When Harry Booth started stealing at nine, it was to keep a roof over his ailing mother's head and pay her medical bills. At night, in darkness, he'd slip into rich people's empty homes, opening drawers and safes filled with luxuries he could trade for precious cash. When his mother finally succumbed to cancer after a long, valiant battle, he left Chicago - but kept up his nightwork. From leaving a party at a Savannah mansion with a diamond bracelet...

In a fading town, far from anyone he knew or trusted, a young Lemony Snicket began his apprenticeship in an organization nobody knows about. He started by asking questions that shouldn't have been on his mind. Now he has written an account that should not be published, in four volumes that shouldn't be read. This is the first volume.