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)

One Joke Plot

Reader is fine.
Writer provides a good script for reading.
The premise for a book length story is grievously tedious.
As they say in the trade, it is a one joke plot. Change the names of the characters to Smith, Jones and O'Hara, remove the few quirks introduced by the premise,and do a bit of rewriting to paper over the holes these changes create and the author would have a typical light, character focussed, detective story, which would provide amusing fare for the reader.
If you are good at revising the manuscript as you hear it to enhance its entertainment value, you will find this pleasant listening. If doing so is not to your taste, I am afraid you will find this a bore.

Best in the series so far!

I've enjoyed all the Jasper Fforde novels on literary crime but this one was the most enjoyable so far. Very well developed characters, a good list of potential killers and terrific detective work--all in the context of the silly nursery crimes division. Excellent voice acting, too!

Got better as it went and didn't disappoint

I ended up really liking it. The book was recommended. I didn't get hooked immediately, but I continued to like it more and more from start to finish. Lots of great twists and some very excellent subtle nursery rhyme and kid story jokes. It really ramped up towards the end. The last sentence tells you there is a sequel which I am going to start right now.

Grate fun!

A nursery crime! Wonderful! It's a hoot and fun and a good mystery all in one. Well done Mr. Fforde!

Mother Goose is loose!

This was a really interesting and fun read, even though it got slow in a few places. I enjoyed that the author really took the time to make you care about the characters. I liked the narrator's voice, as well.

Ffun!

Jasper Fforde is a complete original, and so are his stories. This is the first story in his Nursery Crime series featuring Detective Jack Spratt aka The Giant Killer and his partner Mary Mary (from a long line of Mary Marys, for some reason people ask plant advice of her). This is a witty take on nursery story characters that are all grown up.

Fforde is always a safe bet

An underrated marvel. The Nursery Crime series is a perennial favorite, like going back to old friends.
The chapters were off between the book and the audio.

Hard to follow

I bought Fourth Bear first - what a hoot! I hoped this would be as good, but found it harder to follow and not as engaging as 4B. Great introduction to Mary Mary - the character development is wonderful. Reading isn't as good as 4B either.

amazing!

This is the second time I have listened to this book and still loved it. The narrator is phenomenal. Fforde is a genious writer. I'm going to download The 4th bear next even though I heard it years ago as well. I have run out of any other Jasper Fforde books on Audible...I sure hope a new Nursery Crime book is out soon.

Well read but disappointing

This was well read but a disappointing read.