I\u2019m excited to introduce a new idea, so let\u2019s see how this goes! I want to tell a \u201cChoose Your Own Adventure\u201d story with you, my reader. Except in this version, it will be a \u201cChoose Your Own Murderer\u201d story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How it works:<\/strong>\u00a0Every couple of weeks (or as often as I can manage), I will be posting a continuation of the story that I\u2019ve started below. At the end of each chapter, I will include a poll <\/a>where you can choose what you want to happen next\/what choice the character makes. Using the top vote as my prompt, I will write the next chapter, and then the next, until we discover together who the murderer is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s go on this dastardly adventure together!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of us hear about the body found in the moat before we see the flashing blue lights and neon yellow emergency vehicles barricading the lower half of the town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s funny. You live in a town with a giant castle in the middle of it\u2014water-filled perimeter and all\u2014and you don\u2019t really associate it with death. I mean, sure, people probably died there at some point. But that was hundreds of years ago, back when guys wore chainmail and battered each other senseless with sticks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c… Bloated beyond recognition,\u201d I hear someone murmur as I join the macabre queue forming up against the window partition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s the closest we can get to the crime scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Across Caerphilly castle, to the south, sits a two-story cross-section of shipping containers with small shops and restaurants, and a closed-off balcony overlooking the imposing stone structure. The balcony is filled to bursting, but I manage to elbow my way near the front. Just below us is a stretch of canvas hiding picnic tables, and beyond that, sloping down toward the castle moat, sits the overgrown lawn, scattered with trampled crocuses and goose poop. It hasn\u2019t rained in weeks, but the grass is green as ever. A strip of yellow police tape cuts off the footpath that might take gawkers closer to the place where the body had supposedly been dredged up in the early hours of the morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I glance over to a short, black-haired woman next to me, scrolling through local news outlets on her phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey haven\u2019t released a name yet,\u201d she tells her friend in that lilting Welsh accent I\u2019ve come to know and love. \u201cThink it\u2019s anyone we know?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDoesn\u2019t make me feel safe,\u201d replies her ginger friend, pressing a freckled hand to her chest and shaking her head in the commiserating way we all do when trying to eke emotions out of something that doesn\u2019t directly affect us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cProbably drug related,\u201d an older gentleman says, his voice sending a new wash of worry through the crowd. \u201cWhole place has gone to the crows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMaybe they were drunk and fell in,\u201d another townie suggests, returning reason to a potentially bigoted rant by the elderly populace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I stuff my hands into my pockets and squint at the distant edge of brown water circling the castle. A white swan drifts across its smooth surface, fluttering a disgruntled wing at the commotion a dozen feet away. Officers in uniform mill about the shore, most of them standing around or pacing, their eyes scanning the groups of onlookers as if reading a murderer amongst them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I glance down at my shoes. Scuffed and a little muddy. I grind my toe against the stonework to scrape it clean, the back of my neck suddenly hot. People are jostling me. I back out of the bodies and slide into a seat at an empty two-person table. Might as well settle in. It\u2019ll be a long day of listening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I shuck off my coat, then scan the QR code on the table and scroll through the menu. A person can be dead, and the service industry has to carry on making coffees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHey.\u201d I jump as Rupert Evans sits in the chair across from me with a grim smile, his face unshaven. \u201cWe need to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Damn.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How Was the Victim Killed?<\/strong> Visit the original story post here<\/a> and scroll to the bottom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m excited to introduce a new idea, so let\u2019s see how this goes! I want to tell a \u201cChoose Your Own Adventure\u201d story with you, my reader. Except in this version, it will be a \u201cChoose Your Own Murderer\u201d story. How it works:\u00a0Every couple of weeks (or as often as I can manage), I will…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[432,322,431,155,289,80,325,323,384],"series":[],"class_list":["post-2072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry","tag-caerphilly","tag-cardiff","tag-choose-your-own-adventure","tag-murder","tag-mystery","tag-short-story","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales","tag-welsh"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/blog.alexisveenendaal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Substack-Images-1.png","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/blog.alexisveenendaal.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"amazon":{"key":"amazon","url":"https:\/\/music.amazon.ca\/podcasts\/09c34bbc-b359-49af-a286-31830ed5634c\/short-stories","label":"Amazon","class":"amazon","icon":"amazon.png"},"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/short-stories\/id1621456328","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_play":{"key":"google_play","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbGV4aXN2ZWVuZW5kYWFsLmNvbS9mZWVkL3BvZGNhc3Qvc2hvcnQtc3Rvcmllcw","label":"Google Play","class":"google_play","icon":"google-play.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbGV4aXN2ZWVuZW5kYWFsLmNvbS9mZWVkL3BvZGNhc3Qvc2hvcnQtc3Rvcmllcw","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0lcQCRs52MfYlKs35lVX4K","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"itunes":{"key":"itunes","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/short-stories\/id1621456328","label":"iTunes","class":"itunes","icon":"itunes.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/blog.alexisveenendaal.com\/feed\/podcast\/default-podcast","embedCode":"Chapter 1: Body in the Moat<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
A) Drowned
B) Thrown off the castle tower
C) Impaled\/stabbed
D) Poisoned<\/p>\n\n\n\nTo Vote in the Poll:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Choose Your Own Murderer<\/a><\/blockquote>