Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales are often thought of as being just for kids, but they are packed with crimes like theft (Beauty and the Beast), breaking and entering (Goldilocks), and attempted murder (Hansel and Gretel), that have inspired authors to create adult mystery series based on the classics that we all know. Here are 3 book series and a TV series you will want to check-out if you enjoy your fairy tales or nursery rhymes with a dash of investigation and a sprinkle of humor.
The Fourth Bear and The Big Over Easy
by Jasper Fforde
You may remember that I mentioned Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series in my lists of favorites. In the same alternate book universe where book characters are real, Jasper Fforde has written two books in his Nursery Crime Series. In The Big Over Easy, detective Jack Spratt and his assistant Mary Mary look into the death of a certain Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III. In the second novel in the mystery series, The Fourth Bear, Spratt and Mary must stop one tough cookie aka the Gingerbread Man from a murderous spree and find the missing Goldilocks.
The Sorcerer’s Appendix
by P.J. Brackston
If you ever wondered what happened to Gretel after she escaped the witch and her Gingerbread house in the woods; Brackston’s answer is that she is now all grown up and working as a private investigator in a whimsical fantasy version of 18th Century Bavaria inhabited both by historic characters like Mozart and fairy tale ones like big bad wolves. The Sorcerer’s Appendix is the latest in Brackston’s humorous Brothers Grimm Mystery Series. In this outing story, Gretel must make her way back into the woods and discover whether a sorcerer who disappeared leaving behind only his appendix is really deceased or still alive. Gretel is a prickly heroine who makes you route for her despite her less than perfect princess demeanor.
The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
by Robert Rankin
In The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse, Robert Rankin imagines a Toy City where the classic nursery rhyme characters are the rich and famous elite, who are a target of a serial killer. The only ones that can stop the murdering psychopath are the city’s sole detective Eddie Bear and his BFF Jack. You can also check out the sequel The Toyminator, if you want to read more about Eddie and Jack’s humorous adventures.
Grimm
Last year the long running TV series, Grimm, ended its 6 year run. Grimm was based on the idea that the creatures or “wesen” from the Brother’s Grimm stories were real and hiding among us only able to be viewed by “Grimms” like Nick, the detective main character of the show. My favorite characters in the show were two of the “wesen”, Rosalie and Monroe, who helped Nick on his adventures. I’ll miss the series, but luckily all six seasons are available on DVD to rewatch again and again.
Written by Aimee Harris, Head of Reference
Hoboken Public Library Blog 