“One morning I was arguing with the adult in charge of me.”

From Lemony Snicket’s File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents.

While staying in the quiet, dying town of Stain’d-by-the-Sea, young detective Lemony Snicket has been caught up in several mysteries. His most recent puzzling incidents include a wide variety of problems from a young miner with falling picture to a spy in trouble to a brick-throwing gang wrecking havoc on local stores. While young Snicket stumbles into some of the mysteries, many are brought to him by his friends around town. Along with bringing him cases, Moxie the young reporter, Pip and Squeak the taxi drivers, Jake the cook, and Dashiell the librarian all try to help Snicket figure out the mystery, but he always seems to figure out what’s happening first. Not everyone in Stain’d-by-the-Sea is happy to work with young Snicket, including the bumbling and constantly-bickering police officers, their spoiled son, and even Snicket’s ditzy legal guardian. Despite all the dangers and challenges that Snicket faces while investigating the thirteen mysteries, he never wavers or gives any case less than his brilliant best.

Similar the Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events but different, this book is a standalone to the sort-of prequel series All the Wrong Questions and it features the same wit and humor that makes Snicket’s books so entertaining. The young protagonist is bright and relatable, making him the perfect narrator to lead readers through the short mysteries. The solution for each story is separate from the mystery forcing readers to try to notice the clues needed to solve the mystery along with the narrator. This collection of thirteen short mysteries moves quick and makes File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents a must-read.