This isn't quite the Fforde mixture as before, although he has previously favoured a crime motor for his plots. Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his colleague Mary Mary are assigned to the case, and soon find themselves knee-deep in money-laundering, bullion smuggling and major problems with beanstalks. The perpetrator would appear to be his ex-wife, but she has shot herself. Minor baronet Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III has been found dead-and in pieces-beneath a wall in a less salubrious area of town. Rather in the fashion in which Stephen Sondheim exploded the world of fairytale in Into the Woods, Fforde here brings all the apparatus of the tough crime thriller to bear on the nursery rhyme. Fforde’s speciality has long been the outrageous teasing of narrative forms, and there's a measure of that here, although more disciplined than in earlier books. And whether or not those expectations will be met by this new book depends on the readiness of readers to strike out in new directions-just as the author has done.
But now that his readership has expanded immeasurably, the expectations for such books as The Big Over Easy are considerable.
Just when you thought he'd stretched his astonishing imagination to the limit, Jasper Fforde does it again with this dazzling new series.The word of mouth on Jasper Fforde has long been enthusiastic, among those in the know.
The familiar and utterly transformed characters and world of nursery crime is pure ingenious fun. Before long Jack and Mary find themselves grappling with a sinister plot involving cross-border money laundering, bullion smuggling, problems with beanstalks, titans seeking asylum, and the cut and thrust world of international chiropody.Īnd on top of all that, the JellyMan is coming to town. All the evidence points to his ex-wife, who has conveniently shot herself.īut Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his assistant Mary Mary remain unconvinced, a sentiment not shared with their superiors at the Reading Police Department, who are still smarting over their failure to convict the Three Pigs of murdering Mr. Ovoid D-class nursery celebrity Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III, minor baronet, ex-convict, and former millionaire philanthropist, is found shattered to death beneath a wall in a shabby area of town. It's Easter in Reading, a bad time for eggs, and no one can remember the last sunny day.
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