{"id":874,"date":"2026-08-11T15:24:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T15:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/08\/11\/two-former-enemies-wrote-a-murder-mystery-together-and-no-one-died-exclusive\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T15:24:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T15:24:51","slug":"two-former-enemies-wrote-a-murder-mystery-together-and-no-one-died-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/08\/11\/two-former-enemies-wrote-a-murder-mystery-together-and-no-one-died-exclusive\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Former Enemies Wrote a Murder Mystery Together \u2014 And No One Died (Exclusive)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In an exclusive essay, Birdie Horne \u2014 the pen name of author team Eden Roberts and MW Gargiulo \u2014 reflect on their debut co-written novel \u2018Don\u2019t Cross Mo Ellery\u2019<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/qTBE5zTxkwZREMU7HSblUFnDWuk=\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)\/Birdie-Horne-081026-tout-acd68cb6ae5d46db9a6fd68fb45c78eb.jpg\" alt=\"The cover of \u2018Don\u2019t Cross Mo Ellery\u2019 by Birdie HorneCredit: William Morrow Paperbacks\" title=\"The cover of 'Don't Cross Mo Ellery' by Birdie Horne\" \/><figcaption><i>The cover of \u2018Don\u2019t Cross Mo Ellery\u2019 by Birdie Horne<br \/>Credit: William Morrow Paperbacks<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>NEED TO KNOW<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Authors and \u201cformer enemies\u201d Eden Roberts and MW Gargiulo formed an unlikely alliance as a writing team<\/li>\n<li>The authors will publish their debut co-written novel, <em>Don\u2019t Cross Mo Ellery<\/em>, on Aug. 11, under the pen name Birdie Holmes<\/li>\n<li>In an exclusive essay for PEOPLE, the writers look back on their unexpected partnership<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Our story starts out in a typical way. Not until later does it go completely haywire.<\/p>\n<p>Setting: college. Girl meets Boy. Then, Other Girl meets Boy. Both Girls want Boy. Boy is\u2026definitely unaware of the tension he is causing. There is dating. There is breaking up. There is a lot of forbidden longing, much of it nerdy. There are love songs sung during a cappella concerts and secret kissing rehearsals for plays.<\/p>\n<p>One Girl hurls a cordless telephone, back when that was a distinction one made about phones (target: wall). Jealousy abounds! Their friend groups are enemies, but in a way that makes you want to sing and snap like they do in <em>West Side Story<\/em>. And, like in <em>West Side Story<\/em>, the Girls are ready to take this beef to the grave. They <em>hate<\/em> each other.<\/p>\n<p>And \u2014 surprise \u2014 this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship!<\/p>\n<p>\u2018<a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=58287X1516331&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.birdiehorne.com%2F&amp;xcust=12042150%7C%7C%7C%7Csyndication\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow nocaes\">Birdie Horne<\/a>\u2018 is actually two people \u2014 <a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=58287X1516331&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fmonkeythumbs.com%2F&amp;xcust=12042150%7C%7C%7C%7Csyndication\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"2\" rel=\"nofollow nocaes\">Eden Robins<\/a> and MW Garguilo, the aforementioned Girls. And the story of how we went from being mortal enemies to writing a comedy murder mystery novel together is worthy of its <em>own<\/em> novel. Probably a cheesy but heartwarming one about how life can be unpredictable in wonderful ways\u2014and how important relationships can blossom out of the least likely circumstances.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/3oP9agJ6D04SW2YkfIX7cprePV8=\/fit-in\/640x480\/Birdie-Horne-081026-02-8b10271333644795b3e72aa22bc1d56c.jpg\" alt=\"Birdie HorneCredit: Evan Hanover\" title=\"Birdie Horne\" \/><figcaption><i>Birdie Horne<br \/>Credit: Evan Hanover<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>If you knew us in person, you would know that neither of us is really the \u201cfighting over a guy\u201d type. And the guy in question isn\u2019t generally the drama queen type either. All three of us, ironically, pride ourselves on the importance of our friendships. And science seems to agree: <a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=58287X1516331&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scientificamerican.com%2Farticle%2Frelationships-boost-survival%2F&amp;xcust=12042150%7C%7C%7C%7Csyndication\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"nocaes\">One massive study<\/a> found that strong friendships boost longevity by 50%.