“Who Could That Be at This Hour?”, the first in a series of mystery novels, written by Daniel Handler. The adventure takes place in a fading town named Stain’d-by-the-Sea, circa 1930. Snicket plays the part of both narrator and detective, revealing a hero’s escapade as he combats the evil around him. The storyline mirrors the Maltese Falcon, taking cues Dashiell Hammett and Roy Del Ruth. Snicket plies his natural noble character, literacy and charisma to contend the evil, negligence, and idiocy around him. As he builds friendships, he solves and discovers enigmas. An inspection of Snicket’s character development throughout the narrative reveals a vibrant hero’s journey, which can be traced through careful overview and analysis. The All The Wrong Questions series’s hard messages focus on the loss and confusion that young people often find in the world. Disguised through comedy, noir mystery, and absurdity, “Who Could That Be at This Hour?” remains an engaging story. The adventure begins when the hero Lemony Snicket receives a secret message. S. Theodora Markson, his new chaperone in the secret organization V.F.D., slips him the note. She will guide him through …show more content…
His call to adventure comes from S. Theodora Markson, a woman with a great deal of hair, who slips him a secret note. As they drive to Stain’d-by-the-Sea, Snicket inwardly refuses his call to adventure. He had made plans and priorities, and now was being whisked away somewhere else. “The map was not the territory. I had pictured working as an apprentice in the city, where I would be able to complete a very important task with someone I could absolutely trust. But the world did not match the picture in my head, and instead I was with a strange, uncombed person, overlooking a sea without water and a forest without trees.” (32) While Snicket cannot directly reject this call to adventure, he regrets his