Nikki Heat is investigating the murder of a local parish priest, found at an S&M house. The investigation takes her in all sorts of directions, but then she’s called off the investigation, on the orders of her precinct captain. It’s nothing, he assures her. Which only makes her — and her lover, companion, sometimes partner, Jameson Rook — more suspicious. And since Nikki Heat doesn’t give up, she ends up digging into things she really shouldn’t have.

I’m realizing that the books not only follow the plots from the Castle TV show (yes, this one has elements from season 3 episodes), but also the mood. Which means, this book wasn’t as fun as either Heat Wave or Naked Heat. Not to say that there weren’t fun moments (like the passing Firefly reference) in the book. There were. It just wasn’t as fun as the previous two. On the positive side, it wasn’t as sexy or foul as the previous books; this one really pulled back on the language and the sex was entirely off-screen. It’s still good brain candy, and it was gratifying to see Nikki do so much of the legwork (from saving her own skin — killing a guy with an icicle? Cool. — to facing down the brass at headquarters) entirely on her own. She really does rock.

Oh, and if you’ve seen the entire season 3, there’s a nice twist on the ending in the book. Which means, of course, that there will be a fourth. Hopefully, considering the way season 4 is going, the next book will be more fun to read overall. At any rate, it’s good as far as fluff (and satiating my obsessive fangirliness) goes.

Rated: Moderate for four f-bombs, as well as a smattering of other mild language, and several off-screen sex scenes.