Castle's Heat Wave: TV Spawns A Book

OK, I admit it. I’m a sucker for the ABC-TV show Castle. From the logo of the body under the book to the lead character, Richard Castle, I find this show engaging and hilarious — and yeah, even worse, sort of inspiring. I mean, who wouldn’t want Richard Castle’s success?

Anyway, now ABC has taken this tongue-in-cheek mystery series one step further: It’s releasing a book “written by” Castle. ABC has posted the first chapter of Heat Wave on its website and it’s a pip. Totally what you’d expect from Castle — fast-paced, commercial, light entertainment.

Here’s the jacket description, taken from the ABC-TV store.

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.

The book will be available for sale Sept. 29. Meanwhile, Castle’s on Twitter, solving a murder in the Hamptons.

Who is the real author behind Heat Wave? Hmmm. That’s the $64-million-dollar question.