Product 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... (20050619)

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #143965 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The word of mouth on Jasper Fforde has long been enthusiastic, among those in the know. But now that his readership has expanded immeasurably, the expectations for such books as The Big Over Easy are considerable. 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. 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.

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. Minor baronet Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III has been found dead--and in pieces--beneath a wall in a less salubrious area of town. The perpetrator would appear to be his ex-wife, but she has shot herself. 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.

This isn't quite the Fforde mixture as before, although he has previously favoured a crime motor for his plots. The skill in this outrageously entertaining (and rigorously plotted) concoction lies in a double conjuring trick: we are always amazed to find ourselves reading so assiduously about ludicrous figures (who become quite as interesting heroes as, say, Philip Marlowe) when common sense dictates only children should find such conceits entertaining. Not so! No child could appreciate the dazzling wordplay and witty imagination on offer here, and most readers will be more than happy to encounter detective Inspector Jack Spratt (and his contrary sidekick kick Mary Mary) again and again. --Barry Forshaw

Daily Mail
'A riot of puns, in-jokes and literary allusions that Fforde carries off with aplomb'

Review
'This year's grown-up J K Rowling' (The Sunday Times 20050619)

'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 )

'Consistently clever'

(Publishers Weekly )

'This is the first if best-selling Fforde's hilarious, absurd and utterly compelling new series of nursery crimes for adults.'

(Daily Mirror )

'Fforde offers a cascade of puns, plays on words, surrealism, satire and verbal virtuosity...Astonishingly, he stays funny for 400 pages'

(The Times )

'Fforde is a master entertainer, and a wordsmith of dexterous genius.'

(The Scotsman )

'Jasper Fforde here mixes nursery rhymes with golden age detective fiction to produce something very accomplished indeed.'

 

(Guardian )

'Fforde’s books are more than an ingenious idea. They are written with buoyant zest and are tautly plotted. They have empathetic heroes and heroines who nearly make terribly mistakes and suitably dastardly villains who do. They also have more twists and turns than Christie, and are embellished with the rich details of a Dickens or Pratchett. As Humpty Dumpty’s life-story is revealed, the mystery becomes curiouser and curiouser, and the compulsion to find out what is going on increases. A real treat.'

(Independent )

'There is no more familiar genre than the detective story. The problem is that the sleuth story is now so familiar that it’s in serious danger of getting boring. What’s to be done? Jasper Fforde has the answer. Once you open this book, you’ll find it very hard to put down. I’ve never read anything like this. And I couldn’t get enough'

(Daily Ireland )

'Fans of the late Douglas Adams or, even, Monty Python, will feel at home with Fforde'

(Herald )

'If you haven’t read Jasper Fforde before, THE BIG OVER EASY, is likely to come as a surprise . . . the combination of fantasy and (more of less) classic murder makes a wild and enjoyable change' 

(Sunday Telegraph )

'Clever plot lines, wit, and Fforde's unique humorous style ensures the reader is captivated from start to finish. A must for anyone wanting a light-hearted read in a class of its own.'

(Good Book Guide )

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Customer Reviews

Sam Spade and the case of the sat-upon tuffet
Done with the Thursday next novels for now, Jasper Fforde has given us a brand new world (or has he?) with The Big Over Easy, a noir-like detective thriller set in a world where nursery rhymes are considered part of reality, where Humpty Dumpty can have a great fall and the police will actually look into it, and where Humpty is a notorious womanizer to boot. While Fforde makes a valiant attempt, the book isn't quite as funny as it could be, but thankfully the story is interesting enough by itself that I can forgive it those little foibles.

Jack Spratt, Detective Inspector of the Nursery Crime Division (and killer of four giants, though only one of them was *technically* a giant, and he was absolved of all blame), has a mind-boggling case on his hands as the good egg Humpty Dumpty has fallen off his wall and died. Suicide is the first conclusion made by everybody, as he was depressed, seeking therapy, and acting very strangely. However, it wouldn't be a murder mystery if there wasn't a murder now, would it? Unfortunately for Jack, his superiors would like any excuse to shut down the Nursery Crimes Division, he's saddled with an assistant, Mary Mary (who insists that she's *not* contrary, thank you very much) who doesn't want to be there and who has dreams of becoming the assistant of the most popular Detective Inspector in the Reading Police Force, Friedland Chymes. Will Mary betray the case in order to get her position? And will Jack be able to figure out who murdered the egg without getting yolk on his face? And what's with those beans that he received in exchange for his mother's picture?

