Nursery Crime #1
Jasper Fforde
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| Front cover |
Date read: 11 - 20 June 2019
Length: 398 pages
Published: 2005
Jack Spratt is Detective Inspector with the Nursery Crime Division of the Reading Police Force. A new Detective Sergeant is assigned to him; Mary Mary. Together they must solve the death of Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III a.k.a Humpty Dumpty. One clue leads to another, and they only have until Saturday to solve it, or the case is handed over to Jack's nemesis, Chymes. Can they solve it in time?
Dead bodies never look like this.
This is a very interesting and enjoyable book. It's as if nursery characters were alive and real in this world. Everyone knows who they are, but they're just treated as if they're regular people. That being said, these characters are not designed for children! They have very adult qualities not present in their original tellings.
I like the relationship between Jack and Mary. Mary is very apprehensive at first, not sure if she'll fit in and kind of thinks the NCD is a bit of a joke and beneath her. But the more she works with Jack and the case, she realises there's more to it than meets the eye, and actually begins to respect Jack. Jack doesn't treat Mary like he's her superior, but rather a colleague. They make a good team.
There's more to it than just a murder mystery. We learn about Jack's home life, get to know more about the not-so-innocent people of the nursery story world, and even watch a romance blossom between Jack's daughter Pandora, and Prometheus.
It's an interesting take on a crime novel, and I'm looking forward to the next one!
Overall rating
Thanks,
The Wee Librocubicularist
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