The Fourth Bear

A Nursery Crime

By: Jasper Fforde

Narrated by: Simon Vance

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 missing journalist “Goldy” Hatchett. The last witnesses to see her alive were the reclusive Three Bears, and right away Spratt senses something furry—uh, funny—about their story, starting with the porridge. The Fourth Bear is a delirious new romp from our most irrepressible fabulist.©2006 Jasper Fforde; (P)2006 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., and Books on Tape

Critic reviews

Jasper Fforde is able to write diabolically. . . . Outrageous satirical agility is his stock in trade. (The New York Times)

Like the creators of . . . The Simpsons and South Park, Mr. Fforde uses fantasy to dissect real life. . . . He is our best thinking personÆs genre writer. (The Washington Times)

Mr. Fforde manages to bombard the reader with more bizarre detail than most writers would dare to fit in their entire oeuvre, yet he does so with . . . light prose and easy, confident wit. (The Wall Street Journal)

And Now for Something Completely Different

Not different from the author's other works, but with a certain Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Black Adder, Monty Pythonesque flair that had me laughing so hard I nearly ran off the road. Other than being careful when driving, the only other warning I would give to American readers is that you need to brush up on your Edward Lear poetry in order to fully appreciate characters such as the Dong with a Luminous Nose.

Delightfully Goofy

Though some of the British humor escaped my American sensibilities, I still found this audiobook quite enjoyable, laughing out loud several times.

Are you a PDR?

Inspector Jack Spratt and the NCD gang are back. Another great nursery crime. Truly enjoyable even for non PDRs (persons of dubious reality).

More please!

I loved this book!!! I stumbled into this series and I thank the audiobook gods. Jack and Mary Mary are the best dynamic duo!

I love the inventiveness of the author. The Gingerbread Man is a serial killer. Punch and Judy are marriage counselors. Insane!! All of these stories intersect until the fourth bear is revealed. Genius!!

The narrator is pretty special as well. It takes a special talent to voice a serial killing cake/cookie, an alien (well, several, actually), a variety of bears, and an insane amount of nursery rhyme characters, not to mention Poseidon. (Did I forget to mention him?)

More please!!

very clever

This book was witty and a lot of fun. I enjoy the Jack Spratt series even more than the Thursday one. The narrator was engaging--an all-around great audiobook experience.