Listen Now: Happily Never After: Dan & Nancy

Nancy Brophy fills her novels with romantic betrayals and murder. It’s a far cry from her quiet life in the suburbs, where she and her chef husband, Dan, are living out their golden years. But when Dan is shot dead, Nancy finds herself at the center of a murder case that could be ripped from the pages of her novels.

From Wondery, this is a story about what happens when the line blurs between fiction and reality. Listen to Happily Never After: Dan & Nancy early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts. https://wondery.app.link/HNADN_SFTC

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Dan and Nancy reside in the peacefulsuburbs just outside of Portland, where they
are living out their golden years.And though they met later on in life,
their marriage spans over two decades andis seen as a pillar of the
community. It's a love story pulledright off the shelf. Nancy is a
struggling romance novelist. She likes towrite about betrayals, sex, and even

(00:25):
murder. Dan is a chef andculinary instructor. He enjoys foraging through the
woods for fresh mushrooms and growing edibleflowers. But when Dan is shockingly found
dead in his classroom, Nancy's oncesimple life is turned upside down because as
the investigation unfolds, Nancy finds herselfat the center of a murder case that

(00:49):
could be ripped from the pages ofher novels. Listen to Happily Never After
Dan and Nancy, a story aboutwhat happens when the line blurs between fix
and reality. Early and ad Freyon Wondery Plus. I'm about to play
a clip from Happily Ever After Danand Nancy. Nicole Herman was lounging on

(01:22):
a beach in Croatia with a perfectview of the ocean. It looks a
lot like Oregon, with the exceptionthat the water is like turquoise. It
was nice and sunny, exactly howNicole pictured her honeymoon. Nicole's new husband
got up to take a swim,but she didn't join him. She was

(01:44):
in the middle of a novel.The man on the book cover had a
square jaw and a come hitherstare.All day, Nicole had just been waiting
to get back to him. Hesat on the floor and gestured for her
to sit between his legs. Heshowed her how every gun worked, then

(02:07):
loaded and unloaded each of them.Are you showing me this so I can
kill my husband? Travis spoke slowly, choosing each word with care. Maybe
in the beginning you meant something tohim, but now you're just another loose
end. You will know a hundredways to kill you and make it look
like an accident. She pressed herforehead against his and closed your eyes.

(02:32):
Don't like you. I'd rather youwere a knuckle dragging me under thor unless
I'm dead and this is over meeting, But I do plan to use your
body until I leave scandalous. Iwas probably reading anywhere from one hundred and

(02:58):
fifty to three hundred pages. Nicolehad been laid out on the beach for
hours reading. She was already onbook number two in the Wrong Never Felt
So Right series, and she wasdetermined to get through all five books by
the end of her trip. Everybook was more or less the same burly

(03:20):
former navy seal comes to the rescuea beautiful young woman on the run from
her dangerous husband. It was anodd choice of reading for a honeymoon,
but away from the beaches of Croatia. Back home in Portland, Oregon,
Nicole was a deputy district attorney.Those are things as a prosecutor that you
sometimes want to get ahead of andin front of. And for months she

(03:45):
and her team had been trying tosolve a murder, but progress had been
slow. Direct evidence kept eluding them. As the pressure mounted, Nicole and
her team had turned to an unlikelylead, a series of romance novels written
by the dead man's wife. Itwas a little bit meta in terms of

(04:08):
what we were dealing with. Herbooks were packed with details borrowed from their
own lives as a local Portland chefand a romance novelist. Details that the
das had no other way to gettheir hands on. So now Nicole was
doing homework on her honeymoon. Iwasn't so sure there would truly be anything,

(04:30):
but it was sort of in theback of my mind. What if
something similar to this has played outin one of her novels, and it's
all written right there for us tofind. More shirts were going to be
unbuttoned, more dresses were going toget unzipped, and every new chapter,
every new scene, could potentially bethe one to crack the murder case that

(04:54):
was waiting for her back home.Follow Happily Never After, Dan and Nancy
on The Wondery app or wherever youget your podcasts,