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The Fourth Bear (Nursery Crime #2)

4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 · rating details · 11,702 ratings · 812 reviews

The inimitable Jasper Fforde gives readers another delightful mash-up of detective fiction and nursery rhyme, returning to those mean streets where no character is innocent. The Gingerbreadman—sadist, psychopath, cookie—is on the loose in Reading, but that’s not who Detective Jack Spratt and Sergeant Mary Mary are after. Instead, they’ve been demoted to searching for missi...more

Paperback, 378 pages

Published July 31st 2007 by Penguin Books (first published August 3rd 2006)

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Oct 11, 2012 Megan Baxter rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Nursery Crime Division head, Jack Spratt, has a Gingerbreadman on the loose. And a missing reporter named Goldilocks. And Punch and Judy just moved in next door, raising the noise level in the neighbourhood considerably.

Did I mention that one of his constables is an alien named Ashley? Or that he bought a car from Dorian Grey that self-repairs (although that painting in the trunk is getting pretty beat-up)? Or that porridge smuggling among bears is on the rise? Or that cucumbers might just be t...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Weasel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: annoying, fantasy, humour, mystery, non-magical-fantasy, meta, omniscient-pov, head-hopping

This was disappointing. I did enjoy the first book in the series and had been looking forward to this one, but it has a lot of problems that really annoyed me. Looking back, I am certain the first book shared many of the same problems, but the novelty and humour helped overcome them. Unfortunately, I think the humour in these is the sort that gets old very fast.

So...
The major problems:

First up is the narrative mode, which is third-person omniscient. Omniscient is a perfectly valid mode, but it'...more This was disappointing. I did enjoy the first book in the series and had been looking forward to this one, but it has a lot of problems that really annoyed me. Looking back, I am certain the first book shared many of the same problems, but the novelty and humour helped overcome them. Unfortunately, I think the humour in these is the sort that gets old very fast.

So...
The major problems:

First up is the narrative mode, which is third-person omniscient. Omniscient is a perfectly valid mode, but it's not particularly fashionable these days, and needs to be handled with care. Said care is not in evidence in this book. Omniscient lets the narrator dip into the heads of any of the characters, and attempts at it often lead to the familiar "head hopping" complaint when the author switches heads too often or too quickly, and that problem is definitely present here.

Next up is the whole "meta" thing. Some readers like this. I am not one of them. Fforde plays with the fourth wall like a cat playing with its food here. There's some context in the story, in that the detectives in this world all write up and publish their cases, Sherlock Holmes style. There is less discussion of this than their was in the first book, but it gives them some leeway to talk about consciously shaping the way cases play out for dramatic effect and discussing whether they're planning to use some specific plot device. Some level of that I find amusing, but Fforde takes it too far for me. When he has the character thinking that if he doesn't deal with one particular person the series will end with book two, it kicked me out of the story hard and I never quite recovered.

Finally, kitchensinkiness. The book is too damn long. It meanders. And while Fforde does tie up a lot of things which, when you first encounter them, seem like pointless wandering digressions, I can't help but think the book would be much better if he limited himself to the Nursery Rhyme theme when selecting characters and setting up jokes instead of tossing in anything and everything that ever occurs to him. It would definitely benefit from some serious tightening up.

There were some laughs. It wasn't all bad. But will I read the third and supposedly final volume when it comes out? I don't know. I may forget about all the problems by then and read it by mistake.(less)

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Sep 07, 2008 Joel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So far, this is my favorite of the Jasper Fforde books. The wordplay and puns just keep on coming, but I also enjoyed the meta-fictional elements going on here. Storybook characters who know they're storybook characters (or, in Fforde's parlance, Persons of Dubious Reality), plot devices named and numbered, even comments on flat characters (the sadness of knowing you aren't fully developed) and jokes that are too much of a stretch.

