The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 11 plus 4 letter word PORTERHOUSE BLUE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
P
O
R
T
E
R
H
O
U
S
E
B
L
U
E
More clues leading to the result PORTERHOUSE BLUE
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "novel" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case novel = porterhouse blue.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.