num_pages: 340
description: Arabella Dempseys dear friend Jane Austen warned her against teaching. But Miss Climpsons Select Seminary for Young Ladies seems the perfect place for Arabella to claim her independence while keeping an eye on her younger sisters nearby. Just before Christmas she accepts a position at the quiet girls school in Bath expecting to face nothing more exciting than conducting the annual Christmas recital. She hardly imagines coming face to face with French aristocrats and international spies Reginald Turnip Fitzhughoften mistaken for the elusive spy known as the Pink Carnationhas blundered into danger before. But when he blunders into Miss Arabella Dempsey it never occurs to him that she might be trouble. When Turnip and Arabella stumble upon a beautifully wrapped Christmas pudding with a cryptic message written in French Meet me at Farley Castle the unlikely vehicle for intrigue launches the pair on a Yuletide adventure that ranges from the Austens modest drawing room to the awe-inspiring estate of the Dukes of Dovedale where the Dowager Duchess is hosting the most anticipated event of the year: an elaborate 12-day Christmas celebration. Will they find poinsettias or peril dancing or danger? And is it possible that the fate of the British Empire rests in Arabella and Turnips hands in the form of a festive Christmas pudding?
language: English
title: The Mischief of the Mistletoe
publisher: Dutton