As far as the Nursery Crimes go, this one is a beauty: the Ginger...more

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Oct 12, 2007 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: girls and boys who like their porridge just right

Shelves: recentlyread

Jack Spratt and his NCD (Nursery Crime Division) team must solve the murder of Goldilocks (in a politically-sensitive modern climate of bear activism and rampant ursism) while tracking down the escaped psycho-killer known as the Ginger Bread Man, all while Jack is under suspension and being outed as a PDR (a person of dubious reality) himself. Jack has a great new car he bought from dealer Dorian Gray that instantly repairs itself--as long as a certain painting remains intact.... Also not to be...more

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May 19, 2008 Sfdreams rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of puns and humor

Shelves: reviewed

In this second book in the Nursery Crimes series, the Nursery Crimes Division is once again in disfavor after the Red Riding Hood debacle. So when the Gingerbreadman, a heinous serial killer that Jack Spratt caught years ago, escapes from the criminally insane asylum where he has be incarcerated, the case is given to DCI David Copperfield instead. This leaves Jack Spratt to investigate the disappearance of Goldilocks while trying to avoid the mandated psychiatric evaluation his superiors have re...more

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May 09, 2007 Taylor rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I love Jasper Fforde. I want to have coffee with him, because if he is anything like his books then it would be one hell of a coffee date.

Nursery Rhyme characters are real and live in Reading, U.K. -- Punch and Judy make loud next door neighbors, Humpty Dumpty was murderd last book, the Gingerbread Man is a psychotic killer, and so on.

Rambosians are aliens that have applied for earth citizenship because they love bureaucracy and 1970s sitcoms (many have been granted said citizenship). . .Rambo...more

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Jun 02, 2013 Lynda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sff, fairytale-retellings, mystery, aliens

Jack Spratt is back. And it's awesome. To touch on my favorite parts list style we have: Ashley a Rambrosian alien who is awesome. He was not very involved in The Big Over Easy all that much but he was a huge part of this book and I can't really say too much without spoilerage but seriously he's awesome. Porridge is a controlled substance, as is honey.Homicidal cookies, or is he a cake? Cucumbers that are huge are hugely important. Basically it's a huge jumbled story that is fast and playful and...more

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Jun 26, 2011 Chang rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Cuculear power! The Battle of the Somme! Ginga assassins! Aliens from outer space! A conspiracy run by an evil multinational corporation! A woman in uniform flashing the International Space Station! "Pippa Piper picking Peter 'pockmarked' Peck of Pembroke Park over Picker or Pepper!"

It's outrageous, zany and fun. Imagine Scheherazade spinning a tale out of your childhood nursery stories, except she's been sucking on a hookah and freed from the constraints imposed by an English teacher. For anyon...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Cleo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I just love Jasper Fforde. He does stuff that no other author could probably get away with. "Five years ago, Viking introduced Jasper Fforde and his upsidedown, inside-out literary crime masterpieces. And as they move from Thursday Next to Jack Spratt's Nursery Crimes, his audience is insatiable and growing. Now, with The Fourth Bear, Jack Spratt and Mary Mary take on their most dangerous case so far as a murderous cookie stalks the streets of Reading. The Gingerbreadman - psychopath, sadist, ge...more I just love Jasper Fforde. He does stuff that no other author could probably get away with. "Five years ago, Viking introduced Jasper Fforde and his upsidedown, inside-out literary crime masterpieces. And as they move from Thursday Next to Jack Spratt's Nursery Crimes, his audience is insatiable and growing. Now, with The Fourth Bear, Jack Spratt and Mary Mary take on their most dangerous case so far as a murderous cookie stalks the streets of Reading. The Gingerbreadman - psychopath, sadist, genius, and killer- is on the loose. But it isn't Jack Spratt's case. He and Mary Mary have been demoted to Missing Persons following Jack's poor judgment involving the poisoning of Mr. Bun the baker. Missing Persons looks like a boring assignment until a chance encounter leads them into the hunt for missing journalist Henrietta "Goldy" Hatchett, star reporter for The Daily Mole. Last to see her alive? The Three Bears, comfortably living out a life of rural solitude in Andersen's wood. But all is not what it seems. How could the bears' porridge be at such disparate temperatures when they were poured at the same time? Why did Mr. and Mrs. Bear sleep in separate beds? Was there a fourth bear? And if there was, who was he, and why did he try to disguise Goldy's death as a freak accident? Jack answers all these questions and a few others besides, rescues Mary Mary from almost certain death, and finally meets the Fourth Bear and the Gingerbreadman face-to-face."

