Justice Strauss appears to have been recruited by VFD to find the Baudelaires and put a stop to the crimes of Olaf and his allies:

“And I’m afraid I wasn’t a guardian at all,” Justice Strauss said. “As soon as you were taken away in that automobile, I knew I had done the wrong thing, and when I heard the dreadful news about Dr. Montgomery I began searching for you. Eventually I found other people who were also trying to battle the wicked villains of this world, but I always hoped I would find you myself, if only to say how sorry I was.”

[The Penultimate Peril, Chapter Eight]

But clearly the implication of such an important character couldn’t limit itself to watching birds with sunoculars or caring for three orphaned children. No, Strauss’ recruitment is part of much more important plan designed by VFD; “saving” the Baudelaires is more of an incentive the organization uses to motivate her.

When did this recruitment scheme start? How was Jacques Snicket involved? And what does it teach us about VFD’s actual plan during the events of “The Penultimate Peril”? Learn more after the cut.

In order to understand the extent of Jacques’ scheming, we have to go back to the beginning. And by the beginning, we mean before the beginning of “The Bad Beginning”:

p.18 [The Baudelaire orphans] passed an enormous pile of dirt where the Royal Gardens once stood. For more information on the destruction of the Royal Gardens, interested parties might turn to the following articles in The Daily Punctilio, the city’s newspaper: “Arson suspected in Destruction of Royal Gardens,” by Jacques Snicket, and “Absolutely No Arson or Any Other Suspicious Thing Associated with the Royal Gardens, which Simply Burned to the Ground and Then Were Covered in Dirt Due to Wind, Says Official Fire Department,” by Geraldine Julienne.

[The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition, p.175]

Apparently the Royal Gardens burned down some time before the Baudelaire fire, presumably at the hands of a villainous volunteer. Another day, another arson just like any other. Or is it? The Royal Gardens, which were just a throwaway line the first book, are more important than one might expect:

“The Snicket siblings?” Klaus was quick to ask.

“Aye,” the captain said. “Three of them, each as noble as the next. Aye! Kit Snicket helped build this submarine! Aye! Jacques Snicket proved that the Royal Gardens Fire was arson! Aye! And the third sibling, with the marmosets–”

[The Grim Grotto, Chapter Five]



This is big. If Jacques Snicket managed to prove this fire was of criminal origin, and if Geraldine Julienne failed to cover up the crime in the press, whoever burned down the Royal Gardens would be in a heap of trouble soon enough. Who is this person, incidentally?

Incidentally, the Royal Gardens had several ornate wooden benches ideal for sitting and reading, or for contemplating the more exotic plants contained in the Poisonous Pavilion. All of these benches where lost in the destruction except one, which has since been moved to the lobby of a hotel. It is easily recognizable due to a small unsightly ring, left by someone who did not use a coaster underneath his or her beverage.

[The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition, p.175]



One thing I remember from my time at the [Baudelaire table] was that it was always necessary to use a coaster underneath one’s beverage so as to not leave an unsightly ring on the wood.

[The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition, p.172]



Curiously enough, Mr. Baudelaire’s brandy bottle was found on the remains of the dining table, with no coasters nearby. This would indicate that either the coasters were burned beyond recognition, or the Baudelaires had received a visitor who had no manners whatsoever.

[The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition, p.174]

p.98 But Count Olaf just sat there as calmly as if they were discussing the weather. Certain kinds of weather-severe rainstorms, for instance-have a dampening effect on fires, which is displeasing to arsonists. There have been reports of alleged arsonists so reportedly displeased with the weather that they have been rumored to pound their beverages on an unprotected wooden table.

[The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition, p.179]

…oh. It was Olaf. Sometimes the simplest solution to a problem is the right one.

But think about it: this is momentous. Some time before “The Bad Beginning”, Jacques Snicket almost managed to prove Olaf was an arsonist! It’s weird to wonder how things would have changed had he succeeded.

But why is Jacques trying so hard to prove the Royal Gardens were burned down? Because of his brother Lemony, who got the blame for all of Olaf’s acts of arson. If Jacques can prove Olaf burned down the Royal Gardens, he will have enough evidence to reopen his brother’s case and prove him innocent of all these other crimes. It’s a domino effect.

But who’s in charge of the Royal Gardens’ inquest? Well…

p.35 “I wanted to see how you children were settling in, but I had a very difficult case in the High Court and it was taking up much of my time.”

“What sort of case was it?” Klaus asked. Having been deprived of reading, he was hungry for new information.

“I can’t really discuss it,” Justice Strauss said, “because it’s official business. But I can tell you it concerns a poisonous plant and illegal use of someone’s credit card.”

Despite Geraldine Julienne’s article in The Daily Punctilio “No Poisonous Plants Were Removed from Royal Gardens Prior to Destruction, Official Fire Department Reports.” I have reason to believe that the poisonous plant Justice Strauss referred to was removed from the Royal Gardens prior to its destruction.

[The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition, p.177]



Incidentally, the Royal Gardens had several ornate wooden benches ideal for sitting and reading, or for contemplating the more exotic plants contained in the Poisonous Pavilion.

