Murder by Death

I liked this one better than the first one, in spite of my general dislike of extortion plots.  A large part of my enjoyment probably comes from knowing what was going on from page 1, as opposed to the half-book it took me to figure that out in Jane Eyre.  This is an incredibly complicated universe Fforde has created and I can't imagine what the inside of his head must be like.

There's no way I can really adequately talk about this book, there's just too much going on, so I'll just say it's an incredibly fun read.  It's funny, it's well-written and it celebrates the written word and language like no other book I've ever read. I love the word play the author uses, both the obvious ones (villains named Schitt-Hawse) and the not so obvious ones (Agents Phodder and Kannon).  I laughed loud and long when I read about Mycroft's "retirement".

I'm so happy I found these books when I did; they're the kind you savour, not devour, which means I have a heck of a lot of fun reading ahead of me.  Who knows? by the time I finish the ones I have, the next one (or two!) might finally be released.