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: #8619 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

The book equivalent of Marmite
You will either love or hate the work of Jasper Fforde. Please don't get me wrong, it is a brilliantly written book and stuffed full of imagination. But this sort of writing comes in two flavours: That of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchit and that of Jasper Fforde. I prefer the former as I found the latter too much to handle (like the Naked Gun films). That is not to say he is a bad writer, just not for me. Please My Fforde write me one without nursery rhythm characters. I can however see why others would enjoy it.

surreal brilliance
This was the first Fforde I read. Bought as a holiday read, on impulse because of the cover and the synopsis on the back; You could hear the film noir muted trumpet playing in the background! What a revelation this man is. He truly is a mix of Python, Adams & Pratchett. No spoilers from me, the synopsis here should be enough to draw you in; it is the death of Humpty Dumpty after all! The humour is imaginative and surreal and some of the nursery rhyme based jokes are put in like throw away lines, but they're just too clever for that (just think about Jack Spratt's nursery rhyme). Have now read some of the Thursday Next as well, also highly recommended and every bit as imaginative and surreal. Fforde is certainly not mainstream, but he is a genius and if those 2 things appeal to you, then go ahead, buy it, you really will have a gem in your hands. I really need more than 5 stars available for this man.

Excellent hokum
The unfortunate Detective Inspector Jack Spratt, head of the Reading Police Department's Nursery Crime Division is in bad odour, not merely because he has failed to get any of his cases dramatised on television or even published in Amazing Crime Stories, but also because his recent prosecutions failed. His attempt to get the Three Pigs convicted on the grounds that boiling Mr Wolff alive had been premeditated and beyond the reasonable force required to protect themselves, was thrown out by a jury (the youngest pig had refused to squeal on the others). "Those pigs should have fried," Jack mutters. Then there was the farmer's wife who beat a cruelty charge for cutting mice tails off with a carving knife. But everything changes when, accompanied by a new sidekick, Sergeant Mary Mary[correct], he takes on the case of the death of a certain egghead called Humpty Dumpty who seems to have died from injuries sustained from a fall from a nearby wall. Before long Jack and Mary are deeply embroiled in high society skulduggery. The amazing thing is that Jasper Forde manages to sustain this highly enjoyable hokum for 400 pages without going off the boil. Very funny.