"Our aim is total peace of mind for you and your family." That is the motto of the Alibi Agency, a start-up company …whose purpose is to provide an insulating layer of verisimilitude between philanderers and their spouses.

Based in Blackpool, England, the Alibi Agency establishes a plausible paper trail. It will furnish ticket stubs for the theater performance you were supposed to have been attending. It will print up dummy invitations to the social and business events that kept you away from home. It will hire official sounding receptionists who will intercept phone calls to the putative locale of your out-of-town conference or golf game.

We can discuss individual requirements," the Alibi Agency's literature says, "and 'Tailor Make' an Alibi to your Specifications."