There are so many hilarious things about this novel. In one chapter, Jack gets a new car which remarkably never gets damaged. The car-dealer, Dorian Gray, reveals the secret: anything that happens to the car happens to a little portrait instead. Oscar Wilde reference alert! There's also a controversy about bears: "the right to arm bears". Bears play a major role in this book; they're a huge problem, and many humans are ursinist. There's also a character named David Copperfield, who is put in charge of the investigation to catch the Gingerbreadman.

Sometimes the jokes can get a bit old, but only sometimes. The rest of the time, this book is just hilarious and an interesting mystery too. It has a lot of similarity to The Eyre Affair, though it's set in a different alternate universe. There are lots of literary references, and even more nursery crime and fairy tale references. Jack Spratt himself is a PDR, a person of dubious reality. He can eat no fat. So is Mary Mary (quite contrary).

The Fourth Bear is the second in the series, but that didn't matter much. It's not that confusing, and one doesn't have to have read the first book dealing with Humpty-Dumpty's mysterious death. I might read the first one, but I'm not really eager to.

The Fourth Bear was almost as clever as The Eyre Affair (they rhyme!). It certainly had its moments. There are many, many subplots, particularly that of the Gingerbreadman, a mad mass-murderer who's escaped. And nobody can catch him. He keeps sending the police taunting notes and murdering more people. Also, Jack is not supposed to be handling the case, but he keeps stumbling upon the Gingerbreadman while doing other things.

The main mystery has to do with a missing reporter, bears, a mysterious wood, explosions, and...giant cucumbers? Yup, that's right. I won't say any more about the cucumbers for fear of giving anything away, but they play a major role in the solving of the mystery.

The Fourth Bear is an enjoyable and humorous read.

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Sep 15, 2012 Jo rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: comic-fantasy

I'd like to start this review by saying that Jasper Fforde is a genius. I loved his Thursday Next series, thoroughly enjoyed the first Nursery Crimes book (The Big Over Easy), and can honestly say this is hands-down my favourite of his books.

The Fourth Bear is, ostensibly, Fforde's take on Goldilocks and the Three Bears. But there's so much more to the story than just that one fairy tale. Add a murderous gingerbread man, Jack's habit of accidentally killing giants (and coming across extremely fa...more

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Jan 12, 2011 Lis Carey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: f-sf, mystery, fiction

At the start of the second Nursery Crime adventure, Jack Spratt and the Nursery Crime Division are experiencing an unaccustomed interval of official approval and public favor, after the successful resolution of the Humpty Dumpty murder.

Naturally, this can't last, and as a direct result of doing his job, Jack has been placed on medical leave. (He successfully captured the Big Bad Wolf—unfortunately after both Grandma and Little Red Riding Hood had been swallowed. He had to go in after them and re...more

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Dec 13, 2010 Lemunty added it · review of another edition

If you haven't read any of Fforde's books, go out and read them now! His fantastic Thursday Next series was more fun than The Timetraveller's Wife, operating partly under a similar chronologically challenged marriage, but Thursday Next was so much damn fun. It is a geek's paradise, millions of obscure literary references, lots of in-jokes for those who've read Wuthering Heights and Charles Dickens' work.

The Fourth Bear is part of a different series, featuring Jack Spratt, head of the Nursery Cr...more

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Nov 28, 2010 Kevin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010-reading

Who'd have thought that those old nursery rhymes and fairy tales would have had so much going on behind the scenes? Fresh from their largely forgotten triumphs in The Big Over Easy, Jack Spratt, Mary Mary and the rest of the Nursery Crime Division find themselves faced with new challenges.

The psychopathic killer known as the Gingerbread Man is loose, and true to his legend, he runs as fast as he can and you just can't catch him. Added to that, prize cucumbers are disappearing, mysterious explosi...more

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Aug 03, 2010 Rowland Bismark rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Fourth Bear is the second 'Nursery Crime' novel by Jasper Fforde. DCI Jack Spratt generally does an admirable job with the tiny Nursery Crime Division, but after he uses children as bait in capturing the anti-thumb-sucking Scissor-man (as well as the lapses in the Riding-Hood case, which led to Spratt (among others) being swallowed whole ...)) Superintendent Briggs takes him off active duty until his mental fitness can be checked.

Years earlier Spratt had caught the terrifying Gingerbreadman,...more The Fourth Bear is the second 'Nursery Crime' novel by Jasper Fforde. DCI Jack Spratt generally does an admirable job with the tiny Nursery Crime Division, but after he uses children as bait in capturing the anti-thumb-sucking Scissor-man (as well as the lapses in the Riding-Hood case, which led to Spratt (among others) being swallowed whole ...)) Superintendent Briggs takes him off active duty until his mental fitness can be checked.

