Chap­ter 3 of We Solve Mur­ders delves into Steve’s reflec­tive mind­set as he nav­i­gates his life in the quaint vil­lage of Axley, a place he now calls home. Hav­ing relo­cat­ed to this peace­ful area twelve years ago, Steve ini­tial­ly har­bored doubts about the vil­lage’s idyl­lic charm. His exten­sive back­ground as a police offi­cer, span­ning twen­ty-five years, had taught him to always seek out hid­den dan­gers and to view peo­ple with a healthy dose of skep­ti­cism. At first, he assumed that Axley, with its pic­turesque high street, tra­di­tion­al shops, and the sprawl­ing beau­ty of the New For­est, would even­tu­al­ly reveal its dark­er side. How­ev­er, as time passed, Steve found him­self soft­en­ing to the warmth and kind­ness of the com­mu­ni­ty. What he had ini­tial­ly dis­missed as a facade slow­ly became a com­fort­ing real­i­ty. Even as he remained cau­tious, he could not ignore the peace the vil­lage brought him.

Each morn­ing, Steve engages in his dai­ly walk through Axley, a rit­u­al that brings him com­fort and an oppor­tu­ni­ty to reflect on his life and the world around him. The peace­ful sur­round­ings, cou­pled with the respon­si­bil­i­ty of keep­ing the vil­lage clean by pick­ing up lit­ter, become a ground­ing force for him. These walks, which were once an after­thought, have become inte­gral to his heal­ing process. The seren­i­ty of the vil­lage, though ini­tial­ly met with doubt, has allowed him to feel some­thing he hadn’t felt in years: a sense of calm and nor­mal­cy. His grief over the loss of his wife, Deb­bie, con­tin­ues to shape his life, yet the sup­port from the com­mu­ni­ty has helped him cope with the empti­ness. Though still mourn­ing, he finds small moments of com­fort in the rou­tine and sta­bil­i­ty that Axley offers.

Steve’s work as a pri­vate inves­ti­ga­tor in Axley is rel­a­tive­ly unevent­ful com­pared to his past work as a police offi­cer. The cas­es he takes on now, like inves­ti­gat­ing fraud or search­ing for lost pets, seem mun­dane but still con­nect him to the peo­ple in the com­mu­ni­ty. These cas­es, while less excit­ing, allow Steve to remain involved in the life of Axley and deep­en his con­nec­tion to the vil­lage he has come to call home. While his pre­vi­ous work was fraught with dan­ger and uncer­tain­ty, these new, qui­eter cas­es offer a stark con­trast, giv­ing Steve the space to heal. Yet, despite the calm and sim­plic­i­ty of his cur­rent work, he can’t shake the feel­ing that he is some­how meant for more—whether it’s a more thrilling inves­ti­ga­tion or an unex­pect­ed turn of events. In his qui­et moments, such as when he enjoys a pub quiz or spends the evening with his cat, Trou­ble, Steve begins to appre­ci­ate the impor­tance of these small rit­u­als. It’s in these sim­ple acts that Steve finds heal­ing, but also the under­ly­ing recog­ni­tion that his life is far from sta­t­ic. Even with all the tran­quil­i­ty sur­round­ing him, he’s nev­er com­plete­ly free of the need for pur­pose, the desire for some­thing to chal­lenge him.

As the chap­ter pro­gress­es, Steve’s inter­nal strug­gle is evi­dent. He’s learn­ing to appre­ci­ate the peace Axley offers but still feels the pull of his for­mer life, where things were always more com­pli­cat­ed, more dan­ger­ous. He won­ders if his time in Axley is sim­ply a tem­po­rary reprieve from the tumul­tuous past he once lived or if this slow­er pace is now his new real­i­ty. Either way, Steve has come to terms with the fact that his life may nev­er ful­ly return to the way it was, and he must find con­tent­ment in this new chap­ter. As he reflects on his wife’s pass­ing, the village’s sup­port, and his new, qui­eter life, Steve slow­ly begins to find peace. The unre­solved feel­ings and ques­tions, how­ev­er, con­tin­ue to linger in his thoughts, leav­ing him with a sense of uncer­tain­ty about the future. Despite his doubts, Steve remains hope­ful that the qui­et of Axley, com­bined with his new­found sense of rou­tine, will offer the emo­tion­al heal­ing he des­per­ate­ly needs.