Once Upon a Crime

Paperback Published on: 19/10/2023
Price: £10.99
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Synopsis

THE ABSURD CRIME FICTION PARODY BY FICTIONAL AUTHOR 'MARTIN FISHBACK' - AS SEEN ON BBC TWO

'What's better than a good crime novel? I'll tell you - a spoof crime novel, by the absurdly funny and clever Fergus Craig'
MIRANDA HART

'We all need more laughs like this'
AISLING BEA

Exeter: a city in decline, East Devon's capital of crime.

Detective Roger LeCarre: a man on a quest to rid the world of crime (starting with Devon and Cornwall and then working outwards) so he can concentrate on his watercolours.

LeCarre runs 10km a day but probably burns more calories shaking his head at what has become of his city. Now Exeter is set to become the UK Capital of Culture and the ambitious Lord Mayor wants to turn things around. But when a young man's (dead) body is found in the centre of town, things get murky.

Detective Roger LeCarre is a character never seen before in modern fiction - a tough but troubled detective with a drink problem and a marriage in trouble. Can he find out who killed the young man, save the city and change his energy provider before the new more expensive tariff kicks in?

Filled with drama, eroticism and very specific Wikipedia-sourced information on Devon, Once Upon A Crime is a thriller that takes itself very seriously and that should not, on any account, actually be taken seriously.

Publisher information

  • Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
  • ISBN: 9781408730645
  • Number of pages: 272
  • Dimensions: 196 x 126 x 26 mm
  • Weight: 218g
  • Languages: English

Customer Reviews

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Once Upon a Crime
Really terrible, unreadable.
I love a good crime novel. Loved The Thursday Murder Club, and the sequel. This is unreadable, it's like he just picked up a car manual at the start of cha... READ MORE
Tracy Kerry-Cliff
Once Upon a Crime
A comedy caper that runs out of steam
First and foremost this is a comedy book that happens to involve crime not a crime novel with a comedic twist ( such as Richard Osman, Ian Moore, Robert Th... READ MORE
Stephen - The Bookworm
Once Upon a Crime
A Ripping Gripping Yarn
It had me by the end of the first chapter with the mint sauce joke. From then on I enjoyed it as a funny ripping yarn and couldn't put it down. By the end ... READ MORE
Julia Szoka
Once Upon a Crime
Once Upon a Crime
This is exactly the book that the Amazon "look inside" feature was made for. It is going to be a controversial book - a marmite book. You're either going t... READ MORE
Ashrae
Once Upon a Crime
Comedic Police Procedural
This is a police procedural set in the present but with a chief protagonist (and his colleagues and the criminals) channelling the 1970s (that is fifty yea... READ MORE
Denis
Once Upon a Crime
Crime explosion in Exeter!
Definitely good fun but whether the joke will run to a series, I am not convinced. I will look out for book 2 and give it a whirl though. Thanks to Netga... READ MORE
Athena99
Once Upon a Crime
Frankly didn't work for me
Detective Roger LeCarre is the best policeman in Exeter - indeed in the South West of England - at least in his opinion. He is a troubled character with a... READ MORE
Nigel
Once Upon a Crime
Fantastic
Not sure what the below readers have read, but this was brilliant. Had me in absolute stitches. Hard to not like Le Carre. It's even better on audiobook. I... READ MORE
Beth Cooper
Once Upon a Crime
Sue Perb.
I've seen Fergus on a few tv programmes, most recently in the excellent 'The Other Bennet Sister' series. His 'Martin Fishback' was great too. As is his fo... READ MORE
Neil Davis
Once Upon a Crime
A spoof crime novel, but the joke wears thin quickly
Thank you to the author, publishers Little, Brown and NetGalley UK for access to this as an advance reader’s ebook. This is an honest and voluntary review.... READ MORE
Lisey P
Once Upon a Crime
Intentionally terrible
This is an intentionally terrible and therefore amusing novel about the seedy crime world of Exeter and the brave, handsome, hard-drinking, sexually irresi... READ MORE
Verity Halliday