Richard Castle is a mystery writer, with problems. He's killed off his bestselling character Derrick Storm, he's got writer's block, his publisher (and ex-wife) is threatening to demand the return of his advance if she doesn't see any new manuscripts in a week, and ennui is setting in with his playboy lifestyle (except for the bits where he gets to sign the breasts of attractive, flirty women—he doesn't mind those bits much) leading to one bored, frustrated writer. To top it off, his interfering, critical mother Martha has moved in with him and his teenage daughter Alexis.
Kate Beckett is a detective in the NYPD, also with problems. Someone is killing people. Specifically, killing them and staging their bodies in the same way as can be found in mystery novels written by Beckett's favorite novelist: Richard Castle.
Owing to the similarity between crime scenes, Beckett visits Castle's latest release party and brings the man himself in for questioning. While Beckett is less than impressed with the novelist's flirtatious, flippant attitude; Castle is greatly impressed and intrigued—in more ways than one—by this attractive, brilliant detective who is not a fan of Castle's work, and is also curious as to why the killer decided to stage the murders based on Castle's self-described "lesser works". As such, he calls in a favor with an old friend—who just happens to be the mayor—to get himself attached to the investigation as a consultant, much to the irritation of Beckett and the amusement of her colleagues, Captain Roy Montgomery, Detectives Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan, and ME Lanie Parrish.
The discovery of a third body leads Castle to note that there are certain minor but glaring inconsistencies between the crime scenes as he wrote them and the crime scenes as staged by the killer. It's seemingly immaterial, however, as the discovery of fingerprints on a fan-letter depicting in detail the second crime scene have led to Kyle Cabot, a fan of Castle's with a history of psychiatric problems, a connection to all three victims, and a rather creepy shrine devoted to Castle in his apartment. Clearly Cabot has lost all touch with reality, and gone on a killing spree. Case closed.
It's too easy; his writer's sensibilities won't allow him to accept such an easily-reached solution to the crime. Furthermore, the inconsistencies between the crime scenes and his books would be impossible for an obsessive fan consumed with getting every detail correct to tolerate. After discussing his latest "project" with his poker buddies (who just happen to include Stephen J. Cannell and James Patterson), he comes to the conclusion that Cabot has been framed by someone who wanted to cover up one of the murders by committing two more and depicting it as the work of a psycho, and decides to keep digging to clear Cabot's name. This involves charming Beckett with an advance copy of his latest novel and stealing evidence from her. Once Beckett realizes what he did, she is not pleased, and Castle finds himself under arrest.
Beckett, however, has also let the inconsistencies of the case (and Castle, although she's loath to admit it) get under her skin, and begins reinvestigating the matter as well. Of the three victims, only the second—Allison Tisdale, Cabot's social worker and daughter of a wealthy real-estate mogul—had any serious connection to Cabot or knowledge of his psychiatric issues. Both Castle and Beckett decide to interview Allison's father Johnathan Tisdale on the same day; during the meeting, Castle catches on that the elder Tisdale is dying, but is doing his best to hide this fact from others. The interview leads them to look at Allison's brother Harrison, who is now the sole heir to the multimillion dollar fortune of their father following Allison's death. That, and Harrison's failing business, equal one very strong motive for murder. Unfortunately, Harrison Tisdale was out of the country for all three murders, and has a stamped passport to prove it. An airtight alibi—but Beckett catches on that Harrison had an alibi ready without checking a calendar or asking for a day. And Castle suggests that the Tisdale son has acquired a fake passport to enable him to slip back in to the country and commit the murders.
Which he has.
The police arrive at Tisdale's apartment just as he's destroying the evidence, leading him to escape out the back—and run right past Castle, who has been handcuffed to a police car to prevent him from interfering. Castle isn't about to let that stop him, however, and frees himself to pursue Tisdale, only to wind up a hostage. Beckett and Tisdale face off, but Castle manages to goad Tisdale's motivation out from himnote before managing to extricate himself from the hostage situation, incapacitating Harrison for Beckett to arrest. Helped that the safety on Harrison's gun was on the whole time.
With the killer finally collared and all remaining loose ends tied up, Beckett and Castle say their farewells; Beckett politely rebuffs Castle's offer of dinner, and walks away from the writer forever.
...or so she thinks. Montgomery calls Beckett in the next day to let her know: Castle has a killer idea for a series of novels about a savvy, beautiful NYPD detective which he needs to research for, and a newly-acquired taste for solving real-life crimes. He also still has the mayor on speed dial, meaning that Beckett isn't rid of him just yet...
Tropes that appear in this episode:
- As Himself: Stephen J. Cannell and James Patterson.
