Max Highfield

The action star in We Solve Murders

Max Highfield is a famously self-regarding English actor known for the fictional Rampage film franchise, introduced among the supporting characters in We Solve Murders. He belongs to the celebrity world served by the book’s private-security companies. He is not one of the central investigative trio of Steve Wheeler, Amy Wheeler and Rosie D’Antonio. His public success and his view of his own talent make him an especially comic figure. He wants recognition as an actor of depth, while the contrast between that ambition and his action-star image keeps intruding. The character is much more specifically vain and insecure than a neutral description of a charming screen celebrity suggests.

Jeff Nolan, Henk van Veen and security

Max is connected to Jeff Nolan’s Maximum Impact Solutions as a security client and celebrity ambassador. Henk van Veen, Jeff’s former associate and rival in the security business, is also part of the professional network around him. Those relationships are the clearest way to place Max within the first novel. Amy works in the same industry, while Rosie is another famous client requiring protection. The book links celebrity to practical arrangements: employees, companies and protective services sit behind a public image. Max’s status therefore gives him a concrete place in the story even when he is not sharing a scene with the investigators.

The vanity is the memorable trait

Max wants people to admire his serious acting credentials, not only recognise his success in popular action films. That desire makes his self-importance funny. His concern with validation can seem wildly out of proportion to the real dangers occupying other characters. There is a useful distinction between being successful at a particular kind of performance and being satisfied with the way that success defines you. Max is an exaggerated comic example of the gap. He has fame and money, yet still wants an audience to agree with his own assessment of his artistic importance.

How he differs from Rosie and Amy

Rosie is another public figure, but her confidence is expansive: she is interested in the adventure and the people around her. Max’s attention is much more bound up with his own standing as a performer. Amy’s competence offers another contrast. Her job requires practical action when someone is in danger, while an action-film reputation belongs to a manufactured performance. That difference helps readers keep the three roles distinct. Max is a celebrity client; Rosie is a novelist who joins the investigation; Amy is a working protection specialist. A shared connection to the security world does not make their responsibilities or personalities interchangeable.

Where to begin and which scenes to enjoy

Read We Solve Murders from the beginning. Max’s security connections make better sense after you meet Amy’s professional world and the pressures facing Maximum Impact Solutions. His most enjoyable spoiler-light moments are the ones exposing the difference between the recognition he already has and the respect he still demands. They are comic character scenes rather than instructions for how to solve the murder. This guide lists his appearance in the first novel without inventing a role for him in the sequel. The central trio returns in We Chase Shadows, but Max’s first-book profile is best read alongside Jeff’s and Henk’s positions in that original case.

Max in the opening chapters

Penguin’s official We Solve Murders extract introduces Max in chapter four as an actor and a client of Maximum Impact Solutions. He also brings celebrity clients to the security company, chiefly other actors. His conversation mixes film-industry success, complaints about Oscar politics and delight in a denim jacket he says Harry Styles gave him. In the fictional Rampage 7, he plays triplets: a neatly extravagant detail that captures his appetite for attention. Amy Wheeler has previously protected him, including during a dangerous motorcycle incident and a bar fight. Those opening-chapter details make his connection to Amy concrete without revealing the mystery’s outcome. Start with We Solve Murders to meet him in context, alongside the company whose celebrity protection work draws Amy into the story.

Fan casting

Fans have suggested actors for Max Highfield on myCast, but those are reader ideas, not production casting. No actor has been publicly announced for the role in the sources checked on 11 October 2026. A We Solve Murders series is reported to be in development with Netflix; it has not been officially announced. Fan casting should be enjoyed as a discussion rather than treated as a cast list.

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.

• The Times: We Solve Murders review
• Richard Osman’s NPR interview
• We Solve Murders character list (includes spoilers)