[The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition, p.175]

Jacques clearly got lucky for once: if the case had got to her two colleagues (The Woman With Hair But No Beard or The Man With Beard But No Hair), Jacques’ investigation would have been shredded. Judging by Widdershins’ comment, it seems that Strauss officially and publicly acknowledged that the fire was of criminal origin but couldn’t find a reliable suspect.

Furthermore, we can also determine a convincing motive for Olaf: his goal was to steal a poisonous plant from the Poisonous Pavilion. He started a fire to cover up his tracks with the resulting confusion of evacuation. However the rainy weather delayed the fire, which slowed him down and made him leave tons of incriminating evidence which didn’t burn down. Jacques exploited this.

What happened to the stolen plant? Well, Olaf must have hidden it somewhere… But he couldn’t exactly display it in his home, since it would have essentially proven he was the culprit. I believe, however, that Olaf did put the plant to good nefarious use. We never do find out how Olaf killed Jacques during “The Vile Village”, but he was almost certainly poisoned in his jail cell. How fitting it would be, to poison Jacques with the very stolen plant he mentioned to inculpate Olaf of theft and arson!

[NB: We’ll go back to this poisonous plant and the way Olaf eventually used it in another theory]

So we’ve established that Jacques was manipulating Strauss into judging Olaf guilty of theft and arson, probably to prove Lemony innocent and to put a stop to the atrocities commited by the other side of the Schism.

But said plan did not stop there, far from it: it turns out that the entirety of VFD’s plan in the series actually focus on Justice Strauss and the case of the Royal Gardens.

This would make sense, because the entire plan of Dewey and co in the last books is judicial in nature:

“That’s what we've been trying to tell you,” Dewey said gently. “V.F.D. has researched an entire catalog of Olaf's treachery. On Thursday, Justice Strauss and the other judges of the High Court will hear from each and every one of our volunteers. Count Olaf, Esmé Squalor, and all of the other villainous people gathered here will finally be brought to justice.”

[The Penutimate Peril, Chapter Eight]

Ideally, Dewey’s plan would have unfolded thusly:

Lure as much villainous volunteers to the Hotel Denouement by making them believe the sugar bowl will be delivered there, Attract as many noble volunteers to the Hotel Denouement with all the available evidence on the other side of the Schism, Get Justice Strauss to start a trial in the Hotel and have the police trap the villains there as key witnesses and subjects of prosecution, Grab the popcorn and watch the villains being sent to jail.

But how would Justice Strauss even start the trial? How is the Hotel even related to the case? What evidence does she have to start the prosecution of Olaf and his cronies?

Incidentally, the Royal Gardens had several ornate wooden benches ideal for sitting and reading, or for contemplating the more exotic plants contained in the Poisonous Pavilion. All of these benches where lost in the destruction except one, which has since been moved to the lobby of a hotel. It is easily recognizable due to a small unsightly ring, left by someone who did not use a coaster underneath his or her beverage.

[The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition, p.175]

The manager followed the bellboy into the crowd, leaving the Baudelaires standing alone next to a large, wooden bench marked with the number 128. Klaus ran his hand along the bench, which was etched with rings, from people setting down glasses without using coasters.

[The Penultimate Peril, Chapter Two]

We’ve finally come full circle: the bench from the Royal Gardens is the evidence of Olaf’s implication in the arson. And some volunteer or other seems to have moved this bench to the lobby of Hotel Denouement. The very lobby where the trial was supposed to start. Justice Strauss only has to point to the bench to put Olaf in the dock! Too bad she never got to use it, what with the Baudelaires being accused of manslaughter and the Hotel burning down a day early.

So there was VFD’s original plan concerning Strauss; the organization led her to the Royal Gardens case from the very beginning. The Baudelaires just sort of glued themselves on the original scheme as an additional incentive. What’s striking is that, in a way, VFD’s entire plan in “The Penultimate Peril” is an attempt to prove Lemony innocent and to punish the people who have wronged him. It would almost make you believe Lemony was at the Hotel himself, perhaps to eventually stand as a defendant of the trial. But that would be crazy.

Someone, indeed, clearly cares for this bench, because we later find out it survived the fire. It appears to have been moved to what used to be the Hotel Denouement’s garden:

That was me, knocking on your office door yesterday evening. I know you were inside, because I followed you from the library, where you stood for nearly an hour staring into a glass case containing old documents on display for the “Staged Poetry: Sonnets by Actors & Actresses” exhibit. Afterward, you sat on a bench in the park, examining a ring etched into the surface of the wood by someone careless with their drinking glass, before strolling along the edge of a nearby pond before suddenly making a mad dash for Doldrum Drive, where a bus was just pulling away. You caught the bus, while I managed to flag down a rickshaw in order to follow you through the tiresome streets of the tedious district in which your dreary building can be found.

[The Beatrice Letters, BB to LS #4]



So the “library” Beatrice Jr saw Lemony entering, eleven years after the Hotel burned down, is actually Dewey’s underwater library, the center of VFD’s accumulated knowledge. No wonder Lemony fled when he realized he was being watched! Beatrice just stumbled upon a closely guarded secret.

So both the incriminating bench and Dewey’s underwater library of evidence survived the fire. Doesn’t that mean Lemony still has some chance of clearing his good name? And will he ever seize this opportunity?