Castle Krumsky is an old and mysterious place, and when a terrible explosion blows most of it right off the cliff on which it has been built, it is left to the few survivors to try to find out what has happened, and why.
But Castle Krumsky was no ordinary castle, and was home to The Academy for Gifted Children, run by an organisation known as CIRTEX, whose members are trained in the arts of the circus, and spread themselves across the Empire entertaining people, and using their gifts to solve the most unsolvable of mysteries.
Peder Sniffkin is one of the few survivors of the explosion, and, though he doesn’t know it yet, he is at the heart of the conspiracy that has brought about the castle’s downfall. Peder's own family history, he soon discovers, is tied up with the ruthless head of a criminal organisation, a man they call The Skincatcher, a man will stop at nothing - including kidnap and murder - if people get in his way.
And now The Skincatcher is on Peder’s trail, and Peder’s only hope is to reach his home village of Querkelberg before the Skincatcher catches up with him, but once there, the whole disaster of Peder's family history unfolds, and it is no longer certain whether Peder or his friends will get out of it alive.
'Peder and the Skincatcher' is a stirring tale of murder, conspiracy, friendship and betrayal, and above all the story of a boy who must come to terms with where his family began, and the awful violence and adventures into which that quest will take him.
But Castle Krumsky was no ordinary castle, and was home to The Academy for Gifted Children, run by an organisation known as CIRTEX, whose members are trained in the arts of the circus, and spread themselves across the Empire entertaining people, and using their gifts to solve the most unsolvable of mysteries.
Peder Sniffkin is one of the few survivors of the explosion, and, though he doesn’t know it yet, he is at the heart of the conspiracy that has brought about the castle’s downfall. Peder's own family history, he soon discovers, is tied up with the ruthless head of a criminal organisation, a man they call The Skincatcher, a man will stop at nothing - including kidnap and murder - if people get in his way.
And now The Skincatcher is on Peder’s trail, and Peder’s only hope is to reach his home village of Querkelberg before the Skincatcher catches up with him, but once there, the whole disaster of Peder's family history unfolds, and it is no longer certain whether Peder or his friends will get out of it alive.
'Peder and the Skincatcher' is a stirring tale of murder, conspiracy, friendship and betrayal, and above all the story of a boy who must come to terms with where his family began, and the awful violence and adventures into which that quest will take him.
