Very clever and funny romp for fans of detective stories and nursery/fairytales

If you’re more wired than I am to appreciate big doses of cute-clever, this is a better than 3 star read.

There is a story woven into the cute-clever. And Fforde is an able and creative story teller.

I enjoy the Thursday series, which is plenty imaginative. With this nursery rhyme (for adults) series he has gone beyond my appreciative capacity.

But I can still see that this is well done for what it is. I admired what he did here more than enjoyed the read, but I fully acknowledge that this is truly down to reader taste rather than writing quality.

I generally prefer mysteries that have some off-kilter, quirky element to them that separates them from most traditional mysteries/mystery sub-genres. Luckily for me, authors like Jasper Fforde have written mysteries that fit that description perfectly. These pages are full-to-overflowing with some of the quirkiest, most clever crime comedy I’ve ever read. But he never goes overboard - it strikes that perfect balance between silly and dry without ever becoming too clown-ish and slapstick. I loved it in the Thursday Next books (that I have thus far read), and I loved it in The Big Over Easy.

This book brings nursery rhymes back onto the literary radar of grown-ups who may have forgotten them. And it does it in such an enjoyable way. I think that’s one good way to write a successful book for adults - show them something from their childhood so they feel a little nostalgic, then dress it up in grown-up clothes so they don’t feel silly for reading it. There were so many subtle, clever references to nursery rhymes and fairy tales in this book that delighted my children’s-literature-loving heart. Too many to list. But my favorite was Jack Spratt casually trimming the fat from his bacon.

I think the “literary crime” sub-genre of mystery might be a favorite of mine eventually, if authors keep churning out gems like this one. I’ll definitely continuing devouring all of Fforde’s stories and potentially even try to find others like them. What a delight!

I read this book several years ago, and so don’t have a lot to say about it today. I reread it as part of my book club, but in the intervening years, the distance gave me some perspective that let me recognize or enjoy a few more jokes:

* Charles Pewter, of The Diary of an Ordinary Man shows up in the book, with a couple funny jokes about his house.
* I’ve come to appreciate the vast number of goofs on the genre that Fforde perpetrates. I still particularly like the attention to what car Jack drives, and the joke that driving a distinctive car is part of the detective mystique.
* The recurring gag that people couldn’t tell whether Humpty Dumpty was wearing a cravat or a cummerbund was funny too.
* The Gingerbread man is as frightening as always.
* My book club really liked this book.
* The book pokes fun at a number of detective sub-genres, the least prominent of which is the hard-boiled genre. Yet the title clearly evokes The Big Sleep. And the first victim is an egg, so hard-boiled seems the most apt genre. Oh well.

Who killed Humpty Dumpty? In this amazingly silly police-procedural, we follow Detective-Inspector Jack Spratt (aka Jack Beanstalk, Giant Killer) and Detective Sergeant Mary Mary of the Reading Police, Nursery Crimes Division through the twists and turns of this fractured fairy-tale. Just about every half-remembered nursery-rhyme character makes an appearance: The Three Little Pigs, Rumpelstilkin, clues such as an auburn, 28-foot long human hair -- along with more about podiatry than you really want to know. What are verrucas, anyway?

Anyway, "The Big Over Easy" has all the exuberant, clever silliness that I love in Jasper Fforde -- he's in top form here. The Thursday Next literary-detective schtick was wearing a bit thin, so I was happy to see him start something fresh. If you've somehow missed Fforde's literary-fantasy extravaganzas (The Eyre Affair, et seq.), Over Easy wouldn't be a bad place to start -- though you'll miss all the insider links to the Thursdayverse. Fforde fans will be happy to hear that this one is as silly and entertaining as the best of those.

The cover art (by Tom Gauld) and interior illos are, well, just as silly and spot-on as the book. You never know how somebody else will react to humor, but you really owe it to yourself to try at least one Fforde. There's a Fforde in your future!

In his Big Over Easy "Making Of" Wordumentary [sadly, no longer online], Fforde reveals that Over Easy started out as his first novel, "roundly rejected by all and sundry" in 1994. And extensively rewritten in 2004: "Like most things I attempt to accomplish, I usually start with a 'how hard can it be?' attitude which is quickly replaced by a 'Holy shit, this stuff is tricky!'..." Indeed.
[review written 2005]

It seems impossible, but Fforde has done it: This spin-off series is just as good as material it sprang from. And bonus: it's a mystery I can reread despite knowing the ending.

Full of even more puns than the Thursday Next series, this book follows Jack Spratt as he investigates the killing of Humpty Dumpty. Various other nursery rhyme characters make cameos or feature in the chapter-opening news excerpts, to humorous effect

It's fun, funny, and a good whodunit to boot.

At that moment one of the dogs got out of its basket, pushed forth its front legs and stretched. The hamstrings on its hind legs quivered with effort and at the climax of its stretch it lowered its head, raised its tail and farted so loudly that the other dogs glanced up with a look of astonishment and admiration.

Oh the imagery – and the smellagery (?).

You probably already have an idea what the story is about so enough of that.

For me, this was an iterative reading experience. Like plain beef sausages “Who Dunnits” are on my dislike list. Like sausages, I keep trying them to see if they've improved since last time.

At first, “I’m giving this one star because it’s a murder mystery, thinly embellished with nursery rhyme characters”. I kept on reading though.

