Who is Richard Castle?

As season three of ABC's Castle approaches, fans of the hit show are also anticipating the release of Naked Heat, the follow-up to last year's Heat Wave. And one of the most heavily-guarded literary secrets is open to new debate.

Who is Richard Castle?

I'm not referring to the character played by Nathan Fillion. Fans of the TV series Castle who are also fans of Heat Wave are still debating who the actual author of the Nikki Heat books might be - a real-life "who dun it", without the murder factor. The New York Times Bestseller was written by someone and there are no ready answers to who Richard Castle might be.

Several rumors have been bandied about over the last year. These rumors have sprung from supposed "clues" in the author's biography on several sites around the Internet as well as from some of the guest appearances on the Castle television series.

Is James Patterson really Richard Castle?
James Patterson has appeared on the television show Castle as one of Rick's poker buddies. Patterson appears often in discussion boards as a ghostwriter suspect due to his many collaborative works in the crime fiction genre.

James Patterson is the creator of the Alex Cross and Women's Murder Club books.

Is Stephen J. Cannell really Richard Castle?
Another of Rick Castle's poker buddies, Stephen J. Cannell is a successful screenwriter and crime novelist. Cannell is best known for his many hit television shows such as 21 Jump Street and The Greatest American Hero but is also the author of the Shane Scully series.

Is Michael Connelly really Richard Castle?
The final member of the poker foursome on Castle is Michael Connelly, the author of the Harry Bosch series of crime novels.

Could one of Richard Castle's novelist poker friends be the actual writer of the Nikki Heat series? According to an interview with Kate O'Hare, Stephen J. Cannell denies that any of the poker players wrote the Nikki Heat books:

"Everybody thinks that I wrote it, or that Michael Connelly wrote it or that James Patterson wrote it. Of course, none of us did."

Is Tom Straw really Richard Castle?
If you are thinking "Who is Tom Straw?" you wouldn't be alone in your thoughts. Tom Straw is the author of The Trigger Episode: A Novel, released in 2007.

While one novel may not seem like enough of a writing pedigree to be selected as the ghostwriter for the tie-in novel to a smash TV series, Straw's credentials don't end with The Trigger Episode. According to IMDb, Tom Straw is credited as a producer on such hit television series as Cosby, Night Court, Parker Lewis and Nurses. Straw also carries screenwriting credit for those same shows as well as the more recent The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

One other clue that leads to Tom Straw as the ghostwriter for the Nikki Heat books lies in Richard Castle's "biography".

"His first novel, In a Hail of Bullets, published while he was still in college, received the Nom DePlume Society's prestigious Tom Straw Award for Mystery Literature". Nom dePlume is, of course, "pen name".

If the cat is ever let out of the bag as to the true identity of Nikki Heat series author, my money is on Tom Straw.

Sources: New York Times ; Stephen J. Cannell official website ; Richard Castle on Amazon ; IMDb ;
Kate O'Hare's Hot Cuppa TV ; Michael Connely official website ; Tom Straw on Amazon ; James Patterson official website ; Amazon Richard Castle Discussion