"Heat Rises" by Richard Castle

If anything proves that these books, produced by ABC in conjunction with the “Castle” TV show, are written by a variety of authors, this third novel in this series is it.  While still good, it is very clearly written by a different author from the first two titles.  All of the books are stories within stories to a degree … the characters in the books are extrapolations of the characters on the TV show.  On the show, writer Richard Castle follows around Detective Kate Beckett and her cohorts, Esposito and Ryan.  In the books, these characters become writer Jameson Rook, Detective Nikki Heat and sidekicks Ochoa and Raley.  The books often use snippets of storylines found in the show, but they weave new tales.  The novels go further than the TV show with somewhat steamier, more violent content appropriate to the hard-boiled detective novel genre.  This particular book has a priest murdered in an S&M studio, a Latin civil rights organization that may or may not be fronting for drugs and weapons smuggling, a political minefield at Police Headquarters, an old case surrounding a celebrity’s spiral into drugs, a military hit squad that may or may not be connected to a private black ops group, and enough bad leads and suspects to make your head spin.  Whoever wrote this book was consistent – the characters remain the same, with language and flow nearly identical to the first two books.  This author, however, is different in the level of detail and specificity he brings to the writing.  Every single instant is explored.  While this sometimes gives a strong image (so important to figure out all those clues!) it also drags down action sequences a bit.  The two “big” battles in the book seem to go on forever (IMHO).  The detailed prose is evident in the length of the book, which is a full hundred pages longer than the first in the series.  There are plusses to this new writer, however – more humor, for one; and at least two Firefly references that I was able to catch.  Whoever wrote it clearly did his homework – watching the show and probably reading the first two titles (“Heat Wave” and “Naked Heat”).  Fans of the show will find lots of little Easter Eggs here to smile at, including the Castle character’s self-congratulatory preen in the first season of the TV show, stating “I am ruggedly handsome, aren’t I?” as well as a subtle homage to Stephen J. Cannell’s “21 Jump Street.”  In any case, like the first two books, this one is selling well and rose to #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list in its debut week.

So, who wrote them?  And why am I calling the writer a “he?”  Well, I enjoy being a bit of a detective myself, and have surmised that Stephen J. Cannell wrote the first, and most likely second books (Cannell sadly passed away from  Melanoma in 2010).  I’m familiar with his extensive body of work, and the books just “read like him."  Also, under the author picture of Nathan Fillion aka “Castle” on the back of those two books, there is a quote attributed to Cannell praising the writing.  This newest book has no quote under the photo, but all of the books have congratulatory quotes on the front – the first is James Patterson, the second is Mitch Connelly and the third is Dennis Lehane.  All three have appeared as guests on the TV show and ABC producers shyly hint that the author is, in fact, someone who has been "seen on the show.”  I’m betting on Lehane.  I’ve read Patterson, and don’t feel the specificity in this book is his style.  I haven’t read Connelly or Lehane, but Mr. Lehane's bio reads as the kind of “writer’s writer” that might have produced this piece of work.  We’ll see.  Likely, we will not know for sure until long after the TV show has left the air – which will probably not happen anytime soon, as the ratings continue to soar for the alphabet network.  In the meantime, happy reading.  And TV watching.