Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Golden Samovar

At the outset of Scottish author Wojtas’s marvelous first novel, middle-aged librarian Shona McMonagle, who was once head girl at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, is approached by the school’s namesake, Marcia Blaine, who asks her to travel in time to czarist Russia and complete a mission. That Miss Blaine has been dead for centuries and doesn’t divulge the mission’s details are of no consequence to Shona, who, thanks to the “finest education in the world,” can handle anything from martial arts to Scottish country dancing. (Miss Blaine’s school, of course, featured heavily in Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which Shona holds in disdain for its untruths about her beloved school.) Once in Russia, Shona doesn’t know what year it is or who the czar is, but she quickly inserts herself into society, where Russian nobles have begun to drop dead at an alarming rate. In this laugh-out-loud farce, Shona, a spark of energy and obtuse confidence, proves she really is, as Miss Brodie would say, the crème de la crème. Readers will appreciate the skill with which Wojtas mirrors Spark’s style. (Nov.)