Check Mate

Kasey Cox


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Of late, the staff at From My Shelf have become huge fans of ABC’s television series, "Castle". Sound counter-intuitive for bookstore folks to love a TV show? Not so much as one might think. Certainly, I could write more than one column about “the crap that’s on television today” and find plenty of evidence from numerous studies, showing how watching TV is “rotting our brains”, but I would be digressing way too far before this column has even begun. For now, let’s discuss the elements of TV that book people enjoy, too, and specifically, what we love about “Castle”.

“Castle” is the story of a bestselling mystery novelist who finagles his way into following some NYPD detectives around, making observations for his writing. The bestselling writer is the eponymous Richard “Rick” Castle, whose first series of thrillers (think James Patterson’s “Alex Cross” series, for example) made him a pile of money, brought him international fame, and connections in high places. Unlike Patterson and his detective Alex Cross, Rick Castle has recently killed off his popular fictional detective, Derrick Storm. Searching for fodder for a new series, Castle’s asked his friend, the New York City mayor, to convince the NYPD that allowing Castle to shadow a team of homicide detectives will bring “good PR” to the city’s men and women in blue.

Thus begins Castle’s tango with Detective Kate Beckett. Though Castle has been quite a playboy, coming out of two divorces only to date any rich, famous, or beautiful woman he wants, the cavalier attitude begins to disappear as Castle’s respect, affection, and—dare we say it?—love for Beckett grows. Despite the ups and downs in their working relationship, and the often unspoken tensions in their complicated personal relationship, Castle starts writing his new series, centered on a sexy, powerful, successful detective – “Nikki Heat”. The other characters in the new “Heat” series are also obviously inspired by other people Castle works with at the precinct, but “Heat" is often too close to Kate Beckett’s real person for her comfort.

What’s fun about this television series is the way ABC broadcasting and Hyperion publishing kicked it up another notch, by publishing real books, supposedly written by “Richard Castle.” Each book features a photo of the actor who plays Castle (Nathan Fillion) and an author bio that describes Rick Castle’s life from the show. The first book, just like in the TV series, is Heat Wave. The second is Naked Heat. Those who follow the show will see the obvious parallels between the character of Kate Beckett on the show, and the protagonist of the books, detective Nikki Heat. The same is true for all the supporting characters, including the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, “Jameson Rook”, who gets permission to shadow Nikki Heat in order to write an article.

Here’s one thing about book people: ultimately, we love a good STORY, no matter what the medium. That’s why you’ll find so many of us also obsessively discussing movies, TV shows, plays, and even certain games, if they are narrative-driven and full of good characters. Castle, the TV series, has provided not only great characters who are both funny and clever, but also believably deeper as their back-stories get filled in. Moreover, there’s the added layer of a story-within-a-story: here’s a series about a writer, (which is already more interesting to us bookish folks), and then add in the fact that you can really read the books the writer has (supposedly) written. The books refer to characters and events in the television show, and the books are often the subject of conversation and events in the TV series, immersing one more in the world of “Castle.”

Most likely, the ghost writers for the “Castle” books aren’t going to be winning any Pulitzers of their own, but they’re solid mystery stories, made more fun by the interplay with the series, as was the intention of the powers that be who are involved. Though bookstore folks can be snobby and/or particular about movies made from books, in the case of the crossover between “Castle” TV and the books “written by Richard Castle”, I encourage you to join the fun!