Petticoats, corsets, frilly knickers, lace, and canes - all part of the Imperial world inhabited by a young and naïve foreign office agent sent on special missions on behalf of the empire.  In Whalebone Strict, Thrift Moncrieff's assignment takes her to the North American colonies, where she is supposed to compromise the position of a politician.  In this she is rather more successful than she had planned, leading her deeper into difficulties that somehow always lead to the opening of her ankle length corset and elaborate underwear, either for the entertainment of a string of lecherous men, or to have a hand applied to her delectable buttocks.