The Big Over Easy

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...

“Very accomplished indeed.”

Consistently clever - Publishers Weekly

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

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

More twists and turns than Christie ... embellished with the rich details of a Dickens or Pratchett. A real treat. - Independent

The combination of fantasy and a (more or less) classic murder . . . makes a wild and enjoyable change - Sunday Telegraph

- Guardian

Fforde offers a cascade of puns, plays on words, surrealism, satire and verbal virtuosity based on children's rhymes and stories. Astonishingly, he stays funny for 400 pages . . . Even more amazingly, there's a real plot there, a proper mystery with a surprise solution - The Times

Jasper Fforde traded a varied career in the film industry for staring out of the window and sucking the end of a pencil. He lives and works in Wales and has a passion for aviation.

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...

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