Chapter Sixty-Two: Nursery Crimes Series

So after reading the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde, I decided to try his Nursery Crimes series, which currently consists of two books: The Big Over Easy and The Fourth Bear.  They feature Jack Spratt and Mary Mary, who are minor characters in the third Thursday Next book, The Well of Lost Plots.  Overall, these books aren't quite as fun or well-written as Thursday Next, but I still enjoyed them.  They're a bit more obviously parodies, the first playing off of "Humpty-Dumpty" and the second off of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears."  They are also parodies of mystery/crime novels in general, which I might appreciate more if I read more of those types of books.  Still, the characters and plots are interesting, so these books are worth reading if you're looking for more books by Fforde or if you're looking for clever, light-hearted mysteries.