"In a world where disease has been eliminated, the only way to die is to be randomly killed ('gleaned') by professional reapers ('scythes'). Two teens must compete with each other to become a scythe--a position neither of them wants. The one who becomes a scythe must kill the one who doesn't"--

Thirteen-year-old Lemony Snicket begins his apprenticeship with S. Theodora Markson of the secretive V.F.D. in the tiny dot of a town called Stain'd By The Sea, where he helps investigate the theft of a statue.

Young Tom, the seventh son of a seventh son, starts work as an apprentice for the village spook, whose job is to protect ordinary folk from "ghouls, boggarts, and all manner of wicked beasties." Capturing witches Binding boggarts Driving away ghosts For years, Old Gregory has been the Spook for the county, ridding the local villages of evil. Now his time is coming to an end. But who will take over for him? Twenty-nine apprentices have tried-some floundered,...

Apprentice Septimus Heap must enter the Darke to save the Castle and the Wizard Tower from destruction, but he needs the help of many to battle the spreading Darkenesse.

Young wizard's apprentice Connwaer travels to the city of Desh to find the source of the malevolent shadowmen who are plaguing Wellmet City.

In the fading town of Stain'd-by-the-Sea, young apprentice Lemony Snicket has a new case to solve when he and his chaperone are hired to find a missing girl. Is the girl a runaway? Or was she kidnapped? Was she seen last at the grocery store? Or could she have stopped at the diner? Is it really any of your business? These are All The Wrong Questions.

On a mission to pay the ransom of a new ally, apprentice Will and his friends find themselves in a desert wasteland awash with enemies.

When witches steal Tom's inheritance and kidnap his relatives, Tom, the Spook, and Alice set out for Pendle Hill, a particularly dangerous district, in hopes of preventing the three witch clans from uniting to raise the Fiend, the Devil himself, thus bringing about an age of darkness.

The "No Popery" or Gordon Riots of 1780 include orgies and fires and Lord George Gordon as a major figure.

Wolf Boy is sent on a Task by Aunt Zelda, while Septimus and the dragon, Spit Fyre, fly off to bring their friends home, but they all wind up on an island whose secrets are as dangerous as its inhabitants.