Amy Wheeler

A professional bodyguard, not an amateur recruit

Amy Wheeler works in private security for Maximum Impact Solutions. Her employer protects high-profile clients, and she is comfortable with the physical demands and danger of close-protection work. We Solve Murders introduces her guarding the novelist Rosie D’Antonio on a private island off South Carolina. The assignment ought to offer a controlled environment, but it becomes the starting point for a much larger threat. Amy is the trio’s most obviously action-ready member. She notices danger, keeps equipment close and is prepared to intervene while another person is still trying to understand what is happening.

Adam and her bond with Steve

Amy is married to Adam Wheeler, Steve’s son. Steve is therefore her father-in-law, not her father or employer. Their connection is already affectionate before the first investigation joins them as a working team. Steve prefers routines and home; Amy likes movement and the adrenaline of her profession. When trouble makes it difficult to know whom to trust, he is the person she calls. The difference in their temperaments does not weaken that trust. It gives the books a family partnership in which an experienced older investigator and a physically capable younger professional bring distinct skills to the same problem.

Loyalty, fighting and the poolside conversation

The opening conversation with Rosie provides a revealing introduction to Amy. The novelist asks about her appearance and confidence while Amy remains alert beside the pool. Amy describes loyalty as one of her qualities and is matter-of-fact about being good at fighting. She does not become relaxed simply because the setting is luxurious. The exchange is funny because Rosie treats a bodyguard’s first priority as the beginning of a personal conversation, while Amy treats personal conversation as something happening during a job. Her short, practical answers distinguish her from the expansive celebrity she has been hired to protect.

Working for Maximum Impact Solutions

Jeff Nolan heads Maximum Impact Solutions, placing Amy within a security organisation rather than in a lone-wolf adventure. The work has rules and consequences. In the island opening, she declines Rosie’s offer of drugs because her employer’s testing policy would put her job at risk. That small detail makes her discipline concrete: she may enjoy danger, but she takes her professional obligations seriously. The murders that follow are tied to the wider world around her assignments, and her skills alone cannot settle every question. Steve’s experience and Rosie’s resources become valuable because the threat requires investigation as well as protection.

The trio and the best starting book

Begin with We Solve Murders. It establishes the island assignment, Amy’s relationship with Steve and the transformation of Rosie from client into investigative companion. Amy’s restraint contrasts with Rosie’s theatrical enthusiasm, while her willingness to act contrasts with Steve’s preference for familiar safety. Those differences make an effective team without requiring them to become alike. We Chase Shadows is their second case, opening in the Italian hills and continuing through other international locations. Read it after the first book to recognise how a returning partnership differs from three people learning to work together. Amy’s central appeal remains her combination of competence, loyalty and professional focus.

Read the books and extracts

Start with We Solve Murders. Our reading order follows the novels’ publication sequence. The publisher’s extracts below let you meet the characters in Osman’s own prose; review and cast links offer further background.

• We Solve Murders: the island opening
• We Solve Murders: publisher’s reader guide