Can't figure out what Mike Shepherd said exactly?

[EChristina]

Gina Kadinsky: Dame Audrey McKinnon. Famous New Zealand writer.
DSS Mike Shepherd: Would have made it big.

Source: The Brokenwood Mysteries, Season 10, Episode 3
Dialogue in question starts at 00:51

I think the sentence "Would have made it big" is not complete, missing some words at the beginning. I am wondering if anyone can help me out as to what DSS Mike Shepherd said exactly.

 

[emsr2d2]

You're right that the subtitles are incomplete. However, I can't make out what he says. It sounds like "Leaf ... broken" but he stutters at the start of the first word. (Does the character normally have a stutter? It sounds like he does again at the start of "writing".)
I've listened to it multiple times but I still can't make it out. The strange thing is that the first word is separated from the second by a pause, but the second seems to be connected to the rest of the sentence. It sounds like "Leaf ... broken would have made it big". Could she have written a book called "Leaf Broken"?

 

[EChristina]

I didn't notice him stutter before, but I did notice him stutter saying "writing". I don't think any book ever mentioned. To me it sounds like "Early frogman would have made it big"... because Gina (medical examiner) found the body. Does it make sense or not? Or does it sound like "Brokenwood would have made it big"? Though it doesn't make sense to me.