Life's hard.

It's even harder when you're stupid.

John Wayne

Saturday, June 2, 2012

The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde ★★★★☆


The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, #1)


A Rolling Good Time
Fiction – Fantasy - Mystery
383 pages
U.S. Publication Date: July 25th 2006
Nursery Crime #1 

When ex-con and ladies’ egg Humpty Dumpty is found shattered next to a brick wall the only man for the job is Jack Spratt, the head of Reading’s Nursery Crime Division, and his new partner, Detective Sergeant Mary Mary.  Looking into Humpty Dumpty’s many semi-legal money deals and even more love affairs Spratt and Mary are pulled into a homicide investigation that reaches into all levels of Reading’s society and business.  A peculiar case even by Nursery Crimes standards, Spratt is in a race to find the culprit before being forced to give the case up to his old partner, the renowned and slimy DCI Friedland Chymes.  With Chymes breathing down his neck, not sure whether Sergeant Mary is a friend or foe, and the Most Worshipful Guild of Detectives observer sent to evaluate him for entry, DI Spratt must use all of his Nursery Crime knowledge to find the answers, but the answers are nothing like even he expected.

First mentioned in The Well of Lost Plots from his Thursday Next Series Fforde masterfully uses wit and clever writing to tell a strange, fun, sordid tale of the death of Humpty Dumpty.  With characters ranging from Prometheus to Rapunzel, any one, including aliens, can and do pop up in this story.  Fforde has a very rich and textured writing style giving his stories both the absurd and ironic edge he loves.  Prime examples in this book include things like Spratt’s lime green Austin Allegro which is more aerodynamic going in reverse, or the Déjà vu Ballroom where Reading’s D-Class celebrities get together to mingle and be seen.

I adore Jasper Fforde and always have high expectations whenever I read something from him and this book in no way disappointed me.  A fun, quick and easy read, it will have you laughing out loud.

http://www.jasperfforde.com
ISBN13: 9780143037231

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