Essay Sample about Richard Castle

“There are two kinds of folks that sit around and think about how to kill people: psychopaths and mystery writers” (Chandler). Richard Castle is an extremely successful writer that is popular for writing mystery novels as well as his good looks as he would say. But after all the blank pages that all writers face at one time or another, compounded with all the ideas and the innate creativity,  this young man developed into a famous, although fictional, author. The circumstances of Richard Castle’s life facilitated him to become a very successful writer, unofficial consultant with the NYPD and private investigator.(Thibault)

Richard Castle (also known as Castle) was born on April 1, 1969 to Martha Rodgers, a once famous Broadway actress trying to recapture her career.  Throughout his life, he had no idea who his father was.  He was told by his mother that he was the result of a “one night stand”.  Castle did not search for the man who was his father. In his fictional life, at a point where his own life was threatened, he was saved by none other than his father, a man named Jackson Hunt.  While growing up he had no interaction with his father, or so he thought, but he later came to find out that his father, Jackson, was a spy for a top secret organization. Throughout his life, he received books from a mysterious source.  It turned out that the source had been his father, who watched Richard grow up from afar since the life of a spy was always treacherous. Richard spent his childhood days at the New York City Public Library, where he picked up speed reading and a  love of classic books, primarily those by Edgar Allen Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Carolyn Keene. (Thibault) 

As a child, Richard had written several stories for his own personal amusement.  He would also write some stories for his friends, beginning with "gross" thriller stories, to non-fiction, which left Richard feeling constrained (Thibault). He returned to his old imaginative thrillers which scared his school friends enough to make Richard realize his ability to manipulate human emotion as a good storyteller of thrillers. When he hit puberty, though, Richard lost all interest in reading, which then began his days of being a rebellious and stubborn boy. Eventually, he matured and he had a life altering event.  This was the catalyst to him becoming a full time mystery novelist.

Richard Castle became lost in Hollander's Woods, a stretch of forest in New Hampshire, when he was 11 years old.  While that is traumatic enough for a young boy, in this instance, he came across a slain young woman while lost in the woods. Alone with a dead body, he was confronted with her assailant.  The masked man tracked Richard down and threatened his life, but he was released. Castle subsequently theorizes that this was due to the fact that his disappearance would be noted since he was a child and his mother would search for him. He wrote a short story on it called A Death in the Woods and the mystery of what happened that day continued to haunt him afterwards and well into adulthood. His inability to solve the mystery of what happened to him in the woods, to bring the killer to justice, led him to become interested in being a mystery writer, inspiring him to solve all the mysteries he could since he could never solve the mystery of what happened to him that fateful day. Being a writer allowed him to control the narrative. Richard Castle became famous as a mystery writer for his Derrick Storm and Nikki Heat books, which were two main characters in his mystery novel series.  He based the characters in his books off of real life people. For example, Nikki Heat is based off of Detective Kate Beckett, and Derrick Storm is based off of himself.   These characters were the hero and heroine of his two series and resulted in 26 best-sellers.  The sales from his series allowed him a rich lifestyle and he became known as a wealthy socialite, an eligible bachelor who threw crazy parties and had a lavish lifestyle. Life was good for Richard Castle until it was not.

Unexpectedly, a 'copy-cat' killer began murdering individuals in the same way Rick's victims in his books had been murdered. This draws the attention of the NYPD, notably Detective Kate Beckett, a reader of his novels who immediately recognizes the pattern and brings Castle in for interrogation.  Instead of being afraid or affronted, this interrogation piques Castle's curiosity, and he chooses to join the investigation because the killer is reproducing crimes from his books. Castle is convinced that if the wrong person is jailed, he can figure out who the real criminal is, so he steals police evidence, baiting Detective Beckett to detain him again. However, Castle's outlandish theories begin to make sense to the detective, and she begins to reinvestigate, with Castle following her about once more. (Thibault)

The detective finds that Castle is a nuisance, however, Castle feels he has a front row view of real mysteries and is attracted to a woman who really has no interest in him other than a professional interest.  While Detective Beckett is interested in solving murders with solid detective procedure and fact finding, she is annoyed with Castle’s crazy and unrealistic theories based on his fictional writing background.  But instead of getting rid of Castle, she becomes saddled with him.  This is because Castle, with his celebrity status, is a friend of the mayor. Themayor informs the NYPD that Castle will be allowed to ride along on homicide investigations.  After a number of murder investigations, it is found that they work well together, marrying theories that Castle devises with the hard core facts and evidence of the murder investigation.   The two unlikely co-workers start to find a rhythm.  Castle starts to look at evidence and Detective Beckett starts to think more broadly. In an effort to get on her “good side” Castle brings Detective Beckett a coffee.  He brings her a coffee every day.  This softens her feelings for him and this leads to an expectation that he will be there every day, just like a morning cup of coffee.  Eventually he asks her out but they must keep this a secret from the NYPD. The reason for this is because although they can date, in some cases couples cannot work together because the police department will think that the couple would have their focus on each other versus the investigation and that would be a conflict of interest.(Haverland).

As part of their story, Castle’s relationship with the NYPD becomes strained when, in the search for a killer, Castle consults with a known mafia connection who was a source of information for one of his novels.  Castle is no longer allowed to associate with or consult for the NYPD and instead, branches out on his own. He obtains a private investigator license and often crosses paths with his former NYPD colleagues.  Eventually, he helps to solve a murder and is allowed back in as part of the team with Detective Beckett.

Other than his writing life,  Richard Castle had a vivid private life.  He had three wives.  Gina Cowell was the mother of his oldest child, Alexis.  His second wife, Meredith Harper, was his agent and his third wife ended up being Detective Kate Beckett.  With Kate, he has three children, a daughter named Lily and twin sons named Reece and Jake. (Thibault) There were many twists and turns in the life of Richard Castle.  There is a charm that he possesses that presents a childlike quality which quickly attracts the audience. There is suspense, fear, comedy and romance.  Even as a fictional character, he has published real books that are best sellers which is a real mystery.