Years earlier Spratt had caught the terrifying Gingerbreadman, who likes to rip apart his victims, and now that the giant cookie (or is it cake ?) has escaped Spratt knows he's the only one who can re-capture him. Instead, the investigation is handed over to by-the-book (and quite dim) DI Copperfield and Spratt is warned to stay away. Needless to say, he can't -- whether he wants to or not.

With Spratt officially sidelined DS Mary Mary is left in charge of the Nursery Crime Division -- though aside from PC Ashley, a binary-spouting but endearing alien, that's pretty much all there is of the tiny division. Spratt can't completely abandon his duties, and the three of them follow up a variety of cases. There's the death of Miss Hatchett -- Goldilocks -- possibly accidental, but suspicious nonetheless. And what is it with all those growers of giant cucumbers who meet unfortunate ends ? And there's QuangTech and the Quangle-Wangle -- "They seem to be popping up a lot in this inquiry, and so far we don't know anything about them at all."

The Berkshire area where the novel is set is also home to much of the bear population, both in the wild and in the Robert Southey estates. There's petty crime there -- porridge is a controlled substance, but bears want a fix beyond their meagre monthly allotments, making for lots of black market dealing -- but there's also the Goldilocks connexion.

Meanwhile, besides proving his sanity (despite the fact that it's insanity that's needed to do Nursery Crime work), Spratt has some other problems. His wife finds out he's a Person of Dubious Reality (which, along with some other things, leads to increased marital discord), the very noisy Punch and Judy move in next door (though at least they're marriage counselors ...), and that car he bought from one Dorian Gray, while having some very appealing features, is also slightly worrying. Meanwhile, alien Ashley asks Mary out for a date -- despite being utterly baffled by human procreation.

There are quite a few threads here, but Fforde weaves them together quite well. (Needless to say, everything winds up being connected.) As in all of Fforde's books, there's prodigious invention on display, a clever mix of fairy tale worlds and reality that he pulls off very well here. He also has a very good writing-touch -- with some subtler jokes to go along with the usual over-the-top punning. Between almost dry police procedural and utter absurdity (the enormous Gingerbreadman, Mary flashing her breasts in the unlikeliest of places) Fforde manages to make it all almost convincing. And he doesn't try too hard with the absurdity, striking the right tone and note.

If there's anything approaching disappointment it's in the final resolution and explanations (involving, among other things, the giant cucumbers, as well as the Gingerbreadman's Achilles' heel), but it hardly matters. The fun is in the trip -- and it's a very enjoyable trip.

Very good entertainment, certainly recommended.
(less)

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Mar 30, 2010 Genie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As the title suggests, this is Fforde’s take on the tale of the three bears. Jack Spratt, DCI of the Nursery Crime Division of the Reading Police Department, must once again confront his nemesis, the Gingerbreadman, a notorious killer The sadistic and super powerful Gingerbreadman, has escaped from St. Cerebellum's secure hospital for the criminally insane and is once again leaving a trail of victims. Unfortunately, Spratt has been suspended, pending psychological evaluation, because of his mish...more

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Mar 13, 2010 Deb rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010-books-read

Laugh out loud funny in several parts! Another very clever and witty entry in Jasper Fforde's body of work. This is the second installment of the Nursery Crimes' series, featuring Jack Spratt (who could eat no fat) and Mary Mary. This time, they are attempting to locate Goldilocks who was last seen at a bears' cottage in Anderson Forest, figure out why a greenhouse full of giant cucumbers exploded, penetrate a porridge-dealer's network, and reinstate themselves into the good graces of the author...more

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Nov 19, 2009 Nikki rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: humour, fantasy, crime, mystery

I think I liked The Fourth Bear more than I liked The Big Over Easy. I am very used to Jasper Fforde's style, tricks and puns, but this book had some sections I found truly brilliant -- and read at length to my flatmate. This one seems even more meta-fictional than the others: more so than The Big Over Easy, anyway. It's been a while since I read the Thursday Next books.

