The Big Over Easy: Nursery Crime Adventures 1 - Tapa dura

'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 'A riot of puns, in-jokes and literary allusions that Fforde carries off with aplomb' -- Daily Mail 'Consistently clever' -- Publishers Weekly 'This is the first if best-selling Fforde's hilarious, absurd and utterly compelling new series of nursery crimes for adults.' -- Daily Mirror 'Fforde offers a cascade of puns, plays on words, surrealism, satire and verbal virtuosity...Astonishing, he isfunny for 400 pages' -- The Times 'Fforde is a master entertainer, and a wordsmith of dexterous genius. He tosses in palindromes and anagrams like a tickertape of polysyllabic cleverness. A copy of this book should be free to all purchases of Scrabble.' -- The Scotsman 'Fforde may be an acquired taste, but it's worth acquiring.' -- SFX Bath 'This year's grown-up J K Rowling' -- The Sunday Times '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 20050619 'A riot of puns, in-jokes and literary allusions that Fforde carries off with aplomb' -- Daily Mail 20050619 'Consistently clever' -- Publishers Weekly 20050619 'This is the first if best-selling Fforde's hilarious, absurd and utterly compelling new series of nursery crimes for adults.' -- Daily Mirror 20050619 'Fforde offers a cascade of puns, plays on words, surrealism, satire and verbal virtuosity...Astonishing, he is funny for 400 pages' -- The Times 20050619 'Fforde is a master entertainer, and a wordsmith of dexterous genius.' -- The Scotsman 20050619

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...