Most Popular Books by Richard Castle

A 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. Mystery sensation Richard Castle, blockbuster author of the wildly best-selling Derrick Storm novels, introduces his newest character, NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat. Tough, sexy, professional, Nikki Heat carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City''s top homicide squads. She''s hit with an unexpected challenge when the commissioner assigns superstar magazine journalist Jameson Rook to ride along with her to research an article on New York''s Finest. Pulitzer Prize-winning Rook is as much a handful as he is handsome. His wise-cracking and meddling aren''t her only problems. As she works to unravel the secrets of the murdered real estate tycoon, she must also confront the spark between them. The one called heat.

If New York Police captain Nikki Heat is acting like she''s seen a ghost, it''s for good reason. Her mother, Cynthia, presumed dead for seventeen years, has resurfaced--but the threat that made her go into hiding is as grave as ever. Halfway across the world, CIA superspy Derrick Storm, on the trail of a nefarious group of Chinese businessmen known as the Shanghai Seven, trips over a long-ago recording of one of Cynthia''s phone calls. It seems Cynthia Heat''s past and the Shanghai Seven''s present have merged. And so have the fortunes of two dogged investigators. Nikki Heat and Derrick Storm unite for the first time--and they''ll need all their considerable skills to stop a villain who has the resources and ruthlessness to kill them both.

NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat gets more mystery than she imagined when she arrives at her latest crime scene. The body of an unidentified woman has been found stabbed to death and stuffed inside a suitcase left sitting on a Manhattan street. A startling enough death, but an even bigger shock comes when this new homicide surprisingly connects to the unsolved murder of Detective Heat''s own mother. The gruesome killing of this Jane Doe launches Heat on a dangerous and emotional investigation, rekindling the cold case that has haunted her since she was nineteen. Paired once again with her romantic and investigative partner, top journalist Jameson Rook, Heat works to solve the mystery of the body in the suitcase while she also digs into unexplored areas of her mother''s background—areas Nikki has been afraid to confront before, but now must. Facing relentless danger as someone targets her for the next kill, Heat''s search will unearth painful family truths, expose a startling hidden life, and cause Nikki to reexamine her own past. Heat''s passionate quest takes her and Rook from the back alleys of Manhattan to the avenues of Paris, trying to catch a ruthless killer. The question is, now that her mother''s cold case has unexpectedly thawed, will Nikki Heat finally be able to solve the dark mystery that has been her demon for ten years?

Picking up where Frozen Heat left off, top NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat pursues the elusive former CIA station chief who ordered the execution of her mother over a decade ago. For the hunt, Nikki teams once again with her romantic partner, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Jameson Rook, and their quest for the old spy and the motive behind the past murder unearths an alarming terror plot—which is anything but ancient history. It is lethal. It is now. And it has already entered its countdown phase. Complicating Heat''s mission to bring the rogue spy to justice and thwart the looming terror event, a serial killer begins menacing the Twentieth Precinct and her homicide squad is under pressure to stop him, and soon. The frightening murderer, known for his chilling stealth, not only has singled out Nikki as the exclusive recipient of his taunting messages, he then boldly names his next victim: Detective Heat.

In the thrilling sequel to the New York Times bestselling Heat Wave (Hyperion, 2010 - also available from Turnaround), Richard Castle continues the story of NYPD homicide detective Nikki Heat. Castle, the hit Alibi series, premiered in March 2009. The title character, Richard Castle, is the bestselling mystery author of the critically acclaimed Derrick Storm novels. His partner, the hard-nosed but sexy Detective Kate Beckett, is the inspiration for Nikki Heat, star of his latest bestselling series. A 21st century update to the popular TV crossover genre.

Four years after he was presumed dead, Derrick Storm - the man who made Richard Castle a bestseller - is back. From Tokyo to London, high-level bankers are being gruesomely murdered. The killer, Gregor Volkov, is Derrick Storm''s old nemesis. Desperate to figure out who Volkov is working for, the CIA calls on the one man who can match Volkov''s strength and cunning - Derrick Storm.

The bizarre murder of a parish priest at a New York bondage club opens Nikki Heat''s most thrilling and dangerous case so far, pitting her against New York''s most vicious drug lord, an arrogant CIA contractor, and a shadowy death squad out to gun her down. And that is just the tip of an iceberg that leads to a dark conspiracy reaching all the way to the highest level of the NYPD. But when she gets too close to the truth, Nikki finds herself disgraced, stripped of her badge, and out on her own as a target for killers with nobody she can trust. Except maybe the one man in her life who''s not a cop. Reporter Jameson Rook. In the midst of New York''s coldest winter in a hundred years, there''s one thing Nikki is determined to prove: Heat Rises.

