REVIEWS: Adventures you can believe in; or maybe not, but who cares?

OK, so this is officially a book for kids ages 8 and up. OK, so stop me from reading it. You can’t. I’m not kidding.

This is an adventure novel with endearing wit and wordplay, incidental irony, fast banter and smart writing that spoofs noir crime fiction. So that’s why it also appeals to readers much older than those who wear a “young reader” badge on their shirt.

This book is the first volume in a planned autobiographical series about the adventures of the persona known as Mr. Lemony Snicket when he was a young man. The series is titled “All the Wrong Questions.”

	“Who Could That Be at This Hour?” by Lemony Snicket, art by Seth Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, $15.99, 258 pp.

Young Lemony follows instructions in a note that lead him to a woman named S. Theodora Markson to whom he apprentices. To Theodora, Lemony can’t seem to ask the right questions. But he sometimes does, you know. Theodora is not one to argue with. She and Lemony are soon driving by the Clusterous Forest to the former seaside town of Stain’d-by-the-Sea.

A Mrs. Sallis calls them to investigate the theft of a shiny black wooden statue that’s the size of a milk bottle. She suspects the Mallahans, enemies of her family “for many lifetimes.” What does the statue look like? The Bombinating Beast, that’s what.

Mr. Snicket is known for the success of his “A Series of Unfortunate Events.” His publicist, Sara Zick, writes that the series has sold more than 60 million copies worldwide. That’s some kind of readership. Mr. Snicket is supposed to be at the UNM Continuing Education Building to promote his new book. If he’s not, his representative will be. That’s what Sara Zick told me.

David Steinberg is the Journal’s Books editor and an Arts writer.

Adventures you can believe in; or maybe not, but who cares?