THERE SEEMS TO BE A MESSAGE WRITTEN INSIDE YOUR CHRISTMAS PUDDING. AND IT'S IN FRENCH. MEET ME AT FARLEY CASTLE, TOMORROW AFTERNOON. MOST URGENT.' Her great friend Jane Austen warned her against accepting a position at Miss Climpson's Select Seminary for Young Ladies. Nevertheless, just before Christmas, Miss Arabella Dempsey finds herself face to face with French aristocrats and international spies - and it's all because of Reginald 'Turnip' Fitzhugh, often mistaken for the elusive spy the Pink Carnation, who has blundered across her path. When Turnip and Arabella discover a cryptic French message inside a beautifully wrapped Christmas pudding, they are launched on a festive adventure - from Jane Austen's modest house to the grand estate of the Dukes of Dovedale - and, perhaps, love blossoms along the way...