This book just sucks you right in.  And I'm entirely sorry that I'd set it aside in my attempts to get some other books finished, because I should have just kept reading.  I most definitely would have finished it a lot earlier.

Slow paced as it is, it's also a lot of fun to read, and the investigation kind of intriguing to follow, even though Jack is the worst at jumping to conclusions before gathering all his facts.  He's a great detective and all, you can see that, but I had to sigh at each time he came up with his conclusion about how Humpty Dumpty died, but then a new piece of evidence would embarrassingly make him eat his words--especially since each time he would be announcing his conclusions confidently to his boss.  Granted, it's great that he readily continues on with the investigative flow once he finds out that there's more to the story than he'd thought, though.

Did anyone else get a sense of dramatic cliff-hanger after the end of each chapter when a new reveal was announced?  The dialogue felt kind of dramatic, and I kept imagining the "Dun Dun DUNNN!" music in my head.

Just me?  Okay...  Moving along...

The book itself was really just addictive and delightful, even if there are references dropped left and right about things you don't quite understand; but for the narration, seems perfectly natural to hear in everyday conversation, like how Rambosian's only speak in binary.  Or how Prometheus can speak toddler gibberish, but not infant gibberish, or something like that.  It's extremely silly some of the things that are narrated, but at the same time, in a way makes perfect sense.

I wish that some of the characters DID stand out a little bit more, but I feel like the book was so focused on introducing the world of the Nursery Crimes that it kind of sacrifices some character development.  Specifically, Mary Mary's revelation somewhere at midpoint in the book felt like it should have been a bit more life-affirming... but we just kind of move on and so does she.

And the issue about Arnold is never really addressed, so I'm lead to believe that this might be a running gag throughout the series (what's left of it, anyway, since there's only one other book, and a third supposedly in the works).

On a side note, I was very amused by the references to Jack being a giant killer, then the scene where he has his mother's painting of a cow exchanged for magical beans just hit the spot.  Especially when we give the scene more of an art fraud spin.

Meanwhile, I found myself enjoying the dynamics between the Nursery Crime Division, and liking the camaraderie between Jack and his crew.  I'm also quite happy with the fact that Jack's personal life is depicted in such a healthy way, with a loving wife, great kids, and a basically stable relationship with all of them.  I'm sure tense family relations are the "thing" now-a-days in a lot of books, but I like that Jack's wasn't angst-ridden.

The incorporation of all things nursery rhymes, fairy tales, mythologies, etc, was done quite cleverly, and worked really well to add to the Nursery Crime world as well as this book's plot, in general.  And I also kind of liked the short newspaper articles at the beginning of each chapter... except when we got closer to the end and I just wanted to know how everything turns out... which, that twist at the very end of the book was interestingly... unexpected.

I would have liked to see more of a comeuppance for Friedland Chymes... but I suppose not everything has to be rounded out.

I will definitely be going onto the next book in this series, and just as well, will check out more of Jasper Fforde's work, having seen and heard a lot of great things about his Thursday Next series.

***

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Other Possible Squares:  A Grimm Tale; Murder Most Foul


This review posted from Ani's Book Abyss | The Big Over Easy

Usually I enjoy a hard-boiled parody, but this one just didn't grab me for some reason.

I've been hoping to read the two books in this series ever since I finished reading Fforde's wonderful Thursday Next books, as they are linked, particular to my favourite TN, Book #3: The Well of Lost Plots (my review).

This is the book series where pregnant Thursday goes to hide out in as part of the Bookworld Character Exchange Program, taking the place of Detective Sergeant (DS) Mary Mary for a time. Although connected to the Thursday Next series, it can be read before reading that series.

With this tale, we have the start of Mary Mary's career, as she is just joining the Nursery Crimes Division (NCD), which - as the name suggests - deals with crimes involving Nursery Story characters, and just plain weird stuff.

The small division is headed by Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Jack Spratt, a well-adjusted, happily-married father of five, the youngest still in diapers. Unfortunately, he has an accidental giant-killing problem and a depressingly low conviction rate, largely due to lack of funding and interest.

This is because of his arch-nemesis, flashily melodramatic and insanely popular fellow detective Friedland Chymes. In this world, crime novels and shows are popular entertainment and cases are followed avidly, especially in the leading "Amazing Crime Stories" magazine - which is essentially a Chymes fan club.

Chymes is also the face for the elite Guild of Detectives, home to the highest rating crime solvers, the Top of the 'Tecs. Jack is not considered interesting enough for the Guild (no vices!), and has a long history of enmity with credit-stealing Chymes and his shady fast-and-loose ways.

Humpty Dumpty has been murdered, and once the morgue puts his shattered shell together again, the question is "How?" Shortly followed by "Why?". Jack and Mary Mary uncover a byzantine plot involving a failing foot empire and shoddy shares.

This is a love letter to the mystery novel genre, and the greats like Holmes (the one who started this whole celebrity detective business!), "Miss Maple" (Marple), "Hercule Porridge" (Poirot) and "Inspector Moose" (Morse). Even punnier than usual, the jokes fly so fast it's easy to miss one! Fforde's sense of fun is as infectious as a certain virulent foot malady central to the plot.

