Miss Blaine's prefect and the golden samovar - Olga Wojtas

Neverunderestimate a librarian.

Intelligent cosy crime series with razor-sharp wit and an unlikely hero, for fans of P.G. Wodehouseand Muriel Spark

"The crme de la crme of crime debuts." Al Guthrie

"Delightful." Guardian

Fifty-something Shona McMonagle is a proud former pupil of the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, buthas a deep loathing forThe Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which she thinks gives her alma mater a badname.

Impeccably educated and an accomplished martial artist, linguist and musician, Shona is thrilled whenselected by Marcia Blaine herself to travel back in time for a one-week mission in 19th-centuryRussia: to pair up the beautiful, shy, orphaned heiress Lidia Ivanovna with Sasha, a handsome youngman of unexplained origins - and all in a gorgeously Tolstoyan setting.

But, despite all her accomplishments and good intentions, Shona might well have got the wrong endof the stick about her mission. As the body count rises, will she discover in time just who the realvillain is?