The Grim Grotto
Daniel Handler
 The book introduces the ship's cook, Phil, the Baudelaire's optimistic past fellow worker at the Lucky Smells Lumbermill. The Baudelaires discover that the crew of the Queequeg are searching for the mysterious sugar bowl. Klaus examined the tidal charts to estimate the location of the sugar bowl given the water cycle. He suspects it to be in the Gorgonian Grotto. An approaching submarine vessel on the sonar, in the shape of an octopus, captained by Count Olaf, but it is driven off by a mysterious ship which appears on the radar in the form of a question mark, which Captain Widdershins seems afraid of. Fiona then looks in her mycological textbooks to discover information about the Gorgonian Grotto. It is a cone-shaped cave which houses a rare species of poisonous mushroom. They wax and wane periodically, but when the mushrooms are waxing, they are extremely deadly. The grotto is remote enough that it can quarantine the Medusoid Mycelium from the outside world. Fiona suspects there may be an antidote to the poisonous effects of the fungus. Over dinner, the Baudelaire's discuss everything that they have learned from their journey so far. Widdershins mentions the Snicket siblings, who fought on the side of good. Jacques Snicket, whom the children saw murdered in the Village of Fowl Devotees, was a researcher similar to Klaus; Kit Snicket, who helped build the Queequeg; and before Widdershins mentions the third Snicket Sibling, Fiona interrupts him, wanting to know about the VFD Headquarters the children had been too. When the submarine arrives at the Grotto, Fiona, Klaus, Violet and Sunny are sent in. Inside it is a sandy beach scattered with many items that have washed ashore. Then they find a narrow room with a tiled floor and walls with three lamps bearing the letters "V", "F" and "D". Only the first two are lit up, so they assume the letter on the third one was not visible. Whilst they search the beach for the sugar bowl, the Medusoid Mycelium suddenly wax, springing up from the beach and the tiled floor and walls - the children retreat to the narrow room where the mushrooms do not grow, and they await the waning as there seems to be no other exit. While they are waiting, the children occupy themselves by continuing to investigate the knick-knacks lying around the cave, some of which seem to be connected to the V.F.D. including a newspaper article, a book of poetry and a personal letter. Sunny also picks up some food to prepare a meal for them all, including a tin of wasabi sauce. On returning to the submarine, they discover that Widdershins and Phil have mysteriously disappeared, leaving no sign of where they have gone. They also discover that a spore of the mushroom has infiltrated Sunny's helmet while in the grotto. Fiona stops Klaus from opening the helmet, insisting that Sunny must remain isolated in the helmet for all their safety until she can find an antidote. Just as the ship starts up, Olaf's submarine engulfs it, capturing the children. The orphans enter Olaf's ship and are taken to the brig where they are interrogated by the hook-handed man, who is revealed to be Fiona's brother - Fernald. Fiona begs him to help them get back to the Queequeg, for Sunny's sake, and Fernald finally agrees on the condition that they take him along. Back on the Queequeg, Sunny is very close to death. Klaus and Violet read Fiona's books and realize that the antidote is horseradish. They search the submarine's kitchen without finding the condiment. Violet and Klaus begin to break down but have enough courage to open up the helmet containing Sunny, and Sunny saves her own life when she manages to blurt out one word, the culinary equivalent of horseradish: wasabi--the object she took from the cave which Violet still has in her pocket. The wasabi is administered and takes rapid effect: the other two Baudelaires finish it off in case they are also affected by the fungus. While Sunny has a short nap, the telegram machine starts back up again. The Voluntary Factual Dispatch they receive is from Quigley Quagmire, The Baudelaires are needed at a certain coded location the next day, and just two days before the V.F.D. meeting at the Hotel Denouement. Klaus decodes the first poem by Lewis Carroll: they will be met at Briny Beach. As Violet begins decoding the other part (using T.S. Elliott's poem "The Waste Land"), they are discovered by Olaf and his accomplices. Olaf announces triumphantly that they are just minutes from the Hotel Denouement and Fiona has joined his team to be with Fernald. The Baudelaires are to return to the brig. Shortly after, on the radar, the mysterious question mark ship appears again. Olaf clearly knows what it is, as he orders everyone to battle stations to flee. Fiona, knowing that she has made the wrong decision, allows the Baudelaires to escape in the Queequeg. The next day they arrive on Briny Beach - back where all of their troubles began. Surprisingly, Mr. Poe emerges from the fog. He received a message from the mysterious J.S. - whom he assumes is The Daily Punctilios reporter Geraldine Julienne - that he had to meet them at the beach. He tells the children to come with him to the police station to resolve all of their troubles. Violet, however, has decoded Quigley's message and has concluded that a taxi will be at the beach for them, and she sees it in the distance. They bid farewell to Mr Poe and arrive at the taxi to find a woman at the wheel that they have never seen before. She reveals herself to be Kit Snicket so the children climb into the taxi where they drive off. Violet, Klaus, Sunny and Count Olaf return in this book, as in all previous books. Esme Squalor, Carmelita Spats and Mr Poe also appear in this book. The book marks the only appearances of Captain Widdershins and Fiona, the final appearances of the hook-handed man and Phil, and the debut of Kit Snicket. *On the last picture, there is a concierge's cap on the beach, foreshadowing The Penultimate Peril. *Sunny says etartsigam which is magistrate backwards. This could be a foreshadow of The Penultimate Peril in which two villains are unjust members of Justice Strauss jury.