CIRQUE DU FLAIRE Pietro Augustus Flaire's Dazzling Spectacle of Delectation Stimulation and Stupefaction Amidst the Clouds and Among the Firmament When she is accosted in the street by the bedazzled and flamboyant Eitenne Allard, a funambulist for the Cirque du Flaire, who claims his employer, Pietro Augustus Flaire, has bewitched his twin sister, Elodie, and has concocted a most nefarious scheme involving the apparent disappearance of a favoured spectator, Astrid Darby and her clever young wards, Xander Knightly and Juliana Coffin, are drawn into a surreal and shocking mystery upon the famous flying carnival. Amongst cavorting clowns, frolicking funambulists, exotic beasts, a gruesome freak show and a mysterious snake charmer with an uncanny instrument, Astrid, her wards and Agent Asher Key of the Ministry of Defence attempt to thwart the charismatic Flaire's dastardly plot. They are soon to discover, however, that their considerable skills are little match for the ringmaster's adroit and deadly tricks.