Short description
A Sunday Times bestseller in hardback, THE BIG OVER EASY heralds the start of an ingenious new series from the creator of the international phenomenon Thursday Next.
Long description
It's Easter in Reading - a bad time for eggs - and no one can remember the last sunny day. Humpty Dumpty, well-known nursery favourite, large egg, ex-convict and former millionaire philanthropist is found shattered beneath a wall in a shabby area of town. Following the pathologist's careful reconstruction of Humpty's shell, Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his Sergeant Mary Mary are soon grappling with a sinister plot involving cross-border money laundering, the illegal Bearnaise sauce market, corporate politics and the cut and thrust world of international Chiropody. As Jack and Mary stumble around the streets of Reading in Jack's Lime Green Austin Allegro, the clues pile up, but Jack has his own problems to deal with. And on top of everything else, the Jellyman is coming to town...
Review
'I love it. THE BIG OVER EASY is great not just because it's very funny...but also because it works properly as a whodunit...Comic genius.' -- Observer 'A riot of puns, in-jokes and literary allusions that Fforde carries off with aplomb' -- Daily Mail 'More twists and turns than Christie ... embellished with the rich details of a Dickens or Pratchett. A real treat.' -- Independent 'Very accomplished indeed.' -- Guardian 'This is the first of best-selling Fforde's hilarious, absurd and utterly compelling new series' -- Daily Mirror 'Fforde offers a cascade of puns, plays on words, surrealism, satire and verbal virtuosity...Astonishing, he is funny for 400 pages' -- The Times 'The combination of fantasy and a (more or less) classic murder ... makes a wild and enjoyable change' -- Sunday Telegraph
additional information
Jasper Fforde traded a varied career in the film industry for staring out of the window and sucking the end of a pencil. He lives and works in Wales and has a passion for aviation.
Customer reviews & ratings
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A new kind of fairytale
Reviewed by madakafou from Pretoria, South Africa on 05 April 2006
36 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
Jasper Fforde manages something unthinkable. The novel follows the death of Humpty Dumpty, and the intense investigation of the Nursery Crime Unit to solve the mystery. This follows shortly after the Three Little Pigs have been found unguilty of the heinous murder on Mr Wolff.
The characters include Mary Mary (Quite Contrary), Pandora and Prometheus, Mr. Horner and many, many more.
The novel is utterly funny and not a fairytale for children. It's absolutely NOT something to be missed!
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