Will I love The Big Over Easy?

Fforde is unimaginably imaginative. He creates an entirely new world in which nursery rhyme and fairy tale characters exist--with all the flaws that humans embody. Within that world, His detective chases a murderer via a twisting plot. Great stuff!

Disclaimer: off the bat, this is a book I’ve read more than once before, yet I indeed read it again within this window, and it is so good, so you’re getting it here.

Love murder mysteries? Love nursery rhymes? Love creative whimsy? This book has it all, and it has remained in my literary awareness for those reasons ever since I first came across it as a teen. Fforde has a knack for new takes on classical stories and the English language itself, giving us here an engaging take on law enforcement, the media, and business as lived in by… show more.

Jasper Fforde is an author whose works defy description. Mystery, fantasy, time travel, and delightful humor are all found in his work, plus there is enough wordplay and literary references to please an English major like me. I had the opportunity to hear him speak, and he is just as entertaining as his books. My favorite is The Big Over Easy. Jack Spratt and Mary Mary of the Nursery Crime Division investigate the death of Humpty Dumpty. Did he fall or was he pushed? Add the evil Goliath Company, friendly aliens, and a rampaging Gingerbread Man, and you will… show more.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Jasper Fforde’s blend of serious drama and wacky humour, and his Nursey Crimes series is one of my favourite. Set in a world in which nursery rhyme characters live alongside ordinary humans, it follows Detective-Inspector Jack Spratt and his assistant Mary Mary, as they investigate the murder of wealthy investor Humpty Dumpty, dealing with the dark underpinnings of nursery rhyme society.