Miss Blaine's prefect and the golden samovar

Never underestimate a librarian. Intelligent cosy crime series with razor-sharp wit and an unlikely hero, for fans of P.G.

Wodehouse and Muriel Spark"The crème de la crème of crime debuts.” Al Guthrie"Delightful." Guardian Fifty-something Shona McMonagle is a proud former pupil of the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, but has a deep loathing for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which she thinks gives her alma mater a bad name. Impeccably educated and an accomplished martial artist, linguist and musician, Shona is thrilled when selected by Marcia Blaine herself to travel back in time for a one-week mission in 19th-century Russia: to pair up the beautiful, shy, orphaned heiress Lidia Ivanovna with Sasha, a handsome young man 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 end of the stick about her mission.

As the body count rises, will she discover in time just who the real villain is?