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Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Gondola of Doom
Never underestimate a librarian.
Fifty-something Edinburgh librarian Shona 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 linguist, mathematician, martial artist, and musician, Shona is selected by Marcia Blaine herself to travel back in time for a crucial mission in Venice.
Finding the city afflicted by what appears to be a new outbreak of the plague, Shona soon encounters the Cornetto family of gondoliers. Lately, a number of their passengers have met a watery fate. Coincidence? Unlikely. She dons a mask, goes undercover and seeks inspiration in the library.
But the mystery only deepens. Why do the Cornettos seem so flaky and their explanations wafer-thin, even as they proclaim their innocence? What is going on at the printworks? Shona’s powers of deduction, dissection and prowess as a swimmer are put to the test as she realises that a bitter feud is at play.
Can Shona unravel the tapestry of lies and get to the truth? It’s a race against time, but it would be a mistake to underestimate a librarian.
Fifty-something Edinburgh librarian Shona 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 linguist, mathematician, martial artist, and musician, Shona is selected by Marcia Blaine herself to travel back in time for a crucial mission in Venice.
Finding the city afflicted by what appears to be a new outbreak of the plague, Shona soon encounters the Cornetto family of gondoliers. Lately, a number of their passengers have met a watery fate. Coincidence? Unlikely. She dons a mask, goes undercover and seeks inspiration in the library.
But the mystery only deepens. Why do the Cornettos seem so flaky and their explanations wafer-thin, even as they proclaim their innocence? What is going on at the printworks? Shona’s powers of deduction, dissection and prowess as a swimmer are put to the test as she realises that a bitter feud is at play.
Can Shona unravel the tapestry of lies and get to the truth? It’s a race against time, but it would be a mistake to underestimate a librarian.
- GenresFantasy
256 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 25, 2024
About the author
Olga Wojtas
17 books37 followersOlga Wojtas was born and brought up in Edinburgh where she attended James Gillespie s High School the model for Marcia Blaine School for Girls, which appears in Muriel Spark s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. She was encouraged to write by an inspirational English teacher there, Iona M. Cameron. Olga won a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award in 2015 and has had more than 30 short stories published in magazines and anthologies.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 9, 2024
Hurrah for the welcome return of Shona McMonagle, librarian extraordinaire and graduate of the Marcia Blaine School for Girls. This time our intrepid librarian is in 17th century Venice where the beak-mask wearing plague doctors are out in full force.
Shona has been sent on another time-travelling mission by the school’s eponymous matriarch, and she must complete her mission satisfactorily within a week, whatever that mission is….
Now I’m not a natural cosy crime lover, usually preferring a harder edge, a sharper focus and a trauma filled lead investigator. But there are exceptions that prove the rule, and Olga Wojtas’ time travelling Shona McMonagle has proved to be one such protagonist.
Why that should be is down to a number of things. Firstly, Shona’s own belief in herself and that the quality of her education has been sufficient to provide her with the means to tackle any problem makes her a fascinating character. Secondly, when she is transported through time, she is always provided with the essentials to tackle her mission, but she has to divine for herself what that mission is – and therein lies a world of laughter.
Finally, Shona has at her fingertips a great deal of learning; reading through her exploits there’s a lot of important information (or at least information that maybe will come in handy one day) that can be gleaned from within these pages.
The Venetian setting with added plague doctor masks, herbal smells to help discern who is behind each mask and a mysterious plague affecting the city are just a part of what’s going on when Shona arrives. But is Shona here to cure the plague? Or perhaps she has been sent to do away with anonymous denunciations which on a weekly basis result in heavy penalties and even death. Or maybe she is here to uncover what lies behind the unfortunate Cornetto family’s disastrous record with plague carrying passengers? Can she make sense of the ‘no cappuccino after 11 am’ rule?
Whatever her mission, Shona will resolutely approach all the dangers she encounters with clear headed determination and the help of some unlikely water based allies. As Shona becomes immersed in the Venetian power politics of 1634, she must work out what her mission is and how to achieve it before her time runs out.
In following her mentor’s quest, she will end up fighting for her life and in the process, she will change the course of Venetian history – but will it be for the better? And can she be successful without her trusty DMs?
Verdict: With loads of laughs, lots of (sometimes painfully funny in the way that they are shoe-horned in) one-liners and a boat load of action and excitement, this is an intelligent, rapid paced read written with erudition and terrific comic timing. It’s the perfect antidote to the post-Christmas blues. Warm, witty and irredeemably indebted to Muriel Spark, this book will appeal to everyone who loves to laugh.
