Bridget Vanderpuff

Bridget Baxter is the very last orphan at the Orphanage for Errant Childs, left at the mercy of the awful Miss Acrid and her foul-smelling fish sandwiches. Miss Acrid's mission is to make Bridget's life a misery. But Bridget is more than a match for her. When kindly Mr Vanderpuff arrives at the Orphanage in search of a child to care for, Bridget thinks her luck has finally turned. Mr Vanderpuff is the village baker, and his shop is a world of wonders. But they soon discover that Bridget is absolutely terrible at baking.

Belle-on-Sea is getting ready for the Night of the Hungry Ghosts, the spookiest time of the year. Mr Vanderpuff's bake will be the centrepiece of the whole parade, but he needs a new creation and he’s totally stumped. To make matters worse, salty old seadog, Captain Lufty, and his Hat Rat, Barry, have warned that something is coming to Belle-on-Sea. Something terrible. When a ghost train is seen rattling into town, and people start to go missing – first the librarian, then the Mayor – Bridget and Tom begin tracking the train’s tracks, delighted to be in the thick of another mystery.

Someone has stolen Mr Vanderpuff’s golden whisk! If Bridget and her new friend Stacy don’t find it by midnight, the world’s best baker will never mix again. And – as the girls chase a chain of impossible puzzles through the secrets and shadows of Paris – Tom and Pascal find skulduggery afoot in Belle-on-Sea… Can Bridget and her friends crack the case and save the bake shop in time?