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=58287X1516331&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov%2Farticles%2FPMC9703221%2F&amp;xcust=12042150%7C%7C%7C%7Csyndication\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"nocaes\">Other research<\/a> (on female friendships in particular) suggests that in stressful situations, rather than \u201cfight or flight,\u201d women are more likely to \u201ctend and befriend\u201d each other, which ultimately reduces stress hormones and increases social cohesion.<\/p>\n<p>Basically, our super-scientific takeaway is that by defying the odds and becoming friends, we have cheated death! There is no other logical conclusion.<\/p>\n<p>So how <em>did<\/em> we go from mortal enemies to besties? Act Two of this story takes place in Cincinnati, Ohio. Setting: the wedding of The Boy. (<em>Very<\/em> important to note that neither of us is the bride at this wedding). We had each, somewhat miraculously, remained good friends with The Boy. Eden was to be a groomswoman. MW was the photographer.<\/p>\n<p>During the wedding rehearsals, we smiled politely at each other. During the reception, we made pleasant small talk, because we were grown-ups now. Besides, we were seated at the same table.<\/p>\n<p>But it wasn\u2019t until the afterparty, in a dank basement pool hall, that Eden dredged up the courage to talk to MW for real \u2014 thanks in no small part to a little liquid courage.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/j9q6DbqiWN50PV0WJuekR_wCSY8=\/fit-in\/640x480\/Birdie-Horne-081026-01-b5f6a678d10d49fb9afbb2c76a6daf64.jpg\" alt=\"Credit: Birdie Horne\" title=\"Birdie Horne\" \/><figcaption><i>Credit: Birdie Horne<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sorry I was such a [<em>redacted<\/em>] to you,\u201d Eden said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sorry I was such a [<em>redacted<\/em>] to YOU!\u201d MW said.<\/p>\n<p>We hugged and took a shot of something awful to seal our friendship for good.<\/p>\n<p>Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/people-news-daily-newsletter-sign-up-8692701\">PEOPLE\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n<p>That moment alone would\u2019ve made a totally adequate ending for a novel. But over the course of the next several years in Chicago, our friendship grew, during movie nights and house parties; camping trips and clothing swaps.<\/p>\n<p>We inadvertently kept renting apartments closer and closer to each other, until eventually only an alley separated our kitchen windows. We each got married and cried at the other\u2019s wedding. And then our mutual ex-boyfriend, now a very good friend to us both, named us co-godmothers of his middle child.<\/p>\n<p>Once again, we\u2019ve found ourselves at another totally respectable, even surprising, ending. From feuding love interests to co-<em>godmothers<\/em>? That never happens.<\/p>\n<p>But the story doesn\u2019t end here either.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/e39JwIPneZDwABy0l279sXCmRMM=\/fit-in\/1280x960\/Birdie-Horne-081026-03-6eecbdbdc4e243a4ad88272f0c2d780a.jpg\" alt=\"Birdie HorneCredit: Jeff Kurysz\" title=\"Birdie Horne\" \/><figcaption><i>Birdie Horne<br \/>Credit: Jeff Kurysz<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>MW got a book deal, and then Eden got one of her own. Separately, we weathered the thrills and (more often) chills of the publishing industry. Adulthood came for us. Our parents aged. We lost family and friends. We lost pregnancies and jobs. Money was tight. Having a long-time friend just an alley away became one of the anchors of our lives.<\/p>\n<p>It even benefited our husbands: Eden accidentally locked her barefoot husband out of the apartment and then fell asleep\u00a0\u2014 but then MW\u2019s husband spotted him peeing on a dumpster and brought him in to sleep on the couch. How\u2019s that for social cohesion?<\/p>\n<p>Need your next page-turner? See which books our editors can\u2019t put down with <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/people-who-read-newsletter-sign-up-form-12018667\"><u>our People Who Read newsletter<\/u><\/a> \u2014 plus get PEOPLE News.