One thing I felt really sad about was Ashley losing his memory of his date with Mary. I actually really wanted them to get toge...more

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May 15, 2013 Katie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, 2013, on-my-bookshelf

Review on my blog

This is a sequel to Big Over Easy in the Nursery Crime series, and also a completely separate story by itself. Being a sequel, Fforde had a lot to live up to after the first book, and I believe that he has done it again – if not better- with this absolutely brilliant book.

Like the first book, it was witty, funny, likeable and those descriptions can be given to anything and everything in this book. The stories that are written in this book are so satirically wonderful that you ju...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Marianne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Fourth Bear is the second of the Nursery Crime series by popular author Jasper Fforde. Things are not going too well for Detective Chief Inspector Jack Spratt of the Nursery Crime Division: a prime NCD case (the escape from custody of the violent psychopath, The Gingerbreadman) has been allocated to another detective; his boss, Superintendent Briggs, doesn’t trust his judgement and has insisted on a psychiatric evaluation of his fitness to function as head of the NCD; and the press, in parti...more

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Jan 09, 2012 Alytha rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It cranks the insanity of the Thursday Next universe to 11, and it goes far more meta, in the TN tradition, than the first book. (Dorian Grey appears as a used-car dealer, and Caliban as a somewhat obnoxious pet kind of thing. And there's a guy called McGuffin ;) )

The plot involves addictive substances of the ursine persuasion, a dead young lady called Goldilocks, prize-cucumber growers, the mysterious Men in Green, and a dangerous gingery lunatic on the loose. Jack, Mary and Ashley the alien ar...more

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Oct 22, 2011 Thea Guanzon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm not a fan of crime procedurals. Being the sort of person who Googles the plot halfway through a film, the thrill of a mystery is usually lost on me. However, one of my favorite short stories is Neil Gaiman's The Case of the Four and Twenty Blackbirds, a whodunit involving characters from traditional nursery rhymes, which is absolutely mind-blowing and can be read here on the author's website.

Jasper Fforde's The Fourth Bear is structured along a similar concept, except that it includes not on...more

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Jun 18, 2011 Hank Quense rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This isn't Fford's latest, it was published in 2006, but it's my favorite of the ones I've read. This is another fairy tale squeezed almost out of recognition by subplots and outrageous liberties taken with the plot and characters. In it, Detectives Jack Spratt and Mary Mary investigate suspicious occurrences that include the mysterious deaths of heavy-weight cucumber growers, Goldilocks' disappearance and subsequent death and Somme World (experience WWI!)
My favorite scene occurred when Mary wen...more

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Apr 20, 2011 Mandolin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This second installment of the Nursery Crime series recounts the further investigations and adventures of DCI Jack Spratt, DS Mary Mary (Quite Contrary!), Ashley the alien Rambosian who speaks binary and the other members of the Berkshire Nursery Crime Division. The book opens with Spratt's abilities once more called into question due to his recent failures in the attempt to arrest the Great Red-Legg'd Scissorman and the big bad wolf in the notorious Red Riding Hood affair (during which grandma,...more This second installment of the Nursery Crime series recounts the further investigations and adventures of DCI Jack Spratt, DS Mary Mary (Quite Contrary!), Ashley the alien Rambosian who speaks binary and the other members of the Berkshire Nursery Crime Division. The book opens with Spratt's abilities once more called into question due to his recent failures in the attempt to arrest the Great Red-Legg'd Scissorman and the big bad wolf in the notorious Red Riding Hood affair (during which grandma, Red and Jack were all eaten alive.) With these failures looming over his head, he is suspended until his sanity can be proven. Unfortunately, his suspension coincides with the jail break-out of Berkshire's most horrendous killer, the Gingerbreadman, and the murder of Goldilocks, an investigative reporter who was involved not only with Ursine rights but also with an investigation of an explosion that killed a record-sized cucumber growing fanatic. To complicate matters, Jack now has to deal with new noisesome neighbors (Punch and Judy), face questions regarding his own reality and resultant marital problems and figure out the mystery of his Dorian Grey guaranteed self-restoring car. In his secret investigations, aided by Mary and Ashley, Jack encounters a massive government cover-up involving issues of illegal porridge sales, national security, a fake gay MP, the reclusive Quangle-Wangle, who owns most of the major businesses in Berkshire as well as the World War II commemorative theme park SommeWorld (where Goldilocks' body was discovered) and the elusive Fourth Bear. Sound complicated? It is...but that's the nature of the NCD and it's the kind of case that Jack can solve best!

I was delighted once again by Fforde's creative prose which simply defies explanation. His imaginary worlds, peopled by nursery characters and persons of dubious reality, humorous and witty takes on those same nursery tales and deft use of language (especially puns) is so very unique and makes for a memorable read. Though one can't read these books too close together or too often, they certainly are a treat every once in a while!(less)

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Jan 23, 2011 Lindsey Duncan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: funny-fantasy, urban-fantasy

I'm a big fan of Jasper Fforde, but I prefer his other series. Still, to tide me over until the next Next book, I decided to give this one a try. What I found was a delightful romp through conspiracy theories definitively not involving the book's prosaic aliens, twists, turns and well-incorporated metahumor resulting in a satisfying read.

Jack Spratt (of "eats no fat" fame, occasional giant killer, necessarily insane) is head of the Nursery Crimes Division of the police force and, cast into disgr...more I'm a big fan of Jasper Fforde, but I prefer his other series. Still, to tide me over until the next Next book, I decided to give this one a try. What I found was a delightful romp through conspiracy theories definitively not involving the book's prosaic aliens, twists, turns and well-incorporated metahumor resulting in a satisfying read.

Jack Spratt (of "eats no fat" fame, occasional giant killer, necessarily insane) is head of the Nursery Crimes Division of the police force and, cast into disgrace due to fall out from a recent case, is placed at leave and at odd ends until a female reporter disappears ... and it looks increasingly that she may be the PDR (Person of Dubious Reality) Goldilocks.

Fforde does an excellent job of maintaining a tone that supports even the most self-aware commentary by the characters without jarring the reader out of the story. The humor is fast-paced and works on several different levels. This book features little clips at the beginning of each chapter with various bizarre world records. Fforde has always used flavor quotes to open his chapters, but here, it works even better: the continuing theme ties them all together nicely, and each one has relevance to the chapter that follows. It's great literary glue.

My only problem with the Nursery Crimes series is that, with occasional exceptions, I feel distant from the characters. The narration level seems shallow - we don't get deep into the characters' heads, so one feels removed from them. This makes it harder to invest emotionally, and occasionally to follow the action.

That said, I think Fforde's head works like mine (or as I certainly aspire it to work!). Ursine substance abuse, binary-speaking aliens, giant cucumbers, Dorian Gray's used cars and a serial-killing baked good all appear to have absolutely nothing to do with each other, and yet they're woven together perfectly. Fillers and details often prove to have unexpected significance later in the story. (I do think a joke about the Gingerbreadman being a "Ginja" assassin missed - just too corny and Fforde kept repeating it in a short span of space so much I wanted to apply a fried fish to his head.)

Quick, clever and highly recommended.(less)

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Jul 26, 2010 Violet rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, mystery, british

Okay not as good as the first, but sequels rarely are. For one thing, the mystery wasn't as complex (maybe a bit more far-fetched), and the ending wasn't that surprising. It was a bit harder to follow in my opinion, and overal wasn't as well crafted as the last one, in the way that so many seemingly unconnected pieces come together in the very end and suddenly seem so obvious. It was alright.

You would think that after the Humpty case, Jack Spratt and the NCD would have gained more respect, but t...more Okay not as good as the first, but sequels rarely are. For one thing, the mystery wasn't as complex (maybe a bit more far-fetched), and the ending wasn't that surprising. It was a bit harder to follow in my opinion, and overal wasn't as well crafted as the last one, in the way that so many seemingly unconnected pieces come together in the very end and suddenly seem so obvious. It was alright.

You would think that after the Humpty case, Jack Spratt and the NCD would have gained more respect, but think again. In a seemingly improbable move of literary unfairness, NCD and Jack Spratt are once again the butt of jokes, thanks to the "Riding-Hood incident," in which the wolf, of course, swallowed Red Riding-Hood and Grandma, sending them into such a state of shock that they, now out of the wolf, can't speak. It doesn't seem right does it? After all Jack Spratt went through in the last book for some credit, he and the NCD still end up at the bottom.

To me, it also doesn't seem likely. After so much success and fame, he can't fall down that quickly, can he? Wouldn't his boss at least trust him a bit more after proving himself with Humpty? Its not right. Not right at all.

