The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime (A Nursery Crime Novel)

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. You know the rest of the story, but let's be honest here -- king's horses and men don't have the technical know-how to reconstruct the sticky fragments of a giant egg. The Reading medical examiner, on the other hand, is up to the task ... and her autopsy shows more than a cracked eggshell: someone shot minor baronet Humpty Stuvesant van Dumpty in the back as he sat pickling his innards on his favorite wall. Detective Inspector Jack Spratt is on the case, with Sgt. Mary Mary and the entire Nursery Crimes Division at his disposal. Of course, the department is on the brink of ruin after failing to convict three little pigs for the premeditated murder of B. Wolff, and a more published wing of the law enforcement machine is elbowing to get in on the case. And in the Reading Police Department, where "true crime" magazines eat up the very best cases for an insatiable public, it's publish or die. Suspects are plentiful -- Dumpty, an ex-convict, womanizer and former philanthropic millionaire, has made his share of enemies over the years -- but bodies soon begin piling up as the case grows increasingly tangled. "The Big Over Easy" is a comedy-mystery from Welsh author Jasper Fforde, best known for his popular Thursday Next series. The good news is, it looks like Jack Spratt and Mary Mary will become a new regular feature as the Nursery Crimes series continues -- and believe me, this new vein of stories is too rich to leave untapped. Fforde wields the obvious potential for humor with a deft hand, at times hammering blatant puns home with careless abandon, at others injecting a more subtle wit into the prose. There are also a number of delightful supporting characters and slightly askew cameo appearances drawn from nursery rhymes and other popular fiction. Humor aside, the mystery is also a puzzler, with Spratt dismissing the more flamboyant displays of his publicity-happy peers and buckling down into some good, solid investigation as the body count grows and the list of suspects dwindles. Each chapter begins with a faux historical or journalistic excerpt that adds further layers to the complexity of Fforde's world.

Jack Spratt is the man in charge of the NCD (Nursery Crimes Division) -- the man who is, at the beginning of the book, trying the three pigs for the murder of the "big, bad" wolf. (Seems wolfie was a vegetarian ...) The trial goes poorly (who would convict three adorable little pigs?) and the future of the NCD is in jeopardy. Then Humpty Dumpty takes his famous nosedive. And when the forensic work is done, the evidence shows that Humpty was ... shot. The case is suddenly very high profile, and a successful investigation could not only save the NCD but land Jack on the pages of Amazing Crime, and possibly gain him membership in the Most Worshipful Guild of Detectives. But in this case, the only sure thing is that nothing is certain ... Fans of the Thursday Next series will enjoy this one. Fans of nursery rhymes might enjoy it. Fans of Monty Python, Douglas Adams, and other forms of British comedy will certainly enjoy this. There are so many allusions to Fforde's other works, not to mention a few inside jokes (including the apperance of a remarkable Nowegien blue parrott) that I found myself constantly pausing in my reading to go back and savor something I'd just read. The book seems to be set in the future of the Thursday Next universe (Lola Vavoom makes an appearance, and reference is mad to her appearance in the film "The Eyre Affair," which seems to have been a monsterous flop). If you've read Fforde's The Well of Lost Plots, you might recognize a few people also (I need to go back and re-read that one, just to check my memory). Fforde's sense of humor is wonderful, but some of the best stuff in the book is subtle. Everything from the opening disclaimers to the ads in the back are fair game -- the chapter quotes are particularly interesting reading (one gives a big hint to the outcome of the case). With more books on the way (The Fourth Bear is promised in July of 2006), I think it's safe to say that the Nursery Crime stories will quickly become as popular as the Thurday Next books have. {read my other reviews at Blogcritics.org}

____________________________________________ Who killed Humpty Dumpty? In this amazingly silly police-procedural, we follow Detective-Inspector Jack Spratt (aka Jack Beanstalk, Giant Killer) and Detective Sergeant Mary Mary of the Reading Police, Nursery Crimes Division through the twists and turns of this, um, fractured fairy-tale. Just about every half-remembered nursery-rhyme character makes an appearance: The Three Little Pigs, Rumplestilkin, clues such as an auburn, 28-foot long human hair -- along with more about podiatry than you really want to know. What are verrucas, anyway? Anyway, all the exuberant, clever British silliness that I love in Jasper Fforde is here. The Thursday Next literary-detective schtick is wearing a bit thin, for me anyway, so I'm happy to see him start something fresh [1]. If you've somehow missed Fforde's literary-fantasy-mystery extravaganzas (The Eyre Affair, et seq.), Over Easy wouldn't be a bad place to start -- though you'll miss all the insider links to the Thursdayverse. Fforde fans will be happy to hear that this one is just as silly and entertaining as the best of those. The cover art (by Tom Gauld) and interior illos are, well, just as silly and spot-on as the book. You never know how somebody else will react to humor, but you really owe it to yourself to try at least one Fforde. There's a Fforde in your future! Happy reading-- Pete Tillman ______________________ [1] Well, fresh to us. In his Big Over Easy 'Making Of" Wordumentary [Google] (which you really, really shouldn't read first, but if you must, the Word is "Vaughn"), Fforde reveals that Over Easy started out as his first novel, "roundly rejected by all and sundry" in 1994. And extensively rewritten in 2004: "Like most things I attempt to accomplish, I usually start with a 'how hard can it be?' attitude which is quickly replaced by a 'Holy sh*t, this stuff is tricky!'..." Indeed.

I always had a thing against traditional nursery rhymes. I thought they were just a little too violent for their intended audience. Thankfully, Jasper Fforde had the mind to expose the seedy underbelly of Humpty Dumpty's world and the truth is finally out. Oh, to get a peek inside of the creative and imaginative mind of Mr. Fforde. "The Big Over Easy" is a skillful work of art and it was a pleasure to read although I did do a little too much eye-rolling. It's a perfect summer read, full of satire, wit, and plenty to make you chuckle out loud. I loved it!

To be honest, I was a little let down when I heard that the Nursery Crime series (re-tooled Caversham Heights) would be Fforde's follow-up to the Thursday Next books. I loved each and every one of Thursday's adventures, and never tire of re-reading them. I just wasn't sure if this story line would be able to hold my interest. I was able to get an advance copy, however, and I am glad to say that all my fears were ungrounded! I was a little nervous because I am not really a big detective story fan. Jack Spratt and his reluctant partner, Mary Mary, thumb their noses at traditional detective stories however, which keeps the story fresh. The Nursery Rhymes that form the basis for the crimes in this book are very familiar. Jack comments several times that you know what's going to happen in the end, but you will be very surprised at what happens before you get there. The demise of Humpty Dumpty makes for an extremely complex and engrossing mystery. Funny, unusual crime thriller that will be impossible to describe to friends with a straight face. Here's hoping Fforde's next installment, The Fourth Bear, lives up to the high standards set by this series opener.