The Big Over Easy does a wonderful job of combining the mood of the typical detective novel and the world of nursery rhymes, with everybody taking them completely seriously. I loved the extrapolation Fforde makes for these characters, with Wee Willie Winkie having narcolepsy and Humpty being a philanderer as well as a philanthropist. Jack is just getting off of a case where he tried to pin murder charges on the three little pigs, saying their killing of the Big Bad Wolf was premeditated because it took them at least six hours to get the pot of water boiling. These sorts of flights of fancy are what really make the book, and I couldn't resist a chuckle or two.

I also liked the nods to mysteries, and how detectives gain more prestige by being written up in detective magazines, though it doesn't say much for the justice system that the jury bases a large part of its verdict on how famous the detective is. The mystery part of the book even has a wink to Agatha Christie in it, which was really nice. Fforde succeeds in making the characters come off the page in interesting fashion, making us care about how downtrodden Jack feels, the elation when he gets one over on Chymes, and the feeling that Chymes will be back next book and not very happy. How Mary is torn between her growing respect for Jack and her ambition to become Chymes assistant. Even the minor characters have their moments, and are interesting to read about when they're on the page.

This is a good thing, because as much as I'm sure I was supposed to, I just didn't laugh that much while reading this book. I had a chuckle or two, I was amused at times, and a couple of the chapter headings made me laugh out loud (like how the "Locked Room Mystery" has been laid to rest, but then it was found to have been murdered). Each chapter begins with a snippet from a newspaper account of something, often having something to do with the chapter it is in, but other times just being there for amusement's sake. These were often quite good (and as I said, occasionally made me laugh), but they did start to sound the same after a while. I found the idea that the ending centers around amusing, but the actual ending itself I thought dragged on a bit and lost its humour value very quickly.

Fforde doesn't really tie this book into the Thursday Next series, with the only reference being the aging starlet Lola Vavoom, so I hope this means that they aren't part of the same series. The change in venue really seems to have revived his creative juices, as there is a lot of neat stuff in The Big Over Easy Every time I thought of something that defeats the internal logic of this world, Fforde would offer up something that makes everything fit. His vivid imagination is what kept the Next series going, and I see that it will continue with Jack's series. That's a good sign. If Fforde can make the next book funnier without slipping into absurdity, then he will have a wonderful series on his hands. Jasper (if I can call you Jasper), you already have me interested in the characters. Make me laugh, and you'll have another sale.

David Roy

Gripping and very absurd whodunnit - move over Sherlock.
This is a fantastic - and utterly silly book.

Imagine a world where nursey rhyme characters exist and live in Berkshire. A small, very underfunded department of the Berkshire Police exists to investigate crimes in this community, headed by the dishevelled DI Jack Spratt.

Next imagine that Humpty Dumpty had his fall but that it wasn't the suicide that everyone first thought it was.

Every page is absolutely packed with little references to anything from Hans Cristian Anderson to Monty Python. Jasper Fforde somehow manages to squeeze funny into even the most routine of situations. I found it hard to supress chuckling at every sentence. Even the little snippets of "news" at the start of each chapter are a joy.

Even better than this though is the book works as a fantastic murder mystery in its own right - beautifully and intricately plotted from start to end. You really want to know who offed Humpty. A whodunnit to match anything Agatha Christie could come up with (yes, Fforde references Miss Marple and Poirot too, along with Sherlock Holmes, Ian Rankin's Rebus and almost every other famous "dick").

I've never read any Jasper Fforde to date - I picked this up on a station waiting for a train (for once, thank God for BR delays!). I really can't find anything to say wrong about this book, with maybe the exception that it wasn't enough. Bring back Jack!

A Marvelous Satire of the Detective Genre
Warning: This book is not about Thursday Next. If that's what you are looking for, consider instead The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots and Something Rotten (if you've missed on of the marvelous books in this series).

Jack Spratt Investigates the Big over Easy is a book that many will rate at less than five stars because they are pining for a Thursday Next book. But to be fair, I think we have to look at this book as though we had never read any of the Thursday Next series.

From that perspective, I thought that Jack Spratt Investigates the Big over Easy was a hilarious satire of the detective genre, reporters and police. I cannot think of a satire of those subjects I've enjoyed more.

The basic story is misleadingly simple. Jack Spratt is on his second marriage (the one to his wife who eat no lean didn't last because of her diet) . . . but still stuck in a rut in his career as head of the lowly Nursery Crime Division. Even that occupation is in jeopardy when Spratt fails to help gain a conviction of the three little pigs in the death of one wolf.

When Humpty Dumpty shows up in piece at the base of a wall, Jack's career may be about to go to pieces as well. Because of Humpty's notoriety, compulsive publicity hound (and former colleague) Friedland Chymes decides he wants the case. With never-ending intrigue all around him, Jack takes an inevitable walk through nursery tales that will seem both different and eerily familiar.

Keep your tongue firmly in your check . . . and giggle on! It's an unrestrained romp.