47 pages 1 hour read

Lemony Snicket

The Reptile Room

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1999

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapters 12-13

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 12 Summary

Back in the Reptile Room, Mr. Poe asks Stephano to explain why he lied about his level of snake knowledge. Stephano says he was being bashful before. Klaus says Stephano is a murderer, but Stephano says they don’t have any proof. At that moment, Violet appears with the items she found in Stephano’s suitcase: the syringe/needle, an empty vial of snake venom, and makeup.

Stephano objects that his suitcase was locked and the children shouldn’t have tampered with it. Mr. Poe says “nice girls” should not possess knowledge about lockpicking; Klaus retorts that Violet is nice and also possesses knowledge of many topics.

Klaus explains why the Mamba du Mal couldn’t have been the culprit: Uncle Monty’s body was pale, with no bruises. Violet then presents the evidence from the suitcase, demonstrating how Stephano must have drained the empty vial of snake poison into Monty’s body using the syringe and poked a second hole to resemble a snakebite. The boat tickets and Uncle Monty’s identification papers were also in Stephano’s bag, proving he was planning to pose as Uncle Monty and take the children to Peru. Lastly, Violet explains that the makeup was probably used to hide Count Olaf’s tattoo.

Related Titles

By Lemony Snicket

Plot Summary

logo

The Austere Academy

Lemony Snicket

The Austere Academy

Lemony Snicket

Study Guide

logo

The Bad Beginning

Lemony Snicket

The Bad Beginning

Lemony Snicket

Study Guide

logo

The Ersatz Elevator

Lemony Snicket

The Ersatz Elevator

Lemony Snicket

Plot Summary

logo

The Grim Grotto

Lemony Snicket

The Grim Grotto

Lemony Snicket

Plot Summary

logo

The Miserable Mill

Lemony Snicket

The Miserable Mill

Lemony Snicket

Plot Summary

logo

The Penultimate Peril

Lemony Snicket

The Penultimate Peril

Lemony Snicket

Plot Summary

logo

The Slippery Slope

Lemony Snicket

The Slippery Slope

Lemony Snicket

Plot Summary

logo

The Wide Window

Lemony Snicket

The Wide Window

Lemony Snicket