A wonderful cameo by Thursday Next's Lola Vavoom, the over-the-hill-ingenue, was a blast! And the neat overlap where the Thursday Next characters and the Nursery Crime leads pass each other on the road in their distinctive cars was a clever hoot!

A twisty-turny rollercoaster ride that also serves as a puzzling mystery in it's own right (which is quite an achievement; this is not a mere spoof, it's an actual who-dun-it), this story kept me guessing right up until the end!

A quibble: I was a bit disappointed that the real giant didn't come down the beanstalk to retrieve his obviously stolen golden goose (where did the woodcutters find it after all?). I thought that was where the confrontation was headed, and Jack would finally be able to address his unwanted reputation as a giant killer, perhaps proving the rest were only tall after all. Maybe in the next book!

Thanks very much to the lovely friend who gave me this for my birthday!

It just makes sense that someone who is an ECE would enjoy a mystery with the Nursery Crime Division. I loved this zany, witty, clever, absurd book with so many hilarious digs that made me smile, snort and cackle!

Pretty good. I love this tongue in cheek world Jasper Fforde has created. I liked Thursday Next much better as a protagonist, but Jack Spratt was still interesting.

This book was a hoot, to quote Choko... throw all your old nursery rhymes in a blender and throw them into the real world, and you'd have the beginnings of this book... much more than that is hard to explain, but it's hilarious...

Good god this book was weird in the best possible way


I mean I knew it would be I'm no stranger to Fforde's work and the weirdness contained therein. It did take me a little while to adjust but once I was hooked I was away flying. This was really funny and full of very witty moments. I definitely want to read more of these books

2019 - reread - still entertaining - a good combination of police procedure and creativity - upping the star rating because the ending surprised me... again.

This is the first in Jasper Fforde's Nursery Crime series, a hardboiled (sorry, I'll stop now) police drama set in a world where characters from story, myth, and nursery rhyme walk the streets and where police detectives compete for ratings in the popular crime magazines and their television adaptations.

This is the story of the death of Humpty Dumpty, a large anthropomorphic egg, and of the investigation into the circumstances of his death.

The language in this book is clever, with frequent moments of brilliance. The characters are entertaining, and the plot leaves the reader guessing up to the end.

Just about everything in this book is entertaining. My only quibbles, and they are minor ones, are that a great deal of the action and plot resolution is crammed into the last few chapters, and that some of the subplots felt like they were just there to add unnecessary complication.

But even those subplots were entertaining, and I look forward to revisiting Fforde's Nursery Crime world.

I thoroughly enjoyed this! The audiobook was one of the best performances ever, and the additional of sound differences for things like phone calls made such a unique difference.
The story itself was hilarious, twisty, and engaging. You don't need to have read the Thursday Next books to have gotten this, though I think reading one or two of them would, at least, help you understand the concept of the "Nursery Crimes". But a reader willing to just let things go a little would get the hang of it rather quickly, I think.

r/Fantasy bingo 2020 squares:

1. Chapter epigraphs
2. Book about books
3. Audiobook

I read this book while waiting for the second Thursday Next novel to be available at the library.

Like the Thursday Next novels, Fforde presents a world where fiction blends with reality. In the Nursery Crime novels, nursery rhyme characters are "real", and there is a division of the police that deals specifically with crimes involving nursery characters.

In this first book of a series, Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall and shattered into bits. Was he pushed? Was it suicide? This is a case for the under-appreciated Nursery Crimes Division of the Reading Police Department, headed by DI Jack Spratt, aided by DS Mary Mary, and Constable Ashley, a Rambosian alien who thinks in binary numbers.

I really enjoyed the sly humor and references to the nursery characters. I also enjoyed getting to know Jack Spratt and Mary Mary and witnessing their evolving work relationship. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Inspector Jack Spratt of the Nursery Crimes Division was in charge of all crimes happening to nursery rhymes characters - the three little pigs, Bo-Peep, Rumplestiltskin etc. In this series starter, Jack along with his partner Mary Mary, investigates the murder of Humpty Dumpty. I enjoyed the premise of this book but it tended to drag and the antics of Fiedland Chymes was incredibly irritating.

This book is filled with numerous play-on-words and terrible puns. Along with names such as Mrs. Sittkomm, Winsum & Loosum's Pharmeceuticals and St. Cerebellum's mental hospital. While Jack's past investigations include sheep rustling from Miss Bo-Peep; the murder of the Big Bad Wolf by the three little pigs; and the conviction of Rumplestiltskin for turning straw into gold.

The only issue I had with the book was the repeated use of articles from various newspapers/dailies which headed each chapter and the whole concept of fighting crime in order to publish in the Amazing Crimes Stories magazine. It was bizarre and seemed to be counter-productive to the usual police procedures. All in all a good start to the series and I think I will read The Fourth Bear where Jack and Mary Mary investigate the Gingerbreadman, a vicious serial killer and look for "Goldie" last seen by the three bears.