Heatwave by Richard Castle

Nathan Fillion/Richard Castle found on IMDb 

Title: In A Hail of Bullets 

Author: Richard Castle 

Publisher: not known 

Source book: TV series Castle 

OK, deep breath everyone because this is complicated one. In the ABC TV series Castle, Nathan Fillion plays the eponymous writer Richard Castle who has written a super successful series of books featuring a character called Derrick Storm (who knew? That’s not how I would spell Derek). When we first meet him in the pilot episode, at a book launch, Castle has just killed off Storm in a book called Storm Fall. He tells his ex-wife and publisher, that writing about Derrick Storm isn’t fun anymore but he can still write bestsellers.

Meanwhile, NYPD Detective Kate Beckett and her team are dealing with a crime scene that has been staged to look remarkably like a scene from one of Castle’s earlier books: Flowers for Your Grave. A second murder scene looks just like something out of another book: Hell Hath No Fury, and a third is based on Death of a Prom Queen. Being TV cops they naturally pull Castle in for questioning. He reckons they must be huge fans of his writing to recognise the scenarios because only hardcore Castle groupies read the first two. And yes, it turns out that both Beckett and Lanie (the ME) are big fans. Beckett has a big boxful of Castle’s books, all in hardback. (In fact, I’m not sure we ever see a paperback of a Castle book)

In the creepy Castle-obsessive lair of the alleged murderer we see Storm’s Break, and two different editions of Gathering Storm, plus A Skull at Springtime and When it Comes to Slaughter (presumably these two are not Derrick Storm books).

Castle then decides to create a new character to be called Nikki Heat (not how I would spell Nicky either) to be based on the glamorous Detective Beckett. The new series of books will also feature a writer named Jameson Rook (Castle/Rook - different names for the same chess piece).

Episode 7 shows Castle donating a signed first edition of Storm Season to a charity. His mother, Martha,  auctions it off, together with dinner with Castle. We also hear about Storm Rising, Storm’s Last Stand, and Storm Warning. There is also A Rose For Ever After, Storm Fall, and of course Heat Wave and Naked Heat.

We get to see a lot of Castle’s books in the first series; some of them mentioned fleetingly, some just sitting on a shelf as part of the set dressing. I do admire the dedication of the designers. They obviously worked hard with the writers to create a lot of books, some of which are never even mentioned but are just casually lying around in the background. The only flaw is that the little known early books have the same design of book jackets as the later million sellers. That just wouldn’t happen. Publishers are always changing the jacket designs to con you into buying the book again (some people like everything to match). And, another thing, I don’t believe we ever see Castle’s books in paperback. But this is just a minor niggle.

OK, you cry, why are you writing about books from a TV programme? Because you don’t normally feature fictional books from film or television. Well, here’s the thing. I suddenly thought why not? And having written this post I think the answer probably is: I should have left this alone. This is far too complicated.

Because, according to the Castle fandom website, the Nikki Heat books written by Richard Castle are Heat Wave, Naked Heat, Heat Rises, Frozen Heat, Deadly Heat, Raging Heat, Driving Heat, High Heat, Heat Storm and Crashing Heat. But it looks as though what I was expecting to be a list of fictional books written by a fictional author and featured in the television programme, even if only as set dressing like A Skull at Springtime, has been infiltrated by all the fake IRL Richard  Castle books written by ghost writers - see below. I think it would be necessary to watch the TV show as carefully as possible to find out what’s what. Even Wikipedia seems more interested in the ‘you can actually buy them’ tie in books rather than anything that fictional author Richard Castle fictionally wrote.

There is, in real life, a series of 10 books ‘by Richard Castle’ which feature Nikki Heat and book titles mentioned in the TV show.

The first seven books in the Nikki Heat series are written by Tom Straw. This article is worth a read if you are interested in the ghost writer.

The books are Heatwave (a New York real estate tycoon plunges to his death), 

Naked Heat (an infamous gossip columnist is stabbed), 

Heat Rises (in the coldest New York winter for a century), 

Frozen Heat (you get the picture…), Deadly Heat, Raging Heat and Driving Heat.

A further three books High Heat, Heat Storm and Crashing Heat were not written by Tom Straw. 

Of course, these are all actual books, some of them New York Times bestsellers!, and not fictionally written by a fictional author. 

And, wouldn’t you just know it…. Apparently are also seven books, actual books that you can actually buy, featuring Derrick Storm. We have A Brewing Storm, A Raging Storm and A Bloody Storm (a trilogy), Storm Front, Wild Storm, Heat Storm which apparently also features Nikki Heat and Storm Surge, which is three short stories. Oof! So many books written by a fictional character. Or not.

According to the ‘About the Author’ section in the real life printed books, Richard Castle’s first book, In A Hail of Bullets*, was published while he was still in college. It won the Nom de Plume’s prestigious Tom Straw Award for Mystery Literature. A bit of an Easter egg joke there.

I have actually read several of the Richard Castle books on my kindle, and quite enjoyed them. But I had rather forgotten about them until I noticed Castle was on at lunchtime (as I write). I really like the TV programme. Having a NYC police detective working with a thriller writer is a little bit different from the average cop show, and Castle is a delightful character. I love his relationships with his mother and daughter.

* Fairly sure this is a genuine fictional Richard Castle book not ghost written or actually written by anyone.

Thanks to Detroit Free Press