Madame Beatrice Paradise is the proprietress of the Feathered Strumpet, an elegant New York City brothel in 1820s. Osric Primrose is her major domo and close friend.

Beatrice – an orphan who knows little of her origins – is, like the young United States of America itself, an enthusiastic self-invention. Inspired by the nobler 18th century ideas about the status of women, Beatrice is devoted to the life of the mind and has the deductive skills required to be a good detective. Osric – a freed slave and self-made gentleman – narrates the novels and serves as Beatrice’s Doctor Watson.

They have often been called upon to solve minor mysteries by customers and acquaintances – such as the unfortunate disappearance of husbands or jewelry. Now, they are asked to solve murders.