This book didn't seem to have the flow and the complete brilliance as the last book. They didn't once mention Amazing Crime Stories, and that was such a big part of the last book and since this is supposed to be only a few months later. You would think its still fairly important. But its not. Doesn't make any sense.

Another thing is that Jack Spratt instead of battling the Guild and his low creditability, he's fighting claims that he's insane. Which again doesn't make much sense because he's basically the same so wouldn't they have questioned his sanity long before then?

This book wasn't as packed full of beings and situations of literary descent either. The excerpt at the beginnings of the chapters were all from The Bumper Book of Berkshire Records, instead of the various publications and therefore weren't as funny. All in all the book seemed to be missing something and it went by very fast, even though this book is about the same size as the last.

They did have more of Ashely the alien though (and sadly VERY little of Baker and Gretel), which was extremely interesting. It was cool to hear of all the facts and differences between Ashely's species and humans. I will give Jasper Fforde some credit. He does come up with a pretty darn good alien. I mean the whole think with him speaking binary and storing information like some sort of organic computer, was SO original. Jasper Fforde could teach a thing or two to James Patterson about creating aliens.

Another interesting thing was that they elaborated a bit more on the whole PDR ("Persons of Dubious Reality"), "refugees from the collective consciousness or basically literary characters thing. I was curious about it before and I really liked learning more about it.

So that's basically it. Wasn't as good as the first, but I still found it rather enjoyable. Now on to more literary worlds. Away I go!(less)

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Feb 04, 2012 Karen Ball rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Second in the Nursery Crimes series! Lots of fun, as Detective Jack Spratt and Sergeant Mary Mary (demoted from the Nursery Crimes unit to Missing Persons) investigate the disappearance of tabloid writer Henrietta "Goldy" Hatchett, who was last seen alive by (of course) the Three Bears. Questions abound -- how could the porridge be such different temperatures if it was all poured at the same time? Was there a Fourth Bear? Was Goldy's death a freak accident, or was it disguised to look like one?...more

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Mar 21, 2010 Marfita rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who need more humor in their lives

Shelves: cozies, mysteries

Fforde again injects silliness for its own sake into what this time is a typical Ken Follett tale. DCI Jack Spratt is taken off a case before it even starts, which queers his bid to enter the Guild of Detectives. He is on forced medical leave until it is determined he's sane enough to continue ... in a job where a little insanity helps. The case is the escape of the same serial killer he captured previously - who will certainly want his revenge, right? But there's much more than that - National...more

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Oct 17, 2012 S rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the first book I have read by this author following a recommendation and I didn't really know what to expect. What I found was a great detective story with a lot of giggles along the way. The basic plot has been done before but never with these characters! The characters are nursery rhyme characters and I think this shows a great use of imagination by the author. My 9 year old brother picked up my book whilst I was only holiday and he couldn't believe it when I said that it was about the...more

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Oct 23, 2011 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

This is the second book in the Nursery Crimes series, with Detective Jack Spratt and his cohort Sgt Mary Mary on the case. The Gingerbreadman, a cunning mass murderer who has leanings towards Hannibal Lecter, has escaped and the Nursery Crimes division expects to be on the case. However, Jack is suspended and is put on leave until he completes a psychiatric evaluation. As he helps Mary and Ashley, an alien who works on the ceiling of their office investigate a blonde missing reporter last seen a...more

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Mar 21, 2011 Alice rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, library, humor, literary, mystery, thriller, urban-fantasy, fantasy

These are far from my favorite of the Jasper Fforde books. That doesn't mean they're not entertaining, though. They are a good way to pass the time while I wait for the next Thursday Next book.

While the satire in the Nursery Crime books is often biting and timely, the plots, themselves, don't hold up very well. I don't read Jasper Fforde for the plots, though. I read Jasper Fforde's books because he's amazingly creative, and often uproariously funny.

This book is no exception. There's a lot of si...more

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About Jasper Fforde

Jasper Fforde is a novelist living in Wales. He is the son of John Standish Fforde, the 24th Chief Cashier for the Bank of England, whose signature used to appear on sterling banknotes, and is cousin of Desmond Fforde, married with the author Katie Fforde. His early career was spent as a focus puller in the film industry, where he worked on a number of films including Quills, GoldenEye, and Entrap...more

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