Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, Bk 1)

The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, Bk 1)
The Big Over Easy - Nursery Crime, Bk 1
Author: Jasper Fforde
It's Easter in Reading--a bad time for eggs--and no one can remember the last sunny day. Ovoid D-class nursery celebrity Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III, minor baronet, ex-convict, and former millionaire philanthropist, is found shattered to death beneath a wall in a shabby area of town. All the evidence points to his ex-wife, who has convenien...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780340835685
ISBN-10: 0340835680
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 398
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 8

4 stars, based on 8 ratings
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, Bk 1) on + 79 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 8
I love these books by Jasper Fforde!! He makes me feel like I've been whisked away to a world where I can jump in and out of the books of my youth!! Great read!
crawford avatar reviewed The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, Bk 1) on + 59 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
An incredibly enjoyable book, one I really couldn't put down! Humpty Dumpity, womanizer and humanitarian, has fallen off the wall and foul play is suspected. Detective Jack Spratt from the Nursey Crimes division along with his new sidekick Mary Mary try to solve a case that gets more complex to more they investigate, and they also have to deal with the possibility that the Nursery Crimes divison will be shut down. While the book uses characters from nursery rhymes and storybooks, the writing is incredibly clever and intelligent, and insanely funny. The book starts out strange and gets downright wacky at the end, but if you enjoy literate hilarity and mysteries full of twists, I can't recommend this book enough.
reviewed The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, Bk 1) on + 57 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
Fun read. Fforde has a great imagination and uses it to entertain the reader. Love his books.
reviewed The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, Bk 1) on + 10 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
though good, this was not as brilliant as i had hoped it would be based on all the excellent reviews i have seen of jasper fforde's books. it was good enough, however, that i will continue my efforts to get hold of the first book in his thursday next series, "the eyre affair."
RockStarGirl avatar reviewed The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, Bk 1) on + 329 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
Imagine an alternative world where nursery characters really exist, and have normal lives like the rest of us. Jack Spratt is one of those characters, and he works in the Nursery Crimes Division of the police department. His current case? Find out who killed Humpty Dumpty, who was shot as he was sitting on his wall. Potential witnesses include Willie Winkie, who may have slept through the ruckus; Mrs. Hubbard, who can't stop checking the empty cupboard for bones long enough to answer questions; and Rapunzle, who left a long hair at the crime scene. It's a world where anything can happen, and often does.
Read All 24 Book Reviews of "The Big Over Easy Nursery Crime Bk 1"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

reviewed The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, Bk 1) on + 4 more book reviews
A reasonably good read. It has a ton of nursery rhyme references, which are great fun. The story itself is entertaining as well. Fforde pokes fun at some of the 'standard' mystery plots, while writing one himself, so you have to read this one with your tongue firmly implanted in your cheek.
nieshalovesbooks avatar reviewed The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, Bk 1) on + 11 more book reviews
Jasper Fforde is an amazing author. I loved this book and I am passing it around to my friends and family.
reviewed The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, Bk 1) on + 37 more book reviews
Fforde's mix of reality and nursery crimes is an experience not to be missed. If you love literary illusions, but are amused by the ridiculous, this series is just for you. Everything that makes a good mystery is here along with a wacky sense of humor.
reviewed The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, Bk 1) on + 21 more book reviews
Great book. Very clever and humorous.
reviewed The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, Bk 1) on + 42 more book reviews
Another great Fforde novel. great detective/humorous book
reviewed The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, Bk 1) on + 21 more book reviews
Hilarious and brilliant.
donkeycheese avatar reviewed The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, Bk 1) on + 1255 more book reviews
Jack Spratt is the inspector who leads the Nursery Crimes division. Through-out the novel, you'll meet many characters of nursery crimes. His assistant is none other than Mary, Mary. Disgruntled over his court loss of the three pigs for the murder of Mr. Wolfe, Jack is determined to find out who murdered Humpty Dumpty. What transpires will leave you not only in stitches, but up late turning the page of this entertaining, yet thrilling novel. Mr. Fforde's characters are believable in their role and his plot twists and turns until a final shocking conclusion. Even after I closed the book and pondered the story, I realized that so and so was this nursery character and wondered how Mother Hubbard wasn't picked up by the sanitation department. Quite enjoyable! I'm even going to pick up the next in the series, The Fourth Bear.
reviewed The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, Bk 1) on
loved this book - very clever and witty
reviewed The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, Bk 1) on + 20 more book reviews
I never thought he could sustain this kind of whimsy for more than one or two books, but he can and did.

Book Wiki

Series
People/Characters
Jack Spratt (Primary Character)
Mary Mary (Primary Character)
Friedland Chymes (Average Character)

Genres: