R.m.j. Hooper

The Secret of Crescent Grey: Spitfire's Grave Part One R.m.j. Hooper

Crescent Grey loved adventure, and found it in the pages of books, but in the real world life wasn't always so great. Orphaned before her first birthday she grew up in the most miserable place imaginable and stranger still, it also just happened to bear her name. But Crescent Grey Orphanage was no ordinary orphanage. An ancient, dark place with a long history of being haunted and other kinds of weird happenings -- a gruesome graveyard, old scary paintings, hidden passageways and odd teachers suspiciously traipsing about at all hours of the night. Everyone seems to have a secret here -- including Crescent herself.

Not knowing who she really was, what her real name is or who her parents were had a profound effect on her and gave Crescent a penchant for solving mysteries and an irresistible curiosity that always seemed to land her in the worst kinds of trouble. Then, a few months before her eleventh birthday she finds a chance to escape her dreary surroundings and forget her mysterious past. Adopted by a caring couple, she finally thinks she is going to lead a normal life. Only something is about to happen to her that will turn her world upside down, make her question everything she knows and change that life forever. Sent back to the place she grew up and forced into a rigorous routine she hates, full of frets about her grades, dodging dreadful teachers, evading awful bullies and putting up with embarrassing situations.

But in the midst of it all she finds things she never truly expected, even from herself: friendship, loyalty, and bravery. And all the while the greatest mystery of all is taking shape around her -- an old evil is brewing, and unbeknown to staff and students alike a series of events is about to unfold that will renew a deadly danger and bring full circle a dark connection from the past which lies at the very heart of the orphanage itself. Caught up in events no adult will believe are Crescent and her friends, and its up to them to solve the mystery, catch the culprit and save the day. But the way is fraught with peril, and a diabolical adversary who comes at them from every turn. And while they must face their fears and confront the enemy, they soon realize that the end of the mystery is only the beginning of the greatest adventure of their lives....