Just as they are enjoying a day at Briny Beach, the three Baudelaire children --- 14-year-old Violet, 12-year-old Klaus and baby Sunny --- receive some bad news. Mr. Poe, a friend of the family, comes trekking across the foggy beach to tell the Baudelaires that their parents have died in a fire that also burned down the family mansion. Now orphaned, the Baudelaires face an uncertain future. They are soon packed off to their new guardian --- the icky Count Olaf, who is a distant cousin. But when they move in with the Count, the Baudelaire children are certain that he does not care about them --- he only wants to get his hands on the fortune Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire left behind. See if they are right, as you read this exciting and humorous tale of mystery.

   --- Reviewed by Shannon Maughan