The Big Over Easy

A Nursery Crime

By: Jasper Fforde

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

It's Easter in Reading, a bad time for eggs, and no one can remember the last sunny day. 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. All the evidence points to his ex-wife, who has conveniently shot herself.

But 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. Wolff. 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.

And on top of all that, the JellyMan is coming to town.

The familiar and utterly transformed characters and world of nursery crime is pure ingenious fun. Just when you thought he'd stretched his astonishing imagination to the limit, Jasper Fforde does it again with this dazzling new series.

©2005 Jasper Fforde. All Rights Reserved (P)2005 Penguin Audio and BBC Audiobooks America. All Rights Reserved.

Critic reviews

"Fforde's whimsical fifth novel, his first not to feature literary detective Thursday Next, is consistently witty....The result is unusually clever." (Publishers Weekly)
"Fforde is gaining fans, and even readers who start out groaning may find themselves grinning." (Booklist)

Not up to his usual standards

I loved the Thursday Next series and expected to like this book, too. I didn't. It wasn't witty, it wasn't clever, it wasn't even interesting. I haven't given up on this author, because I know he usually does better. I'd just like to warn others to skip this one. If you have read his Thursday Next books, this one will be a disappointment.

I Love Jasper Fforde

I was thrilled to find a new Jasper Fforde book on Audible, and can hardly wait for the next Nursery Crime Book. I was surprised to see a remark about no literary illusions in this book! What about little things like Humptey Dumptey's office on Grimm Road? I found the book utterly charming and couldn't put it down. It is different from the Thursday Next series, but just as whimsical.

Wry

Silly and good mystery at the same time. I loved all the tongue in cheek references to nursery stories and police procedures.

Great narration performance

As usual, great literary humor and imaginative plot lines from Jasper Fforde. But the star of this show is Simon Prebble with a thoroughly entertaining performance of this book. Highly recommended.

An Egg To Die For

I loved this book. Jasper Fforde is masterful with his use of nursery rhymes. He has created a whole new world inhabited entirely by people inspired by those rhymes.

I've been transported to a wonderful place in my childhood, in which Jack Spratt and Mary Mary (I learned her poem as Mistress Mary) hunt for Humpty Dumpty's murderer and the other murders that happen, plus deal with "fellow " officers who are trying to steal the case.

I can't wait for the next book!

I'm not sure if this is adult or YA. I do know, however, that this adult *really * enjoyed it. If you or your young teen read this, you need to know the older nursery rhymes to understand and enjoy. For example, do you know why Tom Tom is the son of a Philharmonic flautist?

There is some mild language,

Jasper Fforde never fails to entertain!

Fun, engaging, and with a lot of literary references to amuse. always a good time.

A fun detective ROMP

This was truly a fun detective romp! I am recommending it to anyone who enjoys a good romp!

Great book, and Excellent Narrator

Simon Prebble is a fabulous voice talent. His voices add depth and interest to an already fun book. I found this book to be as much fun as the 1st book in the Thursday Next series was.

clever, as always

Jasper Fforde is one of my favorite modern authors. As always, he is clever and witty, and his characters are likable. As in his other series focusing on Literary detectives, he uses very clever puns and lots of literary allusions, so that you might miss a lot of humor if you don't know the stories.I did enjoy the Swindon/Eyre Affair books more, but I think the Nursery Crime stories will please Fforde's fan, and you don't need to know "literature" as much as remember nursery rhymes from your childhood.

Great title, fun spoof

OK, so it's not really a spoof. On its own terms, it's a deadly serious police procedural. But Fforde can't avoid the humor inherent in casting this with nursery rhyme characters. Fforde is always entertaining no matter what he's writing and this book is no exception. While not on the same level as his Thursday Next books, once you've run out of those, this is a fine way to spend some time and enjoy his particular story-telling genius.