This guide explores the haunted world of Noelle W. Ihli’s Ask For Andrea, where the ghosts of three murdered women band together to expose the charming monster who killed them. Their afterlife “sisterhood” intersects with a relentless investigation and a crumbling suburban facade, weaving grief, justice, and courage across state lines. What begins as vengeance becomes a collective mission to protect the living and end a predator’s spree.
Main Characters
Brecia Collier
Brecia is the first of the three women murdered by James Carson and the first ghost we meet, a force of will determined to haunt her killer and pursue Vengeance and Post-Mortem Justice. After a brief early fling, he stalks and kills her a year later (Chapter 2), and she binds herself to him, learning to manipulate electronics to disrupt his life and crimes. Fiercely protective and sarcastic, she becomes the mentor and anchor of the supernatural trio, teaching the others how to survive the limbo of death. Her rage broadens into a protective instinct—not only for future victims but also for his unsuspecting family—transforming her from a lone haunter into the heart of a sisterhood.
Meghan
Meghan is the final victim, and her disappearance drives the novel’s procedural throughline as a dogged detective seeks answers. The title Ask For Andrea comes from a warning scrawled in a bar bathroom that she notices just before her murder (Chapter 1), a chilling breadcrumb that frames her fate. Gentle, hopeful, and resilient, she keeps vigil over her hidden remains in the mountains, yearning to be found while discovering a “tapestry” of memory that lets her brush against loved ones, especially her Bubbie Rosie. Though offered a path to peace, she chooses to delay it to help bring her killer to justice, evolving from isolated victim to active architect of her own justice alongside her spectral sisters.
Skye
Skye, only eighteen, is the youngest victim—a shy barista who knows her killer as the “hot chocolate guy” at her coffee shop, a trust he exploits to lure her away (Chapter 3). In death, she is tethered to her mother’s grief, and she gradually discovers a subtle ability to nudge people’s thoughts when near them. Her murder in Idaho ultimately links the killer’s crimes across state lines, and with the support of Brecia and Meghan, she grows from frightened observer into a courageous guide who helps surface key evidence and spark key hunches. Skye’s arc traces a quiet teen finding her voice—and then using it to protect others.
James Carson
James Carson is the novel’s central predator, a handsome, soft-spoken chameleon who prowls dating apps under aliases like Jimmy Carlson and Jamie Carver, embodying the theme of Deception and Duality. At home, he plays the role of devoted husband and father; in secret, he’s a meticulous, narcissistic killer whose veneer fractures under pressure. As the ghosts’ relentless interference and a mounting investigation close in, his carefully curated control devolves into paranoia and rash mistakes. Unchanged at his core, his arc is one of unraveling—his mask slipping until capture becomes inevitable.
Supporting Characters
April Carson
April Carson is the killer’s wife, the linchpin of his family-man facade and a victim of ongoing manipulation and verbal abuse. Quiet and conflict-averse, she clings to stability for her daughters’ sake until rising fear and the ghosts’ intrusions into her dreams force a reckoning. Drawing on fierce maternal courage, she ultimately chooses flight over denial, a decision that accelerates his downfall and leads directly to his arrest (Chapter 44).
Detective Domanska
Detective Domanska leads Meghan’s missing-persons case in Utah, becoming the novel’s steady instrument of justice. Intuitive and thorough, she connects far-flung clues and persists even when evidence is thin, bridging multiple jurisdictions to map the killer’s pattern. Her resolve ensures each victim’s story is heard and legally recognized.
Ken
Ken manages Skye at the Daily Grind and treats her with warmth and gentle teasing about her crush. His quick action when she disappears, including turning over critical security footage that captures a car and license plate, gives investigators their first solid lead (Chapter 12). In a book about predation and indifference, Ken stands out as a compassionate adult who notices—and acts.
Minor Characters
Emma and Kimmie Carson
James and April’s young daughters, innocent of their father’s double life. Their safety becomes April’s paramount motivation and a haunting reminder of the killer’s compartmentalized existence.
Nicole
Nicole goes on a Colorado date with the killer after Brecia’s death; sensing danger after he drugs her drink, she leaves early and later reports his MatchStrike profile, getting it suspended—a near-miss that exposes his pattern (Chapter 14).
Elle
Elle dates the killer in Utah before he meets Meghan; he drugs and rapes her, then stalks and vandalizes her car when she cuts off contact, revealing escalating rage in the face of rejection (Chapter 17).
Sharesa
Sharesa is Meghan’s best friend, the first to realize she’s missing and the one who provides crucial early information to police, pushing the investigation into motion.
Bubbie Rosie
Bubbie Rosie, Meghan’s deceased grandmother, embodies a peaceful afterlife and familial memory; Meghan’s ability to visit her in shared recollections contrasts sharply with the violent limbo where the ghosts dwell (Chapter 16).
Character Relationships & Dynamics
The Sisterhood—Brecia, Meghan, and Skye—is the novel’s emotional core, an alliance forged in shared trauma and sharpened by complementary strengths: Brecia’s command of electronics, Meghan’s access to memory and connection, and Skye’s subtle influence over thoughts. Together they invert the predator-prey dynamic, transforming isolation and terror into coordinated, purposeful resistance that advances their pursuit of justice and anchors the theme of Afterlife and Sisterhood.
Against them stands the Predator and His Prey paradigm, which interrogates Predation and Violence Against Women. The killer selects trusting, hopeful women and weaponizes charm to isolate them; in death, his victims reclaim agency, haunting and harrying him until his control disintegrates. This inversion reframes the narrative from one of silencing to one of relentless witness.
The Carson family—James, April, Emma, and Kimmie—operates as a carefully curated facade that amplifies the horror: a “perfect” household masking a murderer. April’s dawning recognition and decisive flight with her daughters rupture that facade, turning domestic space into a battleground and making her a crucial catalyst for the killer’s capture.
Law enforcement and community form a parallel constellation of allies. Detective Domanska’s methodical pursuit stitches together cases across states, while Ken’s prompt cooperation supplies the first hard lead. These relationships—sisters in the afterlife, a mother protecting her children, and investigators who refuse to look away—converge in a final tightening net where resilience, instinct, and solidarity overcome deception.