The Fourth Bear: Nursery Crime Adventures 2 (Nursery Crime)

by Jasper Fforde

The Gingerbreadman - psychopath, sadist, genius, convicted murderer and biscuit - is loose on the streets of Reading. It isn't Jack Spratt's case. He and Mary Mary have been demoted following Jack's poor judgement involving the poisoning of Mr Bun the baker.

Missing Persons looks like a boring assignment until a chance leads them onto the hunt for missing journalist Henrietta 'Goldy' Hatchett, star reporter for The Daily Toad. The last witnesses to see her alive were 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 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 in the nearby SommeWorld first World War theme park

• ISBN10: 0340835729
• ISBN13: 9780340835722
• Publish Date: 6 July 2006
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 11 December 2009
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
• Imprint: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

What can ever be said about a Jasper Fforde book that would make sense to anyone that hasn't read one?  This is the second in what is, so far, a two book series about what crime would look like if Nursery Characters lived in the real world.  Jack Spratt, the head of the Nursery Crimes Division, investigates several seemingly unrelated crimes:  Porridge smuggling, a missing Goldilocks, the escape of the Gingerbread man, and his new car that never ages, with a painting in the boot that does.  All while fighting suspension based on a pending psych evaluation after being swallowed by the Big Bad Wolf.   It's not all Mother Goose either, side characters include Spratt's daughter Pandora and her soon to be husband, Prometheus and at least one character from Shakespeare.  Oh, and an alien.  Because, why not?   In spite of sounding (and mostly being) silly, it's not an easy/breezy book to read.  There are layers in the writing and the jokes and the references that are easy to miss.  There's a subtle - very subtle - disregard for the fourth wall, where the characters not only recognise they're in a book (a la Thursday Next), but will make subtle reference to the author and the reader.  So not only is it a book where the overload of satire is best enjoyed in small doses, but one that if carefully read will give more humorous dividends than a quick read would.   Generally it's just a hell of a lot of fun to read.  The puns get punnier towards the end and there was at least one *snort*chuckle in the last 30%.  It might have been it was late and I was tired, but    cuculear power  (hide spoiler)   made me laugh.