We Chase Shadows | Plot Summary Spoilers Character List

If you loved We Solve Murders, the gang is back with a new case to crack. My post on We Chase Shadows has a character list, plot summary, and spoilers, plus a Q and A.

We Chase Shadows | Plot Summary | Spoilers | Character List | Q and A

We Chase Shadows: Jen’s Quick Take

• We Chase Shadows is book two in the We Solve Murders series. I reviewed We Solve Murders here!
• I don’t think you need to re-read (or even read) book one as the plots are completely separate.
• Book one wasn’t my favorite. It’s hard not to compare this series to The Thursday Murder Club series.
• I did enjoy this book more than We Solve Murders but still think it feels a bit flat and relies on the same formula as The Thursday Murder Club: a motley crew of detectives, quirky side characters and a web of sketchy criminals.
• Publication date: September 15, 2026 by Pamela Dorman/Viking. Thanks to them for the advance copy!

Character List for We Chase Shadows

Owners of the new We Solve Murders detective agency

• Steve Wheeler: former Metropolitan Police officer who is still mourning his late wife, Debbie.
• Amy Wheeler: former private security, Steve’s daughter-in-law
• Rosie D’Antonio: best selling author of unknown age

Recurring Secondary Characters

• Adam Wheeler: Amy’s husband; Steve’s son
• Debbie Wheeler: Steve’s late wife
• Felicity Woollaston: former talent agent, now We Solve Murders office manager
• Trouble: Steve’s cat
• Tony Taylor: mechanic; regular at the Brass Monkey; seems a bit on the spectrum
• Dr. Jyoti Das: widow, professor; regular at The Brass Monkey
• John Todd: regular at The Brass Monkey
• Carlos: Border Parol agent

New Characters:

• Vern Blackwood: supplement tycoon
• Jakob Eriksson: mysterious Swedish rival of Vern; sells fake medication
• Tommy Griffin: American who also sells fake medication
• Elspeth: Rosie’s new literary agent
• Georgie Glazier: Vern’s ex-wife
• Esteban: Vern’s bodyguard
• Lee: Vern’s bodyguard
• Korben: Vern’s bodyguard
• Maria: Vern’s cleaner
• Ernesto: Spanish Interpol agent
• Connor Brooks: missing person from 2001
• Mark Drury: mysterious hitman

Plot Summary for We Chase Shadows

Málaga 2001

Connor Brooks realizes that the Met police have found him and decides to stage his own death

Part One

Steve and Amy are headed to London to attend the book launch for Rosie’s new book.

Meanwhile, in Tuscany, a man named Vern Blackwood finds Esteban, his bodyguard, dead. A man named Jakob Eriksson left a note on the body saying that Vern is next. Vern then watches Rosie on a chat show and mentions her new PI agency. Felicity the office manager of We Solve Murders, gets a call from Esteban, another of Vern’s bodyguards: Vern wants to hire them.

Part Two

Rosie, Amy and Steve fly to Tuscany to interview Vern. He says he has made millions selling fake vitamins. He doesn’t believe that Jakob killed Esteban. Vern had a gentleman’s agreement with six others to divide up the fake vitamin territory. But three of the six are now dead.

Steve and Rosie fly to Barcelona to talk to a contact of hers, Ernesto, who works for Interpol. Ernesto confirms that Jakob is dangerous.

Back in the UK, Felicity and Tony are attacked by a man with bleached blond hair who says it’s a message from Jakob. Steve and Rosie, now back, decide to follow Georgie Glazier, Vern’s ex-wife. Georgie claims to know nothing about Jakob, but Rosie does not believe her.

Vern reluctantly agrees to leave Tuscany and hide out in Rosie’s estate in Dorset.

After hearing about the attack, Steve rushes to Tony’s bedside. Ernesto sends Rosie and Steve a photo of a mysterious guy he’s noticed in surveillance photos of Jakob Eriksson: Korben, Vern’s bodyguard.

Amy, who stayed back in Tuscany, learns from Korben that Esteban caught Vern’s cleaner stealing and escorted her out of the villa.

