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...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6660 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 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

Review
'Now humour is notoriously subjective so what I've just described might just sound plain daft to you. But I love it. THE BIG OVER EASY is great not just because it's very funny but also because it works properly as a whodunnit. Comic genius.' -- Observer,Peter Guttridge '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...Astonishing, he isfunny for 400 pages' -- The Times 'Fforde is a master entertainer, and a wordsmith of dexterous genius. He tosses in palindromes and anagrams like a tickertape of polysyllabic cleverness. A copy of this book should be free to all purchases of Scrabble.' -- The Scotsman 'Fforde may be an acquired taste, but it's worth acquiring.' -- SFX Bath 'This year's grown-up J K Rowling' -- The Sunday Times '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 20050619 'A riot of puns, in-jokes and literary allusions that Fforde carries off with aplomb' -- Daily Mail 20050619 'Consistently clever' -- Publishers Weekly 20050619 'This is the first if best-selling Fforde's hilarious, absurd and utterly compelling new series of nursery crimes for adults.' -- Daily Mirror 20050619 'Fforde offers a cascade of puns, plays on words, surrealism, satire and verbal virtuosity...Astonishing, he is funny for 400 pages' -- The Times 20050619 'Fforde is a master entertainer, and a wordsmith of dexterous genius.' -- The Scotsman 20050619

Review
'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 )

'More twists and turns than Christie ... embellished with the rich details of a Dickens or Pratchett.  A real treat.'

'This is the first of best-selling Fforde's hilarious, absurd and utterly compelling new series'

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

'The combination of fantasy and a (more or less) classic murder . . . makes a wild and enjoyable change' 

Customer Reviews

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!

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

How do you like your eggs?
A step away from Thursday Next for Jasper Fforde but don't think for a moment we are stepping away from the weirdness that seems to encompass Reading, for that Berkshire town so beloved for its proximity to the M4 (amongst other things) is the setting that Jack Spratt (yes the one that could eat no lean) and his young and ambition new DS Mary Mary (god I hate writing two words the same when using Word) find themselves in when a giant egg is cracked...

Well let's clarify here; the giant egg isn't one you can buy down Sainsbury's, this giant egg is in fact non other than the known criminal, philanthropist and womaniser - Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III (better known as Humpty Dumpty). Once the thousands of pieces are found the case naturally falls to Jack for he is the head of the fiercely names NCD, or the less fiercely named Nursery Crime Division depending on your point of view. A division taken about as seriously as one would expect it to be taken in our world and one that has the ominous distinction of employing an alien, a hypochondriac and Gretel (from Hansel &).

Jack is under fire from all sides; his daughter is enamoured with his new lodge - Prometheus, he is trying (well frankly failing) to get into the Detectives Guild, his department is facing closure and his arch rival Friedland Chymes is still swanning around the Reading police station as if he owns the place. Which he pretty much does.

Jack as a character I found really well written, especially when you compare him to say Chymes, whom I felt was a deliberately woodenly written character that so befitted his persona in the book. This to me is the genius of it all that this kind writing style can be consciously written into story! The partnership between Jack and Mary is one that grows slowly (again well written) and by the end of the book I really found myself looking forward to the next in the series of these two.

Jasper Fforde's novel is a step away from Thursday Next as I said but I don't feel it is a step away in quality, it suffers from not explaining some of the "in" jokes and I felt the ending was just one (pigeon) step too far - which accounts for the lack of 5 stars - but it is still a truly excellent book and one that not only fans of the author will enjoy but those of you who haven't read any of his offering. Breathtakingly funny stuff.