Richard Castle might be as fictional as belly fat on a Barbie ™ Doll, but his book, Heat Wave is a fast-paced mystery with just enough romance to keep it interesting.

As anyone who’s ever seen Castle on television knows, Heat Wave is the novel about fictional NYPD detective Nikki Heat and her shadow, journalist Jamie Rook, and both characters are clearly stand-ins for series characters Det. Kate Beckett, and Castle himself.

One might think the fact that this is obviously a well-placed marketing tool makes the book unreadable.

One would be wrong.

Heat Wave is a bit short, coming in at around 200 pages, but it’s funny, interesting, and satisfying, much as the average episode of Castle generally turns out to be.

As it’s a mystery, I won’t spoil the plot, except to mention blackouts, dual murders, and art thievery. If you want to know how those three things combine, and where the aforementioned romance comes in, you’ll have to read the book!

Currently, one of my favorite shows is Castle, as much because Nathan Fillion is in it, as because the witty banter rocks my boat. Of course, the title character is a mystery author, so what did the folks who run the show do? They wrote and published the book that Castle is supposedly writing during all of season one.

My copy finally arrived today – Heat Wave but it’s going to have to wait until I finish other books, authored by Cleo Coyle and Commander Pants.

Still, I wanted to give a “coming soon” alert, because good shows are so often axed before they really get off the ground, and I’m hoping Castle is with us for a long while.