The Fourth Bear

In the world of The Fourth Bear, characters from novels, nursery tales, and other ideas are made real. In fact, those characters originating from nursery tales have their own police department, called the Nursery Crime Division. The NCD is headed by Jack Spratt who was last seen solving the mystery of the murder of Humpty Dumpty, in The Big Over Easy, along with Sergent Mary Mary, and Constable Ashley, an alien from Rambosia. Now, Jack has had a few bad breaks (letting Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother get eaten isn't good for a inspector's career) and Goldilocks goes missing, followed by the escape of the Gingerbread Man, a psychotic killer. Add to that a car bought from a man named Dorian Grey and the fact that Punch and his wife, Judy, have moved next door, and Jack's life is going to be interesting.

Jasper Fforde authors wonderfully amusing reads with his quirky style and his visions of many of our favorite childhood characters. Talking bears who have won the right to live among men and use honey and porridge as a euphoria-inducing substance and seven foot tall cookies (or is he a cake?) that tend to murder random people are stand-out examples of Fforde's anthropomorphication efforts. The characters understand that they are in a story and often ask what plot device they will use. Will they decide to go with number twenty-six, garnering glory by solving the mystery behind the backs of their superiors, or number thirty-eight, waiting until they are begged for help and then saving the day? There is also a point at which a joke is finally fully revealed and Spratt and Mary comment that they don't know how the author gets away with such lame jokes. All of it works well towards making a good detective story that also amuses till the very end and makes you look forward to the next Nursery Crime novel.

Rating: 5.0

Whose Body?

When a body is found in a bath, wearing only a pair of pince-nez, things are bound to be interesting. In Dorothy L. Sayers' first Lord Peter Whimsy book, Lord Peter is called upon to help answer the question of who the decedent is and how he came to be in a man's bathroom in the middle of the night, while helping a friend solve the mystery of a man gone missing.

Usually, I am not one for mysteries unless they are by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle but I think I will have to add Dorothy L. Sayers to my list now, as this was an excellent read. It was first recommended to me over a year ago and I had never had the chance to read Whose Body? or any other Lord Peter Whimsy tale until recently. While I was able to guess the culprit before he was revealed, I still found the story to be very creative and very enjoyable.

I have to say that the tone of this book was wonderfully funny and gave the story much of that which I found enjoyable. I found Sayers' off-hand comments about how things work in mystery novels, as opposed to real life, very amusing and I loved Lord Peter's character. Take this exchange between Lord Peter and his servant:

"Bunter!"
"Yes, my lord."
"Her Grace tells me that a respectable Battersea architect has discovered a dead man in his bath."
"Indeed, my lord? That's very gratifying."
"Very, Bunter. Your choice of words is unerring."

This is just one example and much of the dialogue has a great sense of humor to it.

In short, I loved this book and now that I have finished Whose Body?, I think I am going to go to the bookstore and find the next Lord Peter Whimsy book, called Gaudy Night. If you enjoy mysteries, you are sure to love this one!

Rating: 5.0