Shona has been sent on another time-travelling mission by the school’s eponymous matriarch, and she must complete her mission satisfactorily within a week, whatever that mission is….
Now I’m not a natural cosy crime lover, usually preferring a harder edge, a sharper focus and a trauma filled lead investigator. But there are exceptions that prove the rule, and Olga Wojtas’ time travelling Shona McMonagle has proved to be one such protagonist.
Why that should be is down to a number of things. Firstly, Shona’s own belief in herself and that the quality of her education has been sufficient to provide her with the means to tackle any problem makes her a fascinating character. Secondly, when she is transported through time, she is always provided with the essentials to tackle her mission, but she has to divine for herself what that mission is – and therein lies a world of laughter.
Finally, Shona has at her fingertips a great deal of learning; reading through her exploits there’s a lot of important information (or at least information that maybe will come in handy one day) that can be gleaned from within these pages.
The Venetian setting with added plague doctor masks, herbal smells to help discern who is behind each mask and a mysterious plague affecting the city are just a part of what’s going on when Shona arrives. But is Shona here to cure the plague? Or perhaps she has been sent to do away with anonymous denunciations which on a weekly basis result in heavy penalties and even death. Or maybe she is here to uncover what lies behind the unfortunate Cornetto family’s disastrous record with plague carrying passengers? Can she make sense of the ‘no cappuccino after 11 am’ rule?
Whatever her mission, Shona will resolutely approach all the dangers she encounters with clear headed determination and the help of some unlikely water based allies. As Shona becomes immersed in the Venetian power politics of 1634, she must work out what her mission is and how to achieve it before her time runs out.
In following her mentor’s quest, she will end up fighting for her life and in the process, she will change the course of Venetian history – but will it be for the better? And can she be successful without her trusty DMs?
Verdict: With loads of laughs, lots of (sometimes painfully funny in the way that they are shoe-horned in) one-liners and a boat load of action and excitement, this is an intelligent, rapid paced read written with erudition and terrific comic timing. It’s the perfect antidote to the post-Christmas blues. Warm, witty and irredeemably indebted to Muriel Spark, this book will appeal to everyone who loves to laugh.
May 11, 2024
Once again, Olga Wojtas has delivered a bonkers tale featuring the adventures of the time-travelling Morningside librarian Shona McMonagle. This time she's sent to 17th century Venice where she is obliged to pose as a doctor – a lowly profession in comparison to a librarian, but that's another matter – to solve a problem she's yet to discover. In this case, Venetians believes they're in the grip of Bubonic Plague, which our 21st century know-all central character immediately knows isn't so.
Shona falls in with four doctors (whom she calls Parlsey, Rosemary, Oregano and some other herb that I forget) and a librarian. There's murder and a library book involved. There are competing gondola firms called the Canalettos and the Cornettos. That offers all sorts of opportunity for witty dialogue (the reader has to wait almost until the end of the book for the most obvious oneliner) and decidedly Edinburgh humour: Glaswegians take note. In truth, Shona is even more insufferable than ever, and sometimes deservedly 'gets her neck slapped'.
But Shona-lovers will love this. She's back home now in Morningside and I look forward to dropping in to test her knowledge of current Venice vaporettos: how many stops are on the No.2 route?; which bus routes go to Torcello; and how much is a day pass?
Shona falls in with four doctors (whom she calls Parlsey, Rosemary, Oregano and some other herb that I forget) and a librarian. There's murder and a library book involved. There are competing gondola firms called the Canalettos and the Cornettos. That offers all sorts of opportunity for witty dialogue (the reader has to wait almost until the end of the book for the most obvious oneliner) and decidedly Edinburgh humour: Glaswegians take note. In truth, Shona is even more insufferable than ever, and sometimes deservedly 'gets her neck slapped'.
But Shona-lovers will love this. She's back home now in Morningside and I look forward to dropping in to test her knowledge of current Venice vaporettos: how many stops are on the No.2 route?; which bus routes go to Torcello; and how much is a day pass?
April 25, 2025
I love the Miss Blaines prefect series and thought it would be hard to find one to top the weird sisters but this is glorious. Full of twists, packed with humour and oddities including talking to dolphins. This is also clever and full of historical and cultural facts, Shona is a force to be reckoned with and I hope this series continues for years to come. 5* from me
October 1, 2026
Completely bonkers but such good fun. Shona McMonagle blunders along to victory once more.
July 5, 2026
Love this book!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews