The Fourth Bear

The 2nd book in the Nursery Crime series, The Fourth Bear. It could very easily be argued that this book is even better than The Big Over Easy, which was amazing on its own.

The story follows Jack Spratt & Mary Mary as they attempt to find out what happened to Henrietta "Goldilocks" Hatchett. Meanwhile, there is the fact a mentally unstable killer (the Gingerbread Man) has escaped... and despite being a Nursery Crime Division case, it is given to David Copperfield instead of Spratt... with Spratt having received a lot of negative attention when The Big Bad Wolf was able to eat Little Red Riding Hood & her grandmother.

Spratt is unwilling to attend counseling to be declared 'mentally sane', so he is given time off, with Mary Mary taking over the NCD. Of course, Jack is not going that easily, and is helping Mary in the search for Goldilocks, though they also have a couple of unplanned run ins with the Gingerbread Man.

What happened to Goldilocks? Will Copperfield be able to catch the Gingerbread Man? And what is the relation between those 2 and the death of a couple professional cucumber growers (who grow them for sport, not to eat)?

Another great read by Jasper Fforde.