Retired Police Superintendent and hugely successful crime writer Doris Steenbergen, decides to start up her own specialist detective agency. Hand-picking her staff from personnel she had previously worked with, or from individualists who have been overlooked for advancement in their careers by mainstream authority, Steenbergen spares no expense in establishing the agency's base headquarters and getting down to business. The first major case the agency takes on involves murder, kidnapping, and espionage, and nobody foresees the danger the staff will run into. Murderous criminals and Federal authorities both come after her and her employees, and Doris will be left to wonder if it is all worth it.
William Slade, Jr. (1786–1859) was an American Whig and Anti-Masonic politician. He served as a U.S. Representative from Vermont from 1831 to 1843, where he was an outspoken opponent of slavery. He was the 17th governor of Vermont.