num_pages: 72
description: Secrets and lies. Everyone who is anyone in London is shocked and titillated by a gossip column reporting the scandalous tidbits of the social season of 1812.  But no one suspects “The Magpie” is really Miss Marjorie Teague, the orphaned poor relation who hovers on the outskirts of high society as the companion to her debutante cousin. Marjorie dons a boy's disguise and files an anonymous story in order to stop a deadly duel. But when the newspaper offers to pay for regular reports, she realizes she can earn enough money to support herself, and be free of her cruel aunt...as long as her identity as The Magpie remains secret.  When Captain Lord Findlay Drake returns from war to discover he's inherited an earldom, he plunges into the social whirl as the biggest prize on the Marriage Mart. Reluctantly doing his duty to preserve the family name, Fin's mission to marry is sidetracked and his curiosity piqued by Miss Teague: a young lady who is totally ineligible...and totally unimpressed...by the new Earl. When a newspaper publicizes Fin's imminent duel and sets a Bow Street Runner on his tail, he is determined to put a stop to the scandal-mongering Magpie. If only he can discover who it is....   [AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a SERIAL novel, told in instalments. Think of it like a mini-series! Rated PG for occasional very mild swearing (e.g. "damn") Part 2 is approximately 20,600 words. Parts 3-6 will be released over the next six weeks. Enjoy!] 
title: The Magpie Masquerade
publisher: Burgeon Press