This series of books is fun to read. Written by the fictional “Richard Castle” character from the hit ABC series Castle, the book, like the first one titled Heat Wave, will be featured in the TV series. With all the wit and charm of the series, the book adds a little extra ingredient… imagination. After all, it was "written" by Rick Castle.
Murder of a Gossip Columnist
The story begins with the murder of a high profile tattletale journalist. She made her living trashing everyone from rock stars to politicians, and outing all their dirty little secrets. But Cassidy Towne had more up her sleeve than the traditional sex and drugs stories. She was sitting on a big tell-all. She was also the latest subject of Jameson Rook who was following her around and writing an in-depth story on this woman, much the same way he did the previous year with Detective Nikki Heat. Well, almost the same. Rook was not sleeping with Towne.
While on her way to the crime scene, Heat came upon another murder just blocks away. Then, when she finally arrived at the Towne scene, not only did she discover the dead body, but she also discovered Jameson Rook. After an entire summer of not hearing from the man, there he was in the flesh. Her frustration with him was overpowered by the shock of seeing him at a homicide scene.
When he admitted his involvement with the victim, Rook schemed his way into another tag-along on the case. His professional knowledge of crimes along with the police detectives made them a pretty good team their last time out and he was making sure he was involved in this case too. Not only because he knew the victim. But he also wanted a chance to spend time with Nikki again. The heat between them was more than just her surname.
As they began to put the pieces together the homicide team, which now included Rook, discovered some interesting things about this woman who was hated by everyone in the city for her malicious column that spared no one. The venomous words coming out of Towne’s typewriter were fun for the public to read, but lethal for many of the subjects of the rancorous stories.
Nikki Heat and Jameson Rook
Heat began with her usual whiteboard, jotting down all the leads and clues. Then more bodies began piling up. This could not be a coincidence because they were all killed by the same weapon in the same way. And soon the murderer would kidnap both Heat and Rook and attempt to do the same to them.
As little by little secrets about everyone involved in this case start to bubble up to the surface, both Rook and Heat begin to put the pieces together. However, through it all, Heat is still fuming over the magazine article that had her on the cover and had all of Manhattan talking about the hot detective. After all the years she spent making a name for herself by being a first-rate detective, the public is seeing her as the hottie on the pages of a magazine, which she holds against Rook.
A True Crime Novel
Readers will find this is a page-turner, with each chapter getting more and more interesting. It is a true crime novel with some added spark. After all, when you put a Rook next to heat, there is a spark, isn’t there?
What do a sharp-tongued gossip columnist, an ousted politician, a limo driver, a pop star, a hotel concierge, a baseball player and a hooker all have in common? They are the suspects and victims in this interesting plot which involves murder, torture, secrets, and a strange coyote in New York City.
Filled with quick banter and wit, exactly like the way he talks in his TV series, Richard Castle makes the characters come alive on the page. It’s difficult to not imagine Richard Castle in the role of Jameson Rook.
Rick Castle is a great crime writer. He spends time with other top crime writers – James Patterson, Michael Connelly, and Stephen J. Cannell. Castle admitted in a press release from Hyperion Books that they all trade plot twists and story ideas. That is a telling statement because although no one will reveal who the “actual” writer of this book really is, it has been determined that it was penned by one of the writers who has made an appearance on the TV show. That is unless you feel you are living in an alternate reality and believe the show is true, in which case the author of Naked Heat is indeed Richard Castle.
- Publisher: Hyperion
- Hardcover: 304 pages
- ISBN-10: 1401324029
- ISBN-13: 978-1401324025
