A Series of Unfortunate Events

Thirteen books, published between 1999 and 2006, recounting the misfortunes of Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire, orphaned when their parents die in a fire and passed from one unsuitable guardian to the next while the villainous Count Olaf schemes to steal their fortune. Narrated by Lemony Snicket - the pen name of Daniel Handler - who warns the reader at every turn to put the book down, the series grows from gothic comedy into a sprawling mystery about a secret organisation known as V.F.D., and deliberately leaves many of its questions unanswered.