Novel Idea

It's the grand finale. Matt and Mollie's masterpiece reaches its explosive conclusion, with Mollie at the helm — and nothing is quite what it seems. After last chapter's jaw-dropping cliffhanger, Chapter twelve opens with a twist that will have you screaming into the abyss, or punching the air with joy, depending on how you feel about Neil Chalk. Neil, Timmy, Joanna, Terence, Delilah — every thread gets its moment. And when the action moves to Antoinette Du Beke's ballet at the Bacon Theatre, Ian Chalk finally reveals WHO killed Augustus Smythe. All the clues were there, but has Ian found them? Matt journeys from fury to euphoria. Mollie is sweating (always). Steffan reads through illness like a champion. This is the one. Grab a hot chocolate, settle in, and find out whodunit.Matt and Mollie are writing a novel… together. They alternate chapters in a bid to create a gripping murder mystery. The catch? They have completely different ideas about what the book should be.Hosted by Matt Edmondson and Mollie King, with ever-patient narrator and referee Steffan Powell, each has just one week to continue the story — reacting, escalating, derailing and occasionally rescuing the plot from the other. Steffan reads the chapters aloud and tries to keep the whole thing vaguely coherent.What starts as a simple premise becomes a competitive, unpredictable battle of twists, cliffhangers and creative one-upmanship.Part comedy show, part audiobook, part social experiment — and by the end, there’s a complete original novel, written in real time.Welcome to the story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After an explosive chapter nine, Mollie's back in the chair and she's brought the heat. A flashback to the All England Club reveals a relationship that changes everything we thought we knew about the case. Lord Liddell has something to say about it, and it's not pretty. Meanwhile, Chalk is asked some very uncomfortable questions about those Boy Scouts, and a familiar piece of fabric might just blow the case wide open. Oh, and there's a tingle. Nobody can explain the tingle. Mollie thinks she's written a love story. Matt thinks she's written a disaster. And the final line of this chapter? Yeah. We weren't ready either.Matt and Mollie are writing a novel… together. They alternate chapters in a bid to create a gripping murder mystery. The catch? They have completely different ideas about what the book should be.Hosted by Matt Edmondson and Mollie King, with ever-patient narrator and referee Steffan Powell, each has just one week to continue the story — reacting, escalating, derailing and occasionally rescuing the plot from the other. Steffan reads the chapters aloud and tries to keep the whole thing vaguely coherent.What starts as a simple premise becomes a competitive, unpredictable battle of twists, cliffhangers and creative one-upmanship.Part comedy show, part audiobook, part social experiment — and by the end, there’s a complete original novel, written in real time.Welcome to the story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Chapter 8, it's Mollie's turn — and she delivers what might be the most important chapter yet. With Chalk still processing everything that happened with his brother, a new face arrives on the scene: a legendary retired detective, pulled out of retirement to help crack the case.The two meet for the first time and it's immediately clear this is exactly the kind of partnership Chalk needs right now. Over coffee and donuts, they compare notes on the investigation so far — who's been ruled out, who's still in the frame, and what doesn't quite add up about the night of the murder. Meanwhile, one of the remaining suspects makes a dramatic entrance at the police station — dark glasses on, lawyer in tow, and absolutely zero intention of keeping a low profile. What starts as a cocky PR exercise quickly turns into something much bigger when a bombshell piece of evidence is slammed down on the desk.By the end of the chapter, everything the group thought they knew about the relationships at the heart of this case has been turned on its head. A brand new motive has emerged, one suspect is looking far more dangerous than anyone realised, and the investigation has taken a sharp and dramatic turn heading into Chapter 9.Matt and Mollie are writing a novel… together. They alternate chapters in a bid to create a gripping murder mystery. The catch? They have completely different ideas about what the book should be.Hosted by Matt Edmondson and Mollie King, with ever-patient narrator and referee Steffan Powell, each has just one week to continue the story — reacting, escalating, derailing and occasionally rescuing the plot from the other. Steffan reads the chapters aloud and tries to keep the whole thing vaguely coherent.What starts as a simple premise becomes a competitive, unpredictable battle of twists, cliffhangers and creative one-upmanship.Part comedy show, part audiobook, part social experiment — and by the end, there’s a complete original novel, written in real time.Welcome to the story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Chapter 6, Mollie lets the investigation take a back seat as something much more personal comes to light for Chalk. A secret he's been keeping threatens to unravel not just the case, but his entire life.Back at Willow Manor, not everyone is playing nice. A tense encounter between two of the house's residents shows just how high the stakes really are, and just how far someone will go when they feel cornered. It turns out that the most dangerous person in the room might not be who you'd expect.There's also the small matter of a detective in skinny jeans, a Shaggy reference and a questionable loyalty card that raises a lot of eyebrows.By the end of the chapter, Chalk finds himself in an impossible situation — one wrong move and everything falls apart. Matt and Mollie are writing a novel… together. They alternate chapters in a bid to create a gripping murder mystery. The catch? They have completely different ideas about what the book should be.Hosted by Matt Edmondson and Mollie King, with ever-patient narrator and referee Steffan Powell, each has just one week to continue the story — reacting, escalating, derailing