The Big Over Easy
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| The American cover of The Big Over Easy | |
| Author | Jasper Fforde |
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| Country | UK |
| Language | English |
| Series | Nursery Crimes |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton Ltd |
| Released | 11 July 2005 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | 0340835672 (UK Hardback) |
| Followed by | The Fourth Bear |
The Big Over Easy is a novel written by Jasper Fforde and published in 2005. It features Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his assistant, Sergeant Mary Mary.
It is set in an alternate reality similar to that of his previous books: The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots and Something Rotten.
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[edit] Plot summary
Set in an alternate version of Reading, Berkshire, England, in which nursery characters work and live (compare to Who Framed Roger Rabbit), the novel follows Detective Inspector Jack Spratt, head of the Nursery Crime Division, currently dealing with the disastrous prosecution and acquittal of the three little pigs and deep budget cuts. Jack on his next case: Humpty Dumpty has been found dead, and Jack and his new partner Mary Mary have been asked to investigate the case.
[edit] Characters in "The Big Over Easy"
- Detective Inspector Jack Spratt, head of the Nursery Crime Division and also a nursery rhyme character himself. His name is a reference to the Jack Sprat rhyme but the character also fulfils the role of Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk and Jack the Giant Killer.
- Sergeant Mary Mary, based upon the rhyme Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary.
[edit] Major themes
The overriding theme is that nursery rhymes and fairy stories are based upon real people who are living relatively normal lives in the present. Other original variables include the fact that detectives may sell the cases they solve to such magazines as Amazing Crime Stories, as well the involvement of Jack's now famous former partner and current rival Friedland Chymes, who attempts to take control of the Humpty Dumpty case.
[edit] Allusions/references to other works
- Baa Baa Black Sheep
- Bluebeard
- Cock Robin
- Constable Dogberry
- Georgie Porgie
- The Gingerbread Man
- Goldilocks and the Three Bears
- Hamlet
- Hercule Poirot
- Humpty Dumpty
- Jack and the Beanstalk
- Jack Sprat
- Jack the Giant Killer
- Little Bo Peep
- Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary
- Monty Python's Flying Circus' Parrot Sketch
- Nail soup
- Old Mother Hubbard
- Prometheus
- Pandora's Box
- Rapunzel
- Rumpelstiltskin
- Sherlock Holmes
- Solomon Grundy
- The Emperor's New Clothes
- Three Blind Mice
- Three Little Pigs
- Thursday Next
- Wee Willie Winkie
In addition, two of the secondary characters are Lola Vavoom and Randolph Spongg, both mentioned in Fforde's Thursday Next books, particularly The Well of Lost Plots.
[edit] Trivia
According to Fforde, The Big Over Easy is the result of the book Caversham Heights featured in The Well of Lost Plots and includes a possible cameo appearance of the author's heroine Thursday Next, thus verifying this claim.[1]
The book was the first novel Fforde wrote, however, he failed in its publication. It has been massively re-written following the success of the Thursday Next novels. A follow-up, entitled The Fourth Bear, was published in July 2006.
[edit] Release details
- 11 July 2005, Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, ISBN 0340835672, hardback
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
| Novels by Jasper Fforde | |
| Thursday Next series | |
|---|---|
| The Eyre Affair | Lost in a Good Book | The Well of Lost Plots | Something Rotten | First Among Sequels (unpublished, due July 2007) | |
| Jack Spratt series | |
| The Big Over Easy | The Fourth Bear | |
