“Who Could It Be At This Hour?” (review)

Before becoming the chronicler of the Baudelaire children’s encounters with bad luck, Lemony Snicket, in this fictional autobiography, was a mere slip of a boy with “an unusual education” that eventually gained him an apprenticeship with an elite organization—though what that organization does is apparently not for the reader to know. Snicket begins his career of spying? crimefighting? secret-spilling? under the laughably inept guidance of S. Theodora Markson, whose services have been called upon to return a priceless statuette to its rightful owner in the town of Stain’d-by-the-Sea. Of course, there are far more sinister happenings going on in the small forgotten village, and a few narrow escapes, conveniently overheard conversations, and a named but as-of-yet-unseen villain ensure readers that this is a series opener. For those familiar with Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events (The Bad Beginning, BCCB 9/99, etc.), much here will be familiar: wacky names, a snarky tone, hapless grownups who are mostly indulged by the young heroes, and repetitive references to offscreen occurrences all appear here. Handler’s—er, Snicket’s writing has tightened up a bit, and the hero offers up some poignant moments of wisdom in the middle of all the madcap mayhem. Readers who balked at the thirteen-volume length of the Unfortunate Event series will be pleased to know there are only four books proposed for this series. Occasional cartoony illustrations, in shadowy tones of blue, gray, and black, reflect the kooky noir tone of the text.