Castle and Beckett investigate the death of Castle's favourite author, who turns out to harbour secrets that may have led to his killing.
- Bloodstained Glass Windows: The victim, Dave, was killed when he was shot through a stained glass window while praying.
- Compulsive Liar: Dave was a pathological liar who was trying to overcome his impulses at a support group.
- Crying Wolf: Dave knew that no one would believe him about the slush fund because of his pathological lying, so he wanted to gather evidence first. Unfortunately, he was killed because of one of his other lies before he could do so.
- Death by Woman Scorned: Dave was killed by his wife because he lied about secretly being famous author P.J. Moffett and deprived her of the opportunity to marry a wealthier man.
- Gold Digger: Dave's wife Wendy only married him because she thought he was a wealthy author, and killed him as payback for denying her the opportunity to marry a man who was actually wealthy.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Dave wants to redeem himself for his lies by exposing the deputy chief of staff's slush fund, but his wife kills him first for lying about being a famous author.
- The Mole: Castle pays Ryan $500 to keep him appraised of progress on cases at the 12th.
- One-Hit Wonder: In-Universe, Castle's idol P.J. Moffett wrote just one bestselling novel before retreating into seclusion.
- Shout-Out: Castle suggests using the strategy from Midnight Run to expose the deputy chief of staff's embezzlement scheme by having the priest suggest that evidence of his deeds might be available at the church.
- Sinister Minister: The priest of Dave's church, Father Arguello, was willing to send him to break into City Hall to avoid having to pay a debt he owed to the city.
- Spanner in the Works: While trying to erase Father Arguello's debt, Dave stumbles upon the deputy chief of staff's secret slush fund.
- Take a Third Option: Ryan decides to give Esposito the final slot at the Sergeant's exam as amends for not telling him about it to begin with. However, Beckett simply arranges to have slots available for both of them to take the exam.
- Tropaholics Anonymous: The victim was a member of a support group for pathological liars.
