File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents

This is Lemony Snicket's version of Encyclopedia Brown. It's got all of the wordplay and literary reference of Snicket's other works combined with the opportunity to exercise those sleuth skills and feel smarter than all the other kids, even if you're... you know, 32. It's a great mystery array for kids which they can then reread as adults and wonder at all the jokes they missed.

I LOVE Lemony Snicket. This isn't news. I love his clever wordplay and melancholy noir Jr aesthetic and his wild literary allusions.

13 Suspicious Incidents is great because it's 13 Encyclopedia Brown-style mini-mysteries, so it's mostly just pure, unconcentrated Snicket style without any big sweeping conspiracies. I laughed out loud several times while reading this, and I think I successfully guessed 2 of the 13 mysteries. (I'm not good at mysteries.)

I'm kind of mad that I started reading the print version before learning that the audio is read by a bunch of nerds I love, including Ira Glass, Sarah Vowell, and Rachel Maddow?? What is happening?? I might have to revisit this one on audio at some date in the future.