read about a great female murderer from a classic short story. I looked at a famous short story that I had never read before this week, Lamb To Slaughter by Roald Dahl. Although probably most famous for his children stories and their adaptations (Matilda and Charlie and Chocolate Factory among them) Dahl had a love for horrific and macabre stories like this week's.
This week's story is famous for it's irony and dark comedic notes. It follows Mary Maloney a pregnant and devoted house wife to a police detective, happy in her familiar routine with her husband. Except tonight when her husband comes home the routine changes, when Detective Maloney declares he is leaving his wife.
In shock Mary stumbles away murmuring about making them supper. Walking in a daze her hands automatically pull a frozen leg of lamb from the freezer. She heads up and Detective Maloney states that he doesn't want her to makes him dinner, he is going to leave. Still feeling in a haze, Mary hits him over the back of the head with the frozen leg of lamb, the effect like she hit him with a metal club. She realizes she's killed him, although remains rather calm about it. Although willing to pay for her crime on her own, she doesn't know if the child she carries will also be killed if she is given the death penalty. Not wanting to risk it she resolves to get away with her murder.
She puts the legs of lamb in the oven, practices smiling and heads to the grocery store . She cheerfully talks with the grocer, Sam, about making her husband supper for the night and needing to pick up vegetables. She heads home and then calls the police. When her husband's collogues arrive she tells them that he must have been killed while she went out to the store. The detectives quickly verify with Sam that she was out and seemed in a cheerful normal mood. They begin looking for what they are sure is a blunt metal object that must have killed Detective Maloney.
As their investigation drags on Mary plays her part perfectly, acting shocked and too weak to move from her couch. Finally she asks the detectives if they will do her a favor: as friends of her husband's she knows her husband would want her to take care of them, and she couldn't possibly eat after what has just happened....would they mind eating the lamb she had made for the night? They must be hungry. The story ends with the detectives eating the leg of lamb and discussing where the murder weapon could be, sure that must be somewhere close...in the next room Mary Maloney can't help but laugh.
The Feeling
Ahh, delicious irony. This is a story you can really sink your teeth into. A real dark comedy feast. Ok I'll stop. But in all seriousness this is a fun short story. It's dark and gripping with just the right amounts of black comedy and absurdity to stop from being too horrific.
One of the stand out points in this story is Mary Maloney as a character. When we meet her she seems like a stereotypical 50's housewife with her entire identity wrapped up in her husband. But then she kills him and we see that on her own she is clever and capable and diabolical. The juxtaposition of the doting housewife and the cold killer works so well. It helps that Dahl took the time to show Mary's life before the murder. The time spent establishing her eager wait for her husband's return, and us seeing her receive the news that he is leaving her help us not only understand her character but understand how much of a shock this is to her. In any kind of anti-hero story where the protagonist is a criminal or morally grey typically we still want the audience to be able to root for /like them. In this case Mary's husband absolutely had it coming and its a not a stretch to want her to get away with it. Not to mention she pulled this off while six months pregnant. What a legend.
This story is definitely known for the twist, well actually it pulls off a two. The first is when the story changes from being a domestic drama about a man leaving his wife to being a murder thriller. The second and more impactful twist is of course the sensational moment where Mary Maloney feeds the murder weapon to the detectives. Its bold! Its funny! Its shocking in how audacious it is! It is exactly the kind of twist you want in a short story. It's an image that sticks with you and a dramatic beat that works. The moment is earned, not sprung immediately but paced through out the second half of the story, left to simmer if you will.
Overall Lamb to Slaughter is shocking little story that cooks up a delicious twist and leaves the reader satisfied after the meal.
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