Hello book lovers!

I've mentioned this before in the 'introduce yourself' thread, but it warrants repeating here. The main reason I tuned in to Castle's season premiere was that, in the previews/promos, the premise and characters seemed somewhat similar to those in my favourite book series.

Since I'm sure that there are others out there who enjoy reading romantic suspense/thrillers with a romantic subplot, I thought I'd see if anyone else has read this series. If not, I'm here to make a recommendation to those who haven't, because if you love Castle you'll probably like these books a lot.

The series starts with Naked in Death, where we meet the tough and focused Leutenant Eve Dallas, and fantastic story/mystery/eventual romance ensues. She's very much like Beckett, and I know some In Death fans have been put off by it (simply because they've wanted to see something done with the In Death series and are sure that, if it does happen now, people will say it's an imitation of Castle), but I love that I have a show that's similar to my absolutely favourite series of books.

So, has anyone else read these books, or should I attempt to persuade you all to go check them out?

Cheers,

Aicha

Yes, there is a main male character in the series, his name is Roarke and he's a self-made gazillionaire (I don't actually know how wealthy he is haha) who has a shady past but is now on the up and up. Despite Eve's reluctance, he somehow manages to help her solve pretty much all of the cases within the series. She meets him in the first book when he's a suspect on a case, but she clears him. He can't resist her even though he doesn't trust cops, and she doesn't trust the charming, intelligent, gorgeous Irishman that's all of a sudden intruding in on her life but he wins her over, of course!

And yes indeed, this series is still ongoing! I think there are 34 books now, and the series is still going strong. I have to wait until November (very unusually long wait) for the newest one and it's killing me haha.

Cheers!

Wow, I can't believe I didn't mention that it takes place '50 years in the future'! I guess I'm just so used to it now that it didn't even cross my mind to mention it here, but I have to say that I was a tad put off by it when I first started reading the series. Actually, I accidentally started with the seventh book and then when I realized it was a) in a series and b) in the future, I almost put it right back down, but I was already a chapter or two in so thought what the heck.

Yes, Nora Roberts/JD Robb is definitely a romance writer, but I like these 'Romantic Suspence' books because I don't have to slog through 300 pages of relationship woes. I do like romance stories as well, but my favourites are the ones that mix the mystery and the romance so I get the best of both worlds haha.

Why not try the library? That's where I got them for the longest time, until I decided to start buying the paperbacks. I found that sometimes it's actually quite easy to get your hands on the next one, but at times it's a pain.

As for the LC thing, I've never seen Firefly so I have no idea. I'm pretty sure that the first of these books were written in the earlier or mid 90s so that might give you a sense of the timeline? Wouldn't you agree, though, that Stana would make the perfect Eve? She fits the physical description almost perfectly, and she's a good enough actress that she could definitely pull off the kick arse attitude :D

Let me know what you think of the next few when and if you get your hands on them!

I really like Nora Roberts (never read JD Robb), especially her books with tough baddass female cops. The first book of hers that I read was Nightshade, which was kind of the same idea (tough cop woman works with bad pain in the butt hottie/millionaire). Can you tell I DO read romance novels?  But Aicha is right: the plot does need to be a big part of the book. I can't stand reading books where it's all relationship problems and damsels in distress. My books are usually paranormal action types (not to be confused with Twilight *gag* )

*deep breath* Anyway, this series sounds really good. The reason I started watching Castle was for the tough woman cop angle, so I think it'll be a lot of fun to pick up this series. The futuristic thing is a little bit off-putting, but if I read books about vampires, shape-shifteres, faeries and werewolves then 50 years in the future should be nothing, lol. Thanks for the suggestion!

m_hanh said:

Aicha-

I started reading this series based on your recommendation and it is really good, I started with the last book in the series, but went back to the first book and have read a couple more.  Thanks for the recommendation.  Definitely a kick ass detective, great summer afternoon reading.

Thanks!

I got it too! Thanks for the heads up! It's a great Castle fix since I can totally picture Stana and Nathan playing Eve and Roarke.

akajb said:

The more I read of this series (on about book 12) the more I can picture Stana as Eve, but less I can picture Nathan as Roarke. But to be honest, the description of Roarke does not form a really hot guy in my mind. But I'm also not a fan of long hair on guys. Ugh.

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That's when you gotta trick you're mind into believing it's really a guy who looks like Nathan  

castlefan said:

I started reading the “In Death” series a couple of years ago and have read them all — I look forward to the next one!!  I don't know who they could cast as Roarke, but I can see Stana as Eve.

Another girl/guy solving crimes series is the Lincoln Rhyme series by Jeffrey Deaver.  The first book is The Bone Collector.  The twist is that he is former detective that is now a quadriplegic because of an accident on the job.  But he can still do the job.  There is a lot of insight into human emotion and challenges.  He is very depressed over his condition, so he is not a super hero.  A female beat cop becomes his protege and they become attracted to each other.  Good books!!

Oh, I can NOT recommend Jeffrey Deaver at all. Ugh. Ugh. UGH! I read The bone collector way back when it first came out (and then my now BIL lent me the movie after my mom said I was too young to watch it :P – I was 15). Anyway, I will agree the Bone Collector is not a bad book, not great, but okay. However, I then moved on to the Coffin Dancer and they get this <imagine me with my thumb and index finger milimeters apart> close to catching the bad guy about 6 times before they got him. It was the most frustrating book EVER! I love mysteries, and have for ever (started with Nancy Drew in grade 1), but this guys books just end up driving me up the wall. I am interested that you like his books though castlefan. I haven't met any big fans of his. The Coffin Dancer book just turned me off his writing soo much.

Hmm, one of my favorite authors right now is Lisa Gardner. Some of her books are creepy, but so good and the "I just couldn't put it down" kind. The last one I read of hers I ended up reading in one day – everytime I looked at the page numbers I was another 100 pages in. :P She's sort of got a set of recurring characters that show up in pretty much every other book – and there's a couple of couple's in there. :P Anyway, I do highly recommend her books.

By the way, I've now read the first 18 books of the In Death series. :) It's been good… but my reading will have to slow down soon as I approach my defense and then the start of school again. :(

Aicha for the record you are destorying me with these "In Death" books. I'm addicted to them now. They are like Castle in little quirky ways.

m_hanh said:

lilmac11313 said:Aicha for the record you are destorying me with these "In Death" books. I'm addicted to them now. They are like Castle in little quirky ways.

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Me too!  Now I've finished the last one, Promises In Death, and am dying for a new one.  But I don't think it comes out until November   Between these books and Castle, I've lost a lot of sleep, reading and rewatching episodes, oy….

My biggest problem is that I want to read them in order but don't want to buy them. So I hope from library to library looking for the next one to get my Castle "fix"

Naked in Death is first - its a really good series by the way

Aicha said:

 That opening shot of Stana as Beckett was spot on 'Eve'. November can't come soon enough!!!

Too true – absolutely spot on. 

Beckett in her leather jackets this year just fits the Eve Dallas description to a tee.  Wonder if any of the stylists perused the In Death series…

I'm such a NR/JD Robb fan it's not even funny. I've met her numerous times and have almost all her books (150+) personalized.

Stana is perfect for the role of Eve. So much so that I can't picture another actress in the role should it ever make it to the screen. I know a lot of fans of the books have gotten hooked on Castle just because of the similarites. And vice versa.

SydneyDeb, it sounds like you're talking about Promises in Death which is the latest book. Well, the last books since Kindred in Death just came out yesterday. It's more on the serious side.