Rating: 3 1/2 stars

Rather than an entire book of short stories, publisher Untreed Reads (http://www.untreedreads.com)provides a bevy of stand-alone shorts in their Fingerprints series.

Always a sucker for the fun creative mind, I chose the story The Birds which introduces us to Nathaniel P. Osgood III, private investigator of Nurseryland.

Nathaniel is on the job when an unusually large pie containing four and twenty blackbirds is delivered to the royal family by UPS—Ultimate Pie Service—owned and operated by Little Jack Horner’s sister, Mary. Now, as is usually the case in Nurseryland, all is fun and games; until a maid loses her nose.

Trying to get to the bottom of the caper, Nathaniel first visits Mary and then pays a visit to the town bird expert—Sir Fenester J. Doolittle; distant cousin to Doctor Doolittle—whose recent research uncovered an interesting discovery regarding the violent temper of the male *bluejay after being baked into a pie. (*As everyone knows, it’s not until bluejays are baked at 350 degrees for one hour do they become black—and angry.)

Armed with new information and further use of his own deductive skills, Nathaniel’s next visit is to Jill of Jack & Jill—made famous by the pail of water incident—and who may or may not have been jealous of Jack’s alleged dalliances with a certain royal maid.

With a witty plot line and a Shrek-like feel, The Birds provides a brief, but entertaining trip to a land far, far away.

The End.

Buy it here: http://store.untreedreads.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=68_7_48_53&products_id=121
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Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 119 KB
Publisher: Untreed Reads (February 22, 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
ASIN: B004P1J24K