Then... “Hmm. Maybe It’ll just scrape in with two stars. It’s got interesting characters.”

Then... “I’m bored. This book is too long. When is it going to get interesting? The author is just trying to mimic Douglas Adams.”

Then... “Ho hum...I think I’ll give it away. Noooo...I’ve come this far, I’ll keep going.”

Then... “Hmm. I wonder who did the murder. What was that nursery rhyme again – Solomon Grundy, born on Monday...?” (That’s not a hint.)

Then... “Finally getting interesting. Must keep reading...”

Then... “Wow! Great ending. I didn’t see that coming.”

Still – it’s 3.5 stars because it was a bit too long. Douglas Adams it ain’t, but I’m still glad I read it, and he does come up with some witty and comical prose ala Monty Python. Perhaps I should be put in Septyck’s New Ward For Terminal Sarcastics.

Fun, but as with most everything I like, complicated.

The story begins with Mary Mary being shown around Reading Central Police Station by Superintendent Briggs. She needed a transfer, and Reading was home to the famous DCI Friedland Chymes, known across England for his exploits in Amazing Crime Stories. Mary had high hopes of being assigned to Chymes’ team, but is instead assigned to partner with Jack Spratt, of the Department of Nursery Crimes. You know–those crimes having to do with people (so to speak) from nursery stories. Unfortunately, Jack (and the department) is facing intense scrutiny after NCI’s failed efforts to charge the three pigs with the murder of Mr. Wolff. But there isn’t time to fret. The next morning, Jack and Mary are sent to Humpty Dumpty’s accidental death/suicide, only the more they learn, the more suspicious it gets.

If Fforde was content to stay with the nursery crime premise, the narrative would be relatively straightforward mystery, albeit with a fair number of detours and rest stops on the road to solving the murder. However, along the way we also meet the Jellyman, and the Sacred Gonga, the holy figure of the country of Splotvia, so it feels a little extra absurd. The first time through it was more than a bit a puzzle, and I breezed over those parts. I think they might be a sort of indirect commentary on the Dalai Lama and Tibet, but I could be wrong. Regardless, it’s more a silly aside than the main focus of the story, which is the Humpty murder.

“Mrs. Singh rang with some figures. They can’t be certain, as so much of Humpty’s albumen was washed away by the rain, but indications show he was twenty-six times the legal limit for driving. Even so, she reckons he would still have been conscious–it’s something to do with his coefficient of volume.”
‘That’s one seriously pickled egg,’ murmured Jack.”

The humor is fun, but because it is quite present, it can interfere with the momentum of the mystery. Much like watching Monty Python, at a certain point, it’s just a bit much. The silliness –there’s an alien whose native tongue is binary, as in 0100111– undermining the tension of the plot, and it isn’t really until the final fifty pages that it feels quite exciting. That’s not to say it’s bad, but that this isn’t the story to keep you up after bedtime. (Yay!) But the ending is exceedingly clever, and it’s quite unbelievable that Fforde was able to make all the elements come together.

“‘Everything,’ said the biohazard agent, with the buoyant tone of someone who has just been given a lot of power and is keen to try it out.”

The writing is clever. There’s a lot of humanity in the characters, even Humpty. Mary was the most problematic for me–being quite contrary and all–until she changes her outlook. It’s the sort of book that works best if you are able to hold absurdity in your mind and yet still take the mystery seriously, as Jack does. People die, even nursery rhyme characters, and much like any honest detective, Jack is determined to do right by the victim, as well as protect the public. It’s an interesting mood mash-up that won’t work for everyone, but for those who like that sort of thing, it should work very well.


Four and a half stars, rounding up because it was worth adding to the library.

Actual rating 4.5 stars.

This was a whole lot of fun to read. Take all your favourite nursery rhymes, a few fairytales and a few Greek myths thrown in for good measure, and add a dash of crime and you have The Big Over Easy. So many little things leapt off the pages while reading, and I laughed and tried to puzzle out the mystery. It was a few hours well spent!

I love smart, creative writers like Jasper Fforde. I don't know why it's taken me so long to read his adult material! Fforde's ingenious way of innertwining nursery rhyme and mythological characters to create a fully fleshed out story is brilliant. The story is like a mashup of Mother Goose and Get Smart with a little of Underdog's righteousness tossed in for fun ☺

Any fan of Douglas Adams & Terry Pratchett will enjoy The Big Over Easy. It's a clean story with the only real gore being Humpty Dumpty's gooey innards. And while there are no wizards, magic or he who shall not be named in this series I think Harry Potter fans would really enjoy reading Fforde's work.

There's a sense of contagious literary joy about Jasper Fforde's works, a gleeful irreverence that is not disdain, a mocking that still allows for enjoyment. It's not mean-spirited, and what amazes me most about this particular series is that it manages to poke fun at the tropes of the mystery novel and of nursery rhymes, while still being a damned good murder mystery. It's got the conventions down, using them even as they are subverted, and highlighting them through investigating nursery crimes is a great deal of fun.

Note: The rest of this review has been withheld due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.

In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook

So why did it take me so long to complete this book. Good question. I did really enjoy it and I loved the way that Fforde intertwined Nursery Rhymes throughout the story and feel I got more from the book as I have a good knowledge of Nursery Rhymes and Traditional Tales. 

Full Review https://pjsandbooks.wordpress.com/