- Coat Over the Shoulder: Castle when Beckett is told that he's going to consult for the Castle-novel-copycat murders. He oozes casual self-confidence.Castle: It's the least I can do for the city I love.
- Control Freak: Beckett. Which is why her cop friends are so amused by Castle's presence.Esposito: A control freak like you with something you can't control? No no, that's gonna be more fun than Shark Week!
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Esposito does most of the talking in the Those Two Guys dynamic with Ryan. And there's a third detective (played by Colby French) who has more lines than Espo...but whom we never see again. In fact, Esposito's and Ryan's actors are listed under Guest Starring in the episode's opening credits, suggesting that they weren't originally planned to be show regulars.
- Beckett refers to Castle as "Rick" far more than she usually does in this episode. Later on, it became a little startling when she actually used his first name.
- Fake Alibi: Harrison Tisdale is a suspect in a string of three murders, but claims he was out of country on all three dates, and has a stamped passport to prove it. However, Detective Beckett finds it suspicious that Tisdale is able to provide this alibi so quickly, without consulting his calendar or even asking for the dates. She and Castle dig deeper and figure out how he faked it: Harrison has a second passport under a false identity. So he left the country with his real passport just to establish his alibi, then used his false passport to return incognito and commit the murders.
- Fight Bell Hijinks: In the pilot episode, Castle is being held hostage by the killer, who is going on a Motive Rant about why he murdered his sister (in an effort to get in a parting cut at his dying father, as he was The Unfavorite), when Castle, seeing an opening and noticing the safety was on, cold cocks the guy, to the very loud sound of a bell when the punch lands. Castle triumphantly calls to Detective Beckett, "Tell me you saw that!"
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: When Lanie and Castle talk, she notes that "you really have an eye for the details of death". Shortly after, Castle voices an inconsistency with the third victim and the corresponding murder scene he wrote in Death of a Prom Queen.
- Foil: The Tisdale family is this for Castle's. Castle, his mother Martha, and his daughter Alexis are all a family who love each other very much, despite their quirks and Alexis being the most responsible of the bunch. The Tisdales, meanwhile, include a parent who favored one of his two children, leaving the other sibling to kill her out of jealousy and spite.
- Foreshadowing: Castle is familiar with guns.
- Incurable Cough of Death: Jonathan Tisdale, the father of the murder victim (and the murderer), coughs a couple of times during Castle and Beckett's meeting with him. This, combined with him now being noticeably thinner than in his portraits, leads Castle to ask about his will, and tells Beckett why later: He's dying of cancer, and is trying to hide it, mostly from his investors.
- Not With the Safety On, You Won't: Part of the reason Castle is able to extricate himself from the hostage situation.
- Put Down Your Gun and Step Away: Subverted. Awesomely. Castle effectively goads a confession out of Harrison for Beckett, then takes advantage of his following mistake—pointing his gun at Beckett, thus off of Castle—to backhand him in the face. Hard.Harrison: It's not over! It's not over! Drop the gun or I swear to God I'll—
[Clang!]
Castle: [taking the gun from Harrison as the killer falls over; to Beckett] Tell me you saw that! - Room Full of Crazy: Kyle Cabot's apartment has a lot of evidence against him, including a shrine devoted to Castle, Allison Tisdale's shot-up blouse and the murder weapon. It turns out that the killer had planted the blouse and gun in Cabot's apartment as part of the Frame-Up.
- Rule of Three: The basis of the Frame-Up, as Castle describes to Alexis. At one murder, you look for a motive. At two, you look for a connection between victims. But at three...you stop looking for motive and look for someone like Kyle Cabot, the sort of suspect who usually doesn't have one.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Castle. One of the perks to having the Mayor on speed-dial is allowing tests that would take weeks in real life to happen in mere hours, just like they do on CSI.
- Secretly Dying: Jonathan Tisdale, Allison's father.
- Serial Killings, Specific Target: Harrison's plan to kill his sister involves killing two other people in the same manner as Castle's books, and frame it on Kyle Cabot, who is absolutely obsessed with them. Castle sums up the idea behind this trope thusly:Alexis: How do you get away with one murder by committing two more?
Castle: At one death, you look for motive. At two, you look for a connection. At three, you look for someone like Kyle. At three, you don't need motive, because mentally unstable serial killers don't usually have one. - String Theory: Kyle Cabot's Room Full of Crazy includes a certain amount of yarn.
- This Is Reality: When Castle expresses disbelief that the case was solved so easily, Beckett points out that this is not one of his novels, saying something to the effect of, "we find a guy holding a gun over a dead body, he did it."
- Beckett also says scrubbing up on entering the ME's lab is standard procedure, which begs the question why they never bother to after this episode.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: No pun intended. But Castle is the first to realize that Kyle Cabot is innocent, and that the killer is still active.