and occasionally rescuing the plot from the other. Steffan reads the chapters aloud and tries to keep the whole thing vaguely coherent.What starts as a simple premise becomes a competitive, unpredictable battle of twists, cliffhangers and creative one-upmanship.Part comedy show, part audiobook, part social experiment — and by the end, there’s a complete original novel, written in real time.Welcome to the story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In chapter four, Mollie picks up the story again and this time leans fully into romance, secrets and fallout. With Augustus Smythe’s death still hanging over Willow Manor, the latest chapter shifts focus to one of the house’s most intriguing residents and begins to explore the emotional mess sitting beneath all the glamour, money and suspicion.As the guests reel from the detectives’ latest revelations, attention turns to a relationship from Smythe’s past — and Mollie gives us a more tender, cinematic glimpse of what may have been really going on behind closed doors. Back in the present, the contents of the safe finally come into play, prompting more questions than answers and putting the house on edge once again.The chapter also nudges the mystery forward in a big way: loyalties feel shakier, emotions are running higher, and a fresh clue emerges that could completely change how one key character sees everything that’s happened so far.By the end of Episode 4, the body has finally been removed, the emotional stakes have risen, and Willow Manor is left with yet another discovery that hints the truth may be far more complicated — and far more personal — than anyone first thought.Matt and Mollie are writing a novel… together. They alternate chapters in a bid to create a gripping murder mystery. The catch? They have completely different ideas about what the book should be.Hosted by Matt Edmondson and Mollie King, with ever-patient narrator and referee Steffan Powell, each has just one week to continue the story — reacting, escalating, derailing and occasionally rescuing the plot from the other. Steffan reads the chapters aloud and tries to keep the whole thing vaguely coherent.What starts as a simple premise becomes a competitive, unpredictable battle of twists, cliffhangers and creative one-upmanship.Part comedy show, part audiobook, part social experiment — and by the end, there’s a complete original novel, written in real time.Welcome to the story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mollie takes over Chapter Two and wastes no time giving Matt exactly what he asked for: less meandering, more dialogue, and a sharper sense of scandal. We rejoin the guests at Willow Manor huddled around the body of Augustus Smythe, as D.I. Brie Roquefort attempts to seize control of the room and formally declares that Smythe was murdered — to the horror of everyone who realises they’re now trapped in the house and (even worse) might miss the Bake Off final.Mollie introduces two new suspects with big personalities: Antoinette Du Beke, a dramatic French ballroom instructor, and Raffaella Ladal, a glamour-loving tennis obsessive in a sequin dress. Tensions immediately flare as Mrs Paisley publicly accuses Antoinette of trying to “waltz” her way into Smythe’s life, while Antoinette fires back with a key revelation: Mrs Paisley wasn’t just hiding things in the grandfather clock — she bought Smythe the shredder.The chapter then rewinds to the morning of the dinner party to flesh out Smythe’s backstory: a young, handsome “Gosling of Gloucestershire” struggling with the upkeep of Willow Manor and a messy love life. We learn his great obsession was Raffaella — his tennis doubles partner and the object of his affection — before Mollie lands a final, soap-operatic twist: Raffaella was having an affair with Smythe… and she’s married to another resident of Willow Manor, Lord Ladal. With motives multiplying, Chalk mysteriously absent, and two suspects still unrevealed, Steffan sets Matt his next writing brief: an interrogation, a surprise, and the introduction of a new character.Matt and Mollie are writing a novel… together. They alternate chapters in a bid to create a gripping murder mystery. The catch? They have completely different ideas about what the book should be.Hosted by Matt Edmondson and Mollie King, with ever-patient narrator and referee Steffan Powell, each has just one week to continue the story — reacting, escalating, derailing and occasionally rescuing the plot from the other. Steffan reads the chapters aloud and tries to keep the whole thing vaguely coherent.What starts as a simple premise becomes a competitive, unpredictable battle of twists, cliffhangers and creative one-upmanship.Part comedy show, part audiobook, part social experiment — and by the end, there’s a complete original novel, written in real time.Welcome to the story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Best friends Matt and Mollie are writing a Novel... together. Swapping who writes chapters each week, can two minds really write one murder mystery? With two very different agendas for the story, expect more conflict than collaboration! Can they discover who the killer is without killing each other first? Each week, the novel is read aloud by Steffan Powell, as Matt and Mollie critique, celebrate and mercilessly tear down each others work. Subscribe, and keep up with the story the moment it drops!Matt and Mollie are writing a novel… together. They alternate chapters in a bid to create a gripping murder mystery. The catch? They have completely different ideas about what the book should be.Hosted by Matt Edmondson and Mollie King, with ever-patient narrator and referee Steffan Powell, each has just one week to continue the story — reacting, escalating, derailing and occasionally rescuing the plot from the other. Steffan reads the chapters aloud and tries to keep the whole thing vaguely coherent.What starts as a simple premise becomes a competitive, unpredictable battle of twists, cliffhangers and creative one-upmanship.Part comedy show, part audiobook, part social experiment — and by the end, there’s a complete original novel, written in real time.Welcome to the story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.