However, the two Beatrices, despite sharing a name, are clearly separate individuals, and while Lemony Snicket's letters are plainly written beginning from his childhood and ending shortly before Violet Baudelaire is born, the Beatrice writing to Snicket is apparently writing after the events of The End.

The older Beatrice is the one referred to throughout A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket as his deceased love, and her identity as the mother of the Baudelaire children from the series is revealed in The Beatrice Letters, but the younger Beatrice's identity is not directly explained, apart from the statement that she also has some connection to Violet, Klaus, and Sunny (although in The End it is revealed that she is the daughter of Kit Snicket).

The book contains twelve punch-out letters (of the alphabet, as opposed to correspondence, although the ambiguity is intentional), and each is mentioned in different, interesting ways.

The book also includes a poster of what appears to be the wreckage of the Beatrice, along with a cave, Klaus's glasses, Violet's hair ribbon, and Sunny's cookbooks.

Kidsreads.com praised The Beatrice Letters, claiming "Snicket incorporates what could, surprisingly, be one of the most touching and heartfelt (if absurd) love letters ever written...[it] heightens the stakes, and the anticipation, for Snicket's eagerly awaited Book the Thirteenth.