The Penultimate Peril
Daniel Handler
 The book starts off where The Grim Grotto left off. The Baudelaires are traveling with pregnant Kit Snicket to the Hotel Denouement where they start their new jobs as concierges, but secretly they are flâneurs, there to learn whether the mysterious "J.S." is helping V.F.D. or its enemies. Kit warns them not to trust Ernest, the identical twin brother to Frank, the hotel manager. Violet's first task takes her to the rooftop sunbathing salon, where she encounters Esmé Squalor, Carmelita Spats, and Daily Punctilio reporter Geraldine Julienne. She hears Esme and Geraldine discussing a cocktail party which J.S. supposedly will try to spoil, but is sent off by Carmelita to get her a harpoon gun. As she leaves, she overhears Esme mention that her fashionable eyewear are to watch the skies. Violet asks Frank for the harpoon gun and returns to the roof. Klaus takes Sir and Charles (from The Miserable Mill) to the sauna. Eavesdropping on their conversation, he overhears them talk about a party on Thursday, and someone with the initials of J.S. However, Frank enters the room and in asks Klaus to hang a flypaper-like roll of sticky paper outside the window, in order to catch and trap any falling birds. At the same time Sunny meets Vice Principal Nero, Mr. Remora, and Mrs. Bass from The Austere Academy. She leads them to an Indian restaurant in the hotel, run by Hal from The Hostile Hospital. Sunny listens in to a conversation between Hal and Frank. They too discuss J.S. and mysteriously refer to her as a woman, but then spot Sunny. Ernest gives her a lock to create a Vernacularly Fastened Door and has her put it on the laundry room door. That night, the Baudelaires exchange stories and realise that as Frank could not be in three places at the same time, one of the men must be Ernest but who could the third one be? Klaus deduces that a crow will bring the sugar bowl to the Hotel. It will be shot down by the harpoon gun, fall onto the flypaper, and drop the sugar bowl into the laundry room vent. Suddenly, they see a man descending from the ceiling of the lobby. They think it is Ernest or Frank, but it turns out to be the third triplet, Dewey Denouement who was the one Sunny encountered. Klaus had encountered Ernest, who wanted the flypaper hung to catch the crow for the villains. And Violet had encountered Frank, who slyly tried to tell Violet not to give the harpoon gun to Carmelita by saying "Are you sure a harpoon gun should be given to a young girl on the roof?" Dewey tells them that there is a duplicate of the Hotel at the bottom of the pond, containing a catalogue of all the secrets of V.F.D., which he has spent his entire life collecting. Then Justice Strauss and Jerome Squalor, who both believe that they are the J.S. being contacted, arrive by taxi. Justice Strauss has been working with the High Court to help the Baudelaires, and Jerome - who also felt bad over how he treated the orphans - has written a book on the matter called Odious Lusting After Finance, in order to bring more attention to Count Olaf's treacherous misdeeds. The High Court justices are coming to put Olaf and the other evil people of V.F.D. on trial and so—on Thursday—all of the noble people will arrive to give evidence. Re-entering the hotel, they encounter Count Olaf who says that the Hook-handed man and Fiona stole his submarine. Hugo, Colette and Kevin, the three carnival freaks who joined Olaf in The Carnivorous Carnival, all arrive. Olaf also hints that the Baudelaire's own parents were not noble, and that they had something to do with a box of poison darts in an opera. Later, it is said that the poison darts were used to kill Olaf's parents, which Kit and Lemony Snicket say they were involved in, at the "fateful night at the opera". Dewey tells Olaf of the catalogue he has made, which prompts Esmé to comment that he must already know what is inside the sugar bowl, and why it is so important. She also mentions that Beatrice stole the sugar bowl from her. Olaf takes the harpoon gun from Carmelita and threatens Dewey. The Baudelaires shield him and approach Olaf as he counts to ten, however he is interrupted by the distinctive coughing of Mr. Poe, who has come from his room to investigate the loud noises. Count Olaf quickly shoves the gun into the Baudelaire's hands. Not expecting it, the Baudelaires accidentally drop the heavy gun to the ground. It discharges, and a harpoon impales Dewey, inflicting a fatal wound. As he dies he thinks of Kit Snicket who is the love of his life, and is now carrying his baby. Dewey stumbles out of the hotel and the Baudelaires watch as he sinks into the pond. Justice Strauss's taxi driver - an enigmatic man smoking a cigarette - offers to take them away, but they cannot tell whether he is a volunteer or a villain, and they realize they cannot leave the scene of the crime. As the entire hotel is quickly awakened, the Baudelaires walk back into the hotel, and the taxi driver drives the cab away. Justice Strauss breaks the ensuing chaos up by demanding that the accused must be brought to justice in a legal trial, and both the Baudelaires and Count Olaf are locked in separate rooms until the trial. It is early Wednesday morning when the Baudelaires go to bed, and they wake in the afternoon where they are returned to the lobby for the trial. In the trial, the phrase "justice is blind" is taken literally, and everyone except the judges are blindfolded. The trial begins and Olaf gives a brief speech where he states his innocence. The Baudelaires, however, are beginning to question their own nobility and morality and so they answer that they are "comparatively innocent". When Justice Strauss stops commenting in sentences, the Baudelaires get suspicious and remove their blindfolds to discover that the other justices are Olaf's villainous associates: the man with a beard but no hair, and the woman with hair but no beard. Olaf flees to the elevator, with a bound and gagged Justice Strauss and the Baudelaires in pursuit. Despite the Baudelaires telling everyone what has happened and they should take off their blindfolds, the villains respond that if they do so, they would be held in contempt of court, so everyone leaves them on. The Baudelaires go with Olaf and Justice Strauss to the basement laundry room, believing the sugar bowl to be inside. They unlock the Vernacularly Fastened Door for Olaf, only to find that the sugar bowl is not there. Angered, Olaf declares that he is going to the roof to get the specimen of Medusoid Mycelium which he will spread through the hotel, killing everyone. He will then escape, by jumping off the roof in a boat. Violet agrees to help, because they also need an escape route as they are wanted by the authorities. Sunny then abruptly suggests that they burn down the Hotel, and Olaf agrees, instructing the children to start a fire in the laundry room. In the elevator the Baudelaires press all of the buttons it stops on every floor, so they can inform everyone about the fire and the need to evacuate. However, everyone is still blindfolded and when Olaf shouts that the fire warning is a lie, they believe him. On the roof, Klaus reveals that the sugar bowl fell into the pond and not into the laundry room. Using sheets from the laundry room, Violet makes a chute for the boat to safely make it off the building. Justice Strauss attempts to stop the Baudelaires leaving on the boat, but Sunny bites her hand and makes her let go. The boat floats safely down to the ocean, and the Baudelaires are left both literally and figuratively adrift "in the same boat" as Count Olaf. Flames engulf the Hotel Denouement as they sail away.