Bob Burke (3)

This was a fun tale much in the vein of Jasper Fforde's Nursery Crime series, only much simpler. The third pig is the surviving brother of "The Three Little Pigs" who had built his house with brick. He's approached to find the stolen lamp of Mr. Aladdin, Grimmtown's most reclusive, powerful, and wealthy resident.

Lots of tongue-in-cheek in-jokes for the fairy and folk tale fans, and a nice plot twist at the end.

It would have rated higher except:
1) I wish it had been longer.
2) Harry's gumshoe jargon was a little wearying.

Other than that, an enjoyable read.… (mehr)

An omnibus of three stories, I read two of them. This was not the book for me. Although I love fairy tales, and reworkings of fairy tales, and noir detective fiction, I wasn't in the mood for it. Perhaps it was trying too hard? Perhaps I am in the wrong place mentally? Not sure. I would not tell someone else to not try it, because the writing wasn't bad, just a bit twee for my tastes. Trying too hard. Too much "cleverness" not enough plot and substance to the mystery. The two books I read were very predictable and I was so tired of the word, "trotters." In fact, I don't think the author could decide whether a pig could function as a detective or not, because the pig seemed to be doing fine, then all of a sudden we are reminded that he couldn't do something because of his "trotters" when he had been doing other similar stuff all along. It threw me out of the story.… (mehr)