As a lover of Daniel Handler and his Lemony Snicket alias for young readers, I was thrilled for the much-anticipated release of his latest: “Who Could That Be at This Hour?” (public library) tells the story of a young Snicket, who begins his apprenticeship in a secret organization and soon finds himself in trouble after asking “four wrong questions, more or less.” The black-gray-and-blue illustrations by celebrated cartoonist Gregory Gallant, better-known as Seth, are the perfect complement to Snicket’s signature style — mischievous, sophisticated without taking itself too seriously, brimming with a playful love of language.

The story pulls you in by the collar from the very first paragraph and doesn’t let go until the very last page:

There was a town, and there was a girl, and there was a theft. I was living in the town, and I was hired to investigate the theft, and I thought the girl had nothing to do with it. I was almost thirteen and I was wrong. I was wrong about all of it.

“Who Could That Be at This Hour?” is the first installment in a four-book series titled All The Wrong Questions.