Richard Castle

A New York real estate tycoon plunges to his death on a Manhattan sidewalk. A trophy wife with a past survives a narrow escape from a brazen attack. Mobsters and moguls with no shortage of reasons to kill trot out their alibis. And then, in the suffocating grip of a record heat wave, comes another shocking murder and a sharp turn in a tense journey into the dirty little secrets of the wealthy. Secrets that prove to be fatal. Secrets that lay hidden in the dark until one NYPD detective shines a light. Mystery sensation Richard Castle, blockbuster author of the wildly best-selling Derrick Storm novels, introduces his newest character, NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat. Tough, sexy, professional, Nikki Heat carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City's top homicide squads. She's hit with an unexpected challenge when the commissioner assigns superstar magazine journalist Jameson Rook to ride along with her to research an article on New York's Finest. Pulitzer Prize-winning Rook is as much a handful as he is handsome. His wise-cracking and meddling aren't her only problems. As she works to unravel the secrets of the murdered real estate tycoon, she must also confront the spark between them. The one called heat.

Nikki Heat

Heat Wave

NYPD detective Nikki Heat must deal with the continual presence of magazine journalist Jameson Rook as she works to solve the murder of a real estate magnate.

Sarah Sammis

Castle is in its second season on ABC. Author Richard Castle is played by Nathan Fillion. In the first season he had killed off his well loved detective and sets out to create a new detective, Nikki Heat. The second season his book is released and in "Fool Me Once" Detective Kate Beckett gets hold of an advanced reader copy and is caught hiding in a stall to read the sex scene on page 105. Now if you want to read the scene (and the rest of the book) you can in Heat Wave by Richard Castle.

Richard Castle, fictional TV author is taking on a metafictional life like Ellery Queen. Now Ellery Queen began as a collaboration between two authors and then went onto the founding of a mystery magazine, a movie franchise and a television series. Castle is doing things in a little different order but he shares a lot in common with Ellery Queen.

Ellery Queen, amateur sleuth helps Inspector Richard Queen solve murders in Manhattan. He has a secretary named Nikki Porter. Richard Castle of course helps Detective Kate Beckett. His main character is Nikki Heat (another Queen homage?). She is being followed by reporter Jameson Rook (yet another chess piece name).

Going into the novel then, I expected an easy to read, relatively easy to solve mystery akin to a typical Ellery Queen book. Heat Wave is exactly that. The mystery is no more difficult to solve than a typical Castle episode. The language and situations though are more adult (nudity, sex, swearing) that you won't see on a non-cable television network show.

The mystery involves a man thrown out of a high-rise apartment and the theft of his art collection. The different settings and situations draw from scenes in the television show. As the set up for the show is Castle using Beckett's cases as research for his writing, it makes sense to see a patchwork of episodes throughout the novel.

I'm a fan of the series and a fan of Ellery Queen. Heat Wave made for a fun weekend of reading. It took me two days to read it but I could have done it in a single day if I hadn't been busy.

Ellery Queen had a career that spanned 42 years. I don't know how long Richard Castle's will span. Heat Wave is currently selling well so it wouldn't surprise me if a second Nikki Heat book appears. If Castle truly takes off then I suspect we'll start seeing books from his previous series.

Castle is the creation of Jennifer Allen ("first reader always") and Terri Miller ("partner in crime"). While ABC isn't admitting who ghost wrote this novel, my money's on them.

Izza

3.5 Review coming!
I actually really enjoyed it.

Annabella

Literally makes my heart jump for joy. Castle is my favorite show of all time. It’s my happy place. This series is SO amazing. Not only did I love it for the characters that are based on the characters in the show, but the case they were on was super interesting and I honestly couldn’t put it down. The actual author of the books (not Richard Castle lol) captured enough of the tv show characters in it so fans of the show would be able to see them in it SO much, but also if you never watched the show you’d still very VERY entertained. I was devastated when the show ended and now that I’m finally reading the books it’s like I have a little piece of Castle left. 

Taylor Sweeton

The bestselling mystery author (and hero of ABC's hit series "Castle") returns with a new series starring NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat.

Tracie McMurray

Katie Holem

It started out a bit slow, but once it picked up, I couldn't put it down. I can definitely see the similarities between Nikki and Kate and Rook and Castle as it is supposed to be based off of them according to Castle in the TV show.

Kimberly

Being an avid watcher of the TV series, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book. I loved every page of it. To me is sounds exactly like Richard Castle and when I picture Nikki Heat and always assume it's Kate Beckett. It was a nice combination of humor and mystery like the tv show.

Heat Wave Nikki Heat

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