Chapter 5 Summary

Chapter Five opens with Klaus carefully reading Aunt Josephine's suicide note again and again. Violet snaps at him, since she cannot bear to think about what has happened to Aunt Josephine. In the letter, Aunt Josephine leaves the three children in the care of Captain Sham, which has increased their peril significantly. They consider destroying the note, but unfortunately, Violet has already telephoned Mr. Poe to tell him what happened and told him that their aunt left the note.

Desperate to find a solution to that will allow them to avoid being sent to Captain Sham, Klaus begins to notice that there are several grammatical and spelling mistakes in the letter and points this out to Violet. They quarrel briefly, but Sunny quickly breaks up the argument. Klaus begins to hypothesize that Count Olaf may have forged the note.

Mr. Poe arrives and...