Order of Book Series
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Richard Castle Books in Order

Richard Castle has written 17 books, published between 2008 and 2019. The first book is Heat Wave (2008) and the newest is Crashing Heat (2019). Publication order is the reading order below. 10 of the 17 books listed here are in the Nikki Heat series, which has its own page: Nikki Heat books in order.

Books
17
Published
2008–2019
Confirmed
17 of 17 titles
Pages on record
3,720 in 12 of 17 books
Reading time
62–93 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 3,720 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 12 of 17 titles with a page count on record.

See all 17 books in order Printable Richard Castle checklist

Richard Castle is a fictional novelist from the ABC crime series Castle, and the name doubles as a pseudonym for real books about Nikki Heat and Derrick Storm modelled on the novels mentioned in the show. Screenwriter Tom Straw wrote the books, and actor Nathan Fillion serves as the public face of Richard Castle on the books and at signings. The catalogue lists 17 titles from Heat Wave (2008) to Crashing Heat (2019), including Naked Heat (2010), Heat Rises (2011) and Storm Front (2013). The Richard Castle books became New York Times bestsellers.

How many Richard Castle books are there?

Richard Castle has 17 books, released between 2008 and 2019. They include 2 separate series.

Richard Castle Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 17 Richard Castle books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of Heat Wave by Richard Castle, book 1 of the Nikki Heat series (2008)
  2. Cover of Naked Heat by Richard Castle, book 2 of the Nikki Heat series (2010)
  3. Cover of Heat Rises by Richard Castle, book 3 of the Nikki Heat series (2011)
  4. Cover of Frozen Heat by Richard Castle, book 4 of the Nikki Heat series (2012)
  5. Cover of Storm Front by Richard Castle, book 4 of the Derrick Storm series (2013)
  6. Cover of Deadly Heat by Richard Castle, book 5 of the Nikki Heat series (2013)
  7. Cover of Wild Storm by Richard Castle, book 5 of the Derrick Storm series (2014)
  8. Cover of Raging Heat by Richard Castle, book 6 of the Nikki Heat series (2014)
  9. Cover of Driving Heat by Richard Castle, book 7 of the Nikki Heat series (2015)
  10. Cover of High Heat by Richard Castle, book 8 of the Nikki Heat series (2016)
  11. Cover of Heat Storm by Richard Castle, book 9 of the Nikki Heat series (2017)
  12. Cover of Crashing Heat by Richard Castle, book 10 of the Nikki Heat series (2019)
  1. 1
    Heat WaveNikki Heat #12008 · 358 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2008358
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Naked HeatNikki Heat #22010 · 304 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2010304
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    Heat RisesNikki Heat #32011 · 432 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2011432
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    A Brewing StormDerrick Storm #12012 · confirmed 3/4
    2012–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    A Raging StormDerrick Storm #22012 · confirmed 3/4
    2012–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    A Bloody StormDerrick Storm #32012 · confirmed 3/4
    2012–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    Frozen HeatNikki Heat #42012 · confirmed 3/4
    2012–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    A Calm Before the StormDerrick Storm Graphic Novels with Brian Michael Bendis #32013 · 120 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2013120
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    Storm FrontDerrick Storm #42013 · 314 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2013314
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    Deadly HeatNikki Heat #52013 · 291 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2013291
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    Unholy StormDerrick Storm Graphic Novels with Brian Michael Bendis #42014 · confirmed 3/4
    2014–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    Wild StormDerrick Storm #52014 · 344 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2014344
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    Raging HeatNikki Heat #62014 · 292 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2014292
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    Driving HeatNikki Heat #72015 · 329 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2015329
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 15
    High HeatNikki Heat #82016 · 384 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2016384
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 16
    Heat StormNikki Heat #92017 · 312 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2017312
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 17
    Crashing HeatNikki Heat #102019 · 240 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2019240
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Richard Castle series in order

Each series linked below has its own reading-order page.

Richard Castle books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.

Derrick Storm Graphic Novels with Brian Michael Bendis in order

2 books
  1. 3. A Calm Before the Storm
  2. 4. Unholy Storm

Richard Castle Books in Chronological Order

By publication date, the Richard Castle books run from Heat Wave (2008) to Crashing Heat (2019), the sequence in the table above. No separate story order is recorded for Richard Castle in the book listings this catalogue merges, so publication order is the only order on record.

Do you have to read Richard Castle books in order?

You only need to read Richard Castle books in order within each series: the books listed here span 2 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.

Where to start with Richard Castle

Start with the first book of the Richard Castle series you want to read: Nikki Heat starts with Heat Wave (2008) and Derrick Storm starts with A Brewing Storm (2012). The earliest catalogued title overall is Heat Wave (2008).

What is the newest Richard Castle book?

Crashing Heat (2019) is the newest Richard Castle book released so far.

Is there a new Richard Castle book coming?

No next Richard Castle book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Richard Castle at a glance

No recent titles
The newest Richard Castle title on record dates from 2019, 7 years ago. No later title is catalogued.
Release pace
Richard Castle books have appeared more than one a year on average.
Length
3,720 pages across the 12 of 17 books with a recorded length, a median of 313 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Richard Castle books, 16 of 17, were published in the 2010s.

What the Richard Castle books are about

14 of the 17 Richard Castle books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: mystery & detective, women sleuths is tagged on 6 of 14. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.