Novel Idea

Matt & Mollie kick off Novel Idea with a brilliantly ill-advised challenge: write a novel together, one chapter at a time, with no planning, alternating weekly. Steffan Powell joins as narrator, referee and professional reader-out-louder, steering them away from Mollie’s romcom instincts and Matt’s action fantasies and into what “everybody loves”: murder.

A coin toss crowns Matt as Chapter One author, and he introduces us to...

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) mig...

Matt takes back the pen for Chapter Three and promises to steer the story back on course. We return to Willow Manor moments after Mollie’s dramatic revelations, where the guests are still gathered around the mysterious death of Augustus Smythe and tensions in the house are beginning to rise.

Detective Ian Chalk finally re-enters the story — and it quickly becomes clear that more has been going on behind the scenes than anyone re...

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 rela...

In Chapter 5, the aftermath of the dramatic revelations at Willow Manor begins to unfold. As the guests attempt to process everything that has happened, Detectives Ian Chalk and D.I. Brie Rockfort quietly compare notes and start piecing together the growing list of suspicious details surrounding Augustus Smythe’s life — and the people closest to him.

With tensions rising and several new leads emerging, the detectives decide it’s...

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...

In Chapter 7, Matt takes us all the way back to where it really began and answers a question that's been hanging over the story since the very first mention of Neil Chalk: what actually happened between the twins?

What starts as a simple favour for his brother spirals into something much bigger — a secret that will follow both of them for years and eventually blow apart everything they thought they knew about their family.

Th...