Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse by Robert Rankin

Imagine a town where toys and nursery rhymes come to life and pursue human activities: they walk, talk, eat, drink and commit heinous crimes. This is the land that Rankin creates. 13-year-old Jack goes to the City to find his fortune, unaware that the City is in fact Toy City, where legends and fables walk (or stumble, if they've had too much to drink). He meets up with detective teddy bear, Eddie, who is investigating the murder of Humpty Dumpty. When Little Boy Blue is offed, it's clear that a serial killer is prowling Toy City, leaving behind the titular chocolate bunnies as his calling card.

We see a lot of familiar characters but we get to see their riotous back stories: Miss Muffett hosts a daytime TV talk show called "The Tuffet"; Mother Goose (who prefers to be called Madame Goose) runs a brothel; Humpty Dumpty was likely a failed television stuntman named Terry Horsey. Although the story is wickedly clever and the payoff is a great and satisfying surprise, the real delight comes from watching Rankin work his linguistic magic: characters talk in hilariously circular and self-aware dialogue, and puns and wordplay are packed into the prose like sardines in a tin.

Jasper Fforde is one of my favorite authors so I thought I would give this a try. This is not for the faint of heart as it is in the gutter humor. No holds bared as the saying goes. I would go out hunting for more but down the road when I'm in the mood for raunchy British humor I might see what else he has to offer.