Bestselling Lemony Snicket’s fast-talking writing is brilliantly on display in this wise cracking detective story which is full of references to the great detective writers of the past. Thirteen year Snicket is apprenticed to S. Theodora Markson, a second rate detective who is investigating a theft in small and unusual town of Stain’d-by-the-Sea. It doesn’t take Snicket long to start working for himself piecing together all the clues in a topsy-turvy world with a host of brilliantly ridiculous characters. November 2012 Book of the Month.
The first volume in the highly anticipated new series by Lemony Snicket, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events.
In a fading town, far from anyone he knew or trusted, a young Lemony Snicket began his apprenticeship in an organization nobody knows about. He began asking questions that shouldn't have been on his mind. Now he has written an account that should not be published, in four volumes that shouldn't be read. This is the first volume.
Lemony Snicket had an unusual education and a perplexing youth, and now endures a despondent adulthood. His previous published works include the thirteen volumes in A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Composer Is Dead, and 13 Words. His forthcoming book, “Who Could That Be at This Hour?”, which is the first question in a series of All The Wrong Questions, will be made available only to the general public on October 23, 2012. He is represented in all matters literary, legal, and social by Daniel Handler, author of the Printz Honor-award winning Why We Broke Up.
Click here to read a Q&A with the author from top children's publisher Egmont or read on at your own risk...
Lemony Snicket was born before you were, and is likely to die before you as well. His family has roots in a part of the country which is now underwater, and his childhood was spent in the relative splendor of the Snicket Villa which has since become a factory, a fortress and a pharmacy and is now, alas, someone else's villa. To the untrained eye, Mr. Snicket's hometown would not appear to be filled with secrets. Untrained eyes have been wrong before.
The aftermath of the scandal was swift, brutal and inaccurately reported in the periodicals of the day. It is true, however, that Mr. Snicket was stripped of several awards by the reigning authorities, including Honorable Mention, the Grey Ribbon and First Runner Up. The High Council reached a convenient if questionable verdict and Mr. Snicket found himself in exile.
Though his formal training was chiefly in rhetorical analysis, he has spent the last several eras researching the travails of the Baudelaire orphans. This project, being published serially by HarperCollins, takes him to the scenes of numerous crimes, often during the offseason. Eternally pursued and insatiably inquisitive, a hermit and a nomad, Mr. Snicket wishes you nothing but the best.
Due to the world-wide web of conspiracy which surrounds him, Mr. Snicket often communicates with the general public through his representative, Daniel Handler. Mr. Handler has had a relatively uneventful life, and is the author of three books for adults, The Basic Eight, Watch Your Mouth, and Adverbs, none of which are anywhere near as dreadful as Mr. Snicket's. Like Mr. Snicket, Mr. Handler wishes you nothing but the best.