<\/p>\n<p>Then, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, and we weathered it together, taking care of each other and our friendship in the face of uncertainty. We watched movies in Eden\u2019s backyard, and had a star-lit dance party of four for MW\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n<p>When the world started to open up again, though, the depression and anxiety lingered. Life just felt less <em>shiny<\/em>. Even our individual writing projects, once joyful and exciting, had become sluggish and uninspired.<\/p>\n<p>And so, Act Three begins in 2024, when MW made a bonkers proposal: \u201cWhat if we wrote a book together?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m listening,\u201d Eden replied.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/ycwJSGYdvt3nRJrhU1g84RpufsI=\/fit-in\/640x480\/Birdie-Horne-081026-04-f80dea6c75ab4cd2a5ad3c7781c5a309.jpg\" alt=\"The cover of \u2018Don\u2019t Cross Mo Ellery\u2019 by Birdie HorneCredit: William Morrow Paperbacks\" title=\"The cover of 'Don't Cross Mo Ellery' by Birdie Horne\" \/><figcaption><i>The cover of \u2018Don\u2019t Cross Mo Ellery\u2019 by Birdie Horne<br \/>Credit: William Morrow Paperbacks<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWhat if,\u201d MW said, \u201cthe whole point was just to spend time together and make each other laugh and remember that writing books is supposed to be fun? What if publication was just a nice-to-have instead of an end goal?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So we did it. And maybe because our friendship was so hard-won, we took extra care with each other during the writing process. We met at the British-style pub down the street and started every writing session with a check-in. We didn\u2019t critique our first draft; we didn\u2019t even worry about making the mystery work yet \u2014 our only goal was to make each other laugh.<\/p>\n<p>We came up with a safe word that either of us could invoke if we got frustrated but didn\u2019t know how to talk about it (It was \u201cpineapple.\u201d Or maybe \u201cpancakes.\u201d In the end, we never had to use it \u2014 it was just nice to know we <em>could<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>Together, the writing felt low-stakes and low-pressure, which is to say, we actually felt joyful again, while simultaneously feeling closer to each other.\u00a0 It\u2019s no wonder that we wrote a book about unlikely friendships and the importance of being neighbors. (Oh, and murder. With a little bit of spice.)<\/p>\n<p>That book became our forthcoming co-written mystery <a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=58287X1516331&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.harpercollins.com%2Fproducts%2Fdont-cross-mo-ellery-birdie-horne%3Fvariant%3D44307192938530&amp;xcust=12042150%7C%7C%7C%7Csyndication\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"sponsored nofollow nocaes\"><em>Don\u2019t Cross Mo Ellery<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em>but we made sure the fun always came first. And sometimes we imagine time-traveling back to our feuding teenage selves and saying, \u201cGuess what, hoes, one day you\u2019re going to write novels together,\u201d before skipping off, arm in arm, toward the campus dive bar to take a shot of something awful.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/www.awin1.com\/cread.php?awinmid=92005&amp;awinaffid=272513&amp;clickref=12042150%7C%7C%7C%7Csyndication%7C&amp;p=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fa%2F114093%2F9780063473089\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"sponsored nofollow noskim\"><em>Don\u2019t Cross Mo Ellery<\/em><\/a> is now available from William Morrow Paperbacks, wherever books are sold.<\/p>\n<p><em>We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an exclusive essay, Birdie Horne \u2014 the pen name of author team Eden Roberts and MW Gargiulo \u2014 reflect on their debut co-written novel \u2018Don\u2019t Cross Mo Ellery\u2019 The cover of \u2018Don\u2019t Cross Mo Ellery\u2019 by Birdie HorneCredit: William Morrow Paperbacks NEED TO KNOW Authors and \u201cformer enemies\u201d Eden Roberts and MW Gargiulo formed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-everything-else"],"wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","cvmm-medium":"","cvmm-medium-plus":"","cvmm-portrait":"","cvmm-medium-square":"","cvmm-large":"","cvmm-small":"","full":""},"categories_names":{"1":{"name":"Everything Else","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/category\/everything-else\/"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}