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''The Reptile Room'' is the second book in the children's series ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'', written by Daniel Handler under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket. The book tells the story of the Baudelaire orphans, as they are sent to live with a distant relative named Montgomery Montgomery. The villainous Count Olaf arrives in an attempt to steal the children's inheritance, killing their guardian but failing to steal the fortune. ==Plot== The three Baudelaire orphans have been placed under the care of their distant relative Dr. Montgomery Montgomery. "Uncle Monty", as he prefers to be called, is a herpetologist and a short, chubby man with a round, red face. The children immediately like him; he lets them each choose their own bedroom and informs them that they are going to accompany him on a trip to Peru to study snakes. The children are fascinated by the many snakes in the "Reptile Room", a giant hall in which Monty's reptile collection is stored. They meet the Incredibly Deadly Viper, a friendly snake with a misleading name, which Uncle Monty recently discovered. The three children are each given jobs in the Reptile Room: Violet is given the job of inventing traps for new snakes found in Peru, Klaus is told to read books on snakes to help advise Uncle Monty, and Sunny's job is to bite ropes into usable pieces. When Stephano, the new assistant, arrives, the children realize that he is Count Olaf in disguise. Count Olaf is a villain who the children used to live with, until he was caught trying to steal the fortune left behind by their parents. They try to warn Uncle Monty, but Stephano threatens them with violence. They manage to talk to Monty alone the day before their trip to Peru, but Monty is convinced that Stephano is a spy trying to steal information from his research and fails to understand their claims that Stephano is Olaf. He tears up Stephano's ticket to Peru. The following morning, the Baudelaires discover Monty's dead body in the Reptile Room. Stephano still intends to take the children to Peru, where he aims to find a way to get his hands on their fortune. However, as they are leaving the estate, Stephano's car crashes in Mr. Poe's car. They return to the house, where Poe and Stephano discuss what to do with the children. Mr. Poe refuses to believe the children when they say Stephano is Count Olaf in disguise, as Stephano lacks a tattoo of an eye on his ankle. Dr. Lucafont arrives and performs an autopsy, claiming Monty was killed by the Mamba du Mal. Klaus and Sunny stage a diversion in which the Incredibly Deadly Viper pretends to attack Sunny to allow Violet time to find and open Stephano's suitcase. Stephano, in an attempt at showing off, contradicts his story, making Mr. Poe suspicious. Violet shows up and presents Mr. Poe with evidence that Stephano murdered Monty, and that Stephano used powder to cover up his tattoo. Mr. Poe rubs his handkerchief on Stephano's ankle, revealing the eye tattoo, but before he can be arrested, Count Olaf and his associate Dr. Lucafont (revealed to be the hook-handed man, one of Olaf's troupe members) escape. A man named Bruce arrives to dismantle Monty's reptile collection. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Reptile Room」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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