An ISIS-style beheading of a journalist, carried out by a New York City group pledging fealty to that rogue state, becomes more than just another case for NYPD Captain Nikki Heat when the killers announce their next target: her husband, magazine writer Jameson Rook. Meanwhile, Heat is haunted by a fleeting glimpse of someone she swears is her mother... a woman who has been dead for nearly twenty years.

An illegal immigrant falls from the sky, and NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat''s investigation into his death quickly captures the imagination of her boyfriend, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jameson Rook. He decides to work the case with Heat as his next big story, and Nikki is happy to have him ride along. But when Rook''s inquiry concludes that Detective Heat has arrested the wrong man for the murder, everything changes. Set against the raging force of Hurricane Sandy as it pounds New York, Heat battles an ambitious power broker, fights a platoon of urban mercenaries, and clashes with the man she loves. Detective Heat knows her job is to solve murders. She just worries that solving this one will be the death of her relationship.

The tenth Nikki Heat novel, set in the universe of the Castle TV series. New York police captain Nikki Heat is accustomed to dealing with murders, even those with no leads and no motives. However, when a coed is murdered on campus, Heat''s husband is a suspect, making this case the most personal one yet. Marriage. It''s a double-edged sword, or at least it is for Nikki Heat. Her husband, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Jameson Rook, infuriates her in a way no one else in her entire life has ever done. He also takes her to heights of pleasure she has never experienced. But most of all, she loves the man with all her heart and she''d do anything to protect him —which is just what she had done not so long ago. It almost cost them everything. Now Rook is given the honor to be a visiting professor at his alma mater, and he can''t pass up the opportunity to mentor burgeoning writers at his award-winning college newspaper. But shortly after his arrival on campus, a female reporter for the paper is found dead... naked... in Rook''s bed. Dealing with betrayal from any man is not Nikki''s style. She and Jameson have had plenty of conflicts during their complicated relationship, but none like this. Is her husband keeping secrets, or can she really trust him? In order to find out, Nikki gives Jameson the benefit of the doubt and digs into his theory of a secret society within a secret society. What she finds puts her investigative skills, and her marriage, to the test.

Derrick Storm, the guy the CIA calls on when it wants something investigated domestically, is thirty-three thousand feet in the air, returningfrom a rock climbing vacation in the Swiss Alps, when the plane spirals into anose-dive. Storm uses his climbing gear to tether himself to the wing andheroically save the plane and all the people on board. Sadly, Storm isnot available to come to the aid of the three other planes that have crashedunder similar circumstances, killing everyone on board. Interestingly, many of the victims arepowerful people in politics, business and religious groups. The always elusive Jedidiah Jones, leader of the National ClandestineService that has no name, calls on Storm to investigate. Storm determines that an unknown extremisthas secured enough of the rare earth element promethium to create a laser withthe power to shoot down planes from the ground. The problem swiftlybecomes a global one as four more planes crash in the Arabia Desert. Details, intuition and courage lead Storm to Monaco, Panama City and Egypt as he meets beautiful women, rides angry camels and rescues innocentvictims in his valiant effort to track down the maniacal mind behind the terrorism.

Fast-paced and full of intrigue, Heat Rises pairs the tough and sexy NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat with hotshot reporter Jameson Rook in New York Times bestselling author Richard Castle''s most thrilling mystery yet. The bizarre murder of a parish priest at a New York bondage club opens Nikki Heat''s most thrilling and dangerous case so far, pitting her against New York''s most vicious drug lord, an arrogant CIA contractor, and a shadowy death squad out to gun her down. And that is just the tip of an iceberg that leads to a dark conspiracy reaching all the way to the highest level of the NYPD. But when she gets too close to the truth, Nikki finds herself disgraced, stripped of her badge, and out on her own as a target for killers with nobody she can trust. Except maybe the one man in her life who''s not a cop. Reporter Jameson Rook. In the midst of New York''s coldest winter in a hundred years, there''s one thing Nikki is determined to prove: Heat Rises.

Nikki Heat, the NYPD''s top homicide detective, has been promoted to captain just in time to face a thrilling case with a very personal twist. Her fiancé Jameson Rook is deep in an investigation. Professionally for Heat, Rook''s meddling in the case compromises her new job. Privately, it becomes an early test of their engagement when Rook becomes a distraction at best, and an obstacle at worst, as their parallel lives not only cross, but collide.