In this instalment, the Baudelaires are sent to live with a wealthy couple obsessed with fashion and trends in the penthouse suite of a huge dark house. The illogical nature of fashion is explored at great length: the house is dark because light is ‘out’; they drink ‘aqueous’ martinis (water with an olive) and later parsley soda because alcoholic cocktails are ‘out’; they have to walk up hundreds of steps to reach the penthouse because elevators are ‘out’, a factor that ends up linking in to the plot. Indeed, the couple have reportedly only adopted the Baudelaires at this point in their misfortunes because orphans are, too, ‘in’. This was my favourite and in my view the most effective aspect of the novel, and links in very well with the overarching theme in the series of intellectualism over superficiality.

Much like in The Miserable Mill, we see a very imbalanced power dynamic, in which the woman, Esmé, is in charge, and her husband goes along with her wishes to avoid conflict. There’s also the interesting dynamic of an obviously disguised Olaf showing up in the guise of ‘Gunther’, an auctioneer for the wealthy, and the Baudelaires being accused of xenophobia in a knee-jerk fashion when they object to his presence. We also get more of a twist of a guardian’s ulterior motives, because we discover that Esmé knew of ‘Gunther’s’ true identity and is in league with him because of some vendetta against Beatrice which is not explained; this is the first real hint we’ve had of a backstory for one of the guardians which links in with the broader plot, much of which appears to have been established by events which precede the timeline of the series.

The hall in which the auction takes place is named ‘Veblen Hall’, after the economist Thorstein Veblen, who coined the term ‘conspicuous consumption’ (and they also reference Milton Friedman in the show), and in this case, the mysterious ‘VFD’ box turns out to be a set of ‘very fancy doilies’, which is particularly on-theme. I missed the reference to Thomas Pynchon’s [b:The Crying of Lot 49|2794|The Crying of Lot 49|Thomas Pynchon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375727632l/2794._SY75_.jpg|1477756], which also involves stamps being sold at Lot 49 of an auction — an unusually highbrow reference for a children’s book. Esmé Squalor’s name is also, apparently, a reference to J. D. Salinger’s [b:For Esme—With Love and Squalor|5116|For Esme—With Love and Squalor, and Other Stories|J.D. Salinger|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1378563583l/5116._SY75_.jpg|1839377], which I have heard of but also somehow managed to elude me. Certainly the humour in this book is some of the strongest in the series, as are the allusions, and make up for the relatively slow progression of plot.