FRIDAY: Heat Wave

Nikki Heat and the guys on her team with NYPD have a convoluted case on their hands. Being followed around by popular - and handsome - journalist Jameson Rook is a distraction Nikki doesn't need. She has enough on her plate with the dead real estate tycoon, his trophy wife, bookies and goons, and a missing art collection.

Yes, you read that author name correctly - Richard Castle. As in "Castle," the character in ABC's show by the same name. If you haven't seen it, Castle is a famous mystery author who is shadowing a detective and her team in the name of research. It is a funny show that we watch every week without fail. The book reads a little cheesy at first - just like Castle. The interplay between the characters in Heat Wave will be familiar to fans of the show.

I thought the mystery in Heat Wave was good. Lots of possibilities, twists, turns and increasingly complicated clues. I had the person pegged before the end, but not the motive. I like when I have to keep reading to figure out how everything works together. I was disappointed that Heat and Rook fall into bed together in the very first book. I prefer a little more flirting and tension to keep things interesting for a few more books as readers wonder, "Will they or won't they?" [Sensitive readers should also know there is nudity in the book.]

I would definitely read another book in the series.