How I wish Olga Wojtas had seven sisters! I would lock them in a tastefully appointed garrett and set them all to writing gloriously loony mystery novels. And I would publish these novels and put paid forever to the notion that Mssrs. Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Jasper Fforde, et al. (not forgetting the Python boys) have a lock on inspired insanity. As it is, I’ll have to make do with Olga Wojtas on her lonesome, but that is hardly a hardship. Gentlemen, there’s a new sheriff in town, and she’s got a Scottish accent.
Scottish? With a name like Olga Wojtas? It’s no more improbable than anything else about the Prefect’s Adventures, which may begin with librarian Shona McMonagle (plump, well past 40) but goes on to embrace time travel, the secrets of immortality, obsessional loyalty, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and several of the more arcane martial arts. Shona dazzled the Russian aristocracy in Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Golden Samovar, braved the French alps in Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Vampire Menace...and will dare to tangle with the Shakespearean legacy of her homeland in Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Weird Sisters (coming this spring to a theatre bookstore near you)!
Words cannot describe how much we love this series, although the critics have tried. “Zany,” “bonkers,” “madcap,” and “comedy gold” have cropped up in reviews, along with “Anna Karenina as written by P.G. Wodehouse” and “one of the 100 best books of the year.” The Scotsman (Scotland’s answer to the New York Times) called Golden Samovar a cross between Jane Austen and Cold Comfort Farm, and a blog we’ve never heard of called it a mash-up of Calamity Jane and a “girl without a dragon tattoo,” which...we don’t know what it means, but it sounds cool. What do we say? The Prefect’s Adventures are the funniest mysteries we’ve read since we first stumbled across L.C .Tyler’s brilliant, Edgar-nominated Herring series (which, ahem, we also publish). You’ll die laughing. And through December 15, you can get some cheap thrills: the entire series, in both print and ebook formats, is a tasty 20% off!