When the king and his closest allies are poisoned at a banquet, Freya finds herself on the throne and must uncover the identity of the murderers if she hopes to survive.

"Over the course of his long and suspicious career, Mr. Snicket has investigated many things, including villainy, treachery, conspiracy, ennui, and various suspicious fires. In this book, he is investigating his own death." --

"Twelve-year-old Minerva Keen forms a detective club to uncover who is poisoning residents of her storied Chicago apartment building, knowing that any one of her neighbors could be the poisoner--or the next victim"--

Ten-year-old Rory Branagan teams up with his neighbor, Cassidy Corrigan, and canine sidekick, Wilkins Welkin, to investigate his father's disappearance seven years before, but first gets caught up in neighborhood mysteries. --

"Kiya and Kinjal have succeeded in their first quest in the magical world of the Kingdom Beyond, but whatever good they achieved might not be enough. Their faithful flying horses Snowy and Raat reappear and whisk them back to the Kingdom to help the . . . winged merpeople who are slowly being poisoned by the very water in which they live. It is up to the twins to figure it out and put a stop to it. Fortunately, Kiya has the know-how to solve this...

Hilde and her sister/photographer Izzy have two cases to investigate for their paper, the Orange Street News: someone is stealing vegetables from the local greenhouse, and a lot of people seem to be getting sick eating the hot dogs from a local food stand--and soon Hilde starts to believe that the two cases may be related.

"When word of her accomplishments falls on the ears of His Imperial Majesty, Maomao finds herself tasked with a direct request from the throne. Turning down the emperor is out of the question for the former apothecary - if she wants to keep her head! But while acquiescing to the emperor is expected of all subjects, Maomao is about to discover that ladies-in-waiting have still more taxing duties to which to attend, as preparations for the garden banquet...