Just as Amy sets out to meet Korben, who wants to tell her a secret, Rosie and Steve send her a text that they think Korben might be in league with Jakob. But Korben is dead.

Rosie and Steve talk to a Sara Lindstradt, a dangerous Swedish criminal, who has never heard of “Jakob Eriksson.”

Part Three

In Palm Springs, Tommy Griffin gets a call from Vern, warning him about Jakob.

Steve and Amy discover surveillance footage of a man with bleached blond hair running away from Korben’s cottage. They discuss why Korben might have been following Jakob, and why Jakob is such an enigma.

Ernesto catches Georgie snooping around Vern’s Tuscan villa.

Steve calls a former colleague, Dorothy, and gives him all the intel they have on Jakob. She thinks “Jakob” might be a British man named Connor Brooks.

Rosie and Steve travel to Málaga and talk to a pair of British expats remember Connor’s disappearance. They also remember that Connor worked with Vern.

Tommy gets murdered by someone using a passport in the name of Jakob Eriksson. Felicity starts investigating Tony’s attack and finds a ring camera image of the attacker, who looks familiar to Steve.

Part Four

Steve ponders the Jakob/Vern connection. Vern confesses to helping Connor Brooks fake his death.

Steve has lunch with Georgie, who confesses to recognizing Connor Brooks in a photo they showed her.

Part Five

Meanwhile, Mark (the bleached blond hitman) is discovered dead on Rosie’s Dorset property. Vern is found dead in Rosie’s locked wine cellar.

Steve asks Felicity if she shot Mark, but she has an alibi.

Lee Confesses

Lee tells Amy that he’s been hiding a lot. He wrote the note that Vern found on Esteban’s body. Maria, the cleaner who got fired, killed Esteban.

Rosie and Steve find Connor Brooks’s room at the Hunter’s Rest Inn in town and chase Connor after he flees via the fire escape.

Spoilers for We Chase Shadows

Felicity arrives at the We Solve Murders office in Brockenhurst where Brooks is being questioned by Ernesto. She points a gun at Rosie and says she’s going into the conference room. Felicity and Rosie brawl, and Rosie gets shot. In the chaos, Connor escapes and Ernesto goes after him.

Amy shows up and she and Steve join in the pursuit of Connor Brooks.

Just as Ernesto prepares to enter Connor’s hiding place, Steve shoots Ernesto in the leg.

Steve explains to a shocked Amy that he remembered seeing Mark, the hitman, in the photos with Connor Brooks sent by Carlos. But Ernesto had doctored Mark out of the photos he shared with them. Why?

Connor Brooks says that he’s actually Eric Jacobs, Vern’s gardener. He used to travel around pretending to be Jakob Eriksson. Apparently Ernesto knew this.

Ernesto admitted that he knew this. Vern killed Connor Brooks and took over Connor’s business. Then he created an imaginary rival called Jakob Eriksson. In reality Vern was running Jakob’s part of the business and his own.

Rosie is recovering in hospital.

Ernesto confesses to Amy and Steve that he killed both Vern and Mark, but points out that they were criminals and killers themselves. After Vern got the mysterious note on Esteban’s body, he hired Mark to kill Korben, as Korben knew the truth about “Jakob.”

Ernesto decided to kill Vern and take over his business. When he recognized Mark, he killed Vern with Mark’s gun. After that he intended to bribe Eric Jacobs into silence.

Eric explains that after Vern killed Connor, he wanted to create Eriksson. Georgie knew all about it, but lied.

Rosie, who had just been dropped by her publisher, is thriving in all the publicity after her shooting.

A New Crossover Character!

Georgie gives Eric (who is seventy-five!) some money, which he intends to use to buy a flat at Cooper’s Chase, a retirement village in Kent.

Ha! Knew Georgie was sketchy!

Then Georgie reveals to the reader that when Ernesto caught her snooping around Vern’s villa, she spilled everything: “Jakob Eriksson” was really Eric Jacobs the gardener. Maybe she did hope that Ernesto would kill Vern. And now that he did, she can take over Vern’s business.

Questions and Answers

Leave your questions in the comments!