Imagine this, a suburban house in the 1950s, and a wife at home preparing for her husband to come home from work. This is Roald Dahl’s gripping mystery “Lamb to the Slaughter.” Mary and Patrick Maloney are a happily married couple until one day Patrick comes home and announces that he is leaving her. Out of shock and anger, Mary kills him with a leg of lamb. Mary cooks that lamb and goes to the grocer to give herself an alibi. Detectives arrive and are stumped by Patrick’s death. Mary notices that the officers are hungry and offers them the leg of lamb to eat, not knowing that it is the murder weapon. Roald Dahl adds suspense to “Lamb to the Slaughter” by announcing that Patrick is leaving Mary, Mary going to the grocer and when the detectives search Mary’s house. …show more content…
This is suspenseful because Mary is currently with her child. If she had been left with Patrick’s child, he would have provided care but they would have parted. The suspense of this part of the story also sets “Lamb to the Slaughter” in motion. Mary has dropped her sewing when Patrick says from his chair, “So there it is, he added. And I know it’s kind of a bad time to be telling you, but there simply wasn’t any other way (38).” This quote tells us that Patrick is planning to leave Mary with the baby. This adds suspense because it leaves Mary in shock and with her child. This also sets her up to kill Patrick and leave the officers guessing. The author describes Mary going to the grocer after she kills Patrick to give herself an alibi. Mary sets off to the grocers, so the officers suspect she was out of the house when the killing took place. Mary is preparing to say to the grocer when she thinks, “.she was returning home to her husband and he was waiting for his supper. Patrick! she called. How are you, darling? She.went through into the living room