MISSING LINKS - RICHARD CASTLE & JB FLETCHER?

When Detective Ryan of the NYPD's 12th Precinct (in an alternate Toobworld) found out that a man had been shot who had then stumbled on to the Hamptons property of Richard Castle to die in the pool, Ryan exclaimed that the mystery author was living 'Murder, She Wrote'.

Castle quickly pointed out that it was more like 'Murder, He Wrote'. But unlike Jessica Fletcher, he wasn't on friendly terms with the local law enforcement.

So there's a Zonk that needs to be investigated......

First off, I shouldn't even bother, since 'Castle' takes place in another TV dimension, possibly sharing the same one as 'Commander-In-Chief'. But we've seen, thanks to 'Missing', that he does exist as an author in Earth Prime-Time, at least as an author if not attached to Detective Kate Beckett's team. But just in case he is leading the same life as his dimensional doppelganger, I'll give it a shot.

There would be no Zonk in Richard Castle name-checking Jessica Fletcher. They probably know each other as fellow mystery writers, perhaps sharing the same publisher and maybe even vying for the same awards (such as the Blunt Instrument as seen in 'The Adventures Of Ellery Queen'.)

The true Zonk is the mention of 'Murder, She Wrote', the TV show about Jessica Fletcher.

But on the title was mentioned, and there was no reference to it being a TV show.

THE SPLAININ:

"Murder, She Wrote" is the umbrella title for the mysteries written by JB Fletcher, in much the same way that J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth trilogy is known overall as "The Lord Of The Rings", Paul Scott's novels about India are known as "The Raj Quartet", and the collected novels by George R.R. Martin that are the basis for the HBO series 'Game Of Thrones' are known as the "Song Of Ice And Fire Cycle".

So when somebody in Toobworld - no matter what the dimension - speaks of "Murder, She Wrote", they're talking about novels like:

• "The Corpse Danced At Midnight"
• "The Corpse Swam By Moonlight"
• "The Corpse At Vespers"
• "The Corpse That Wasn't There"
• "The Dead Man Sang"
• "Dirge For A Dachshund"

and

• "Goodbye, Charlie"

Among many others. (In all, Ms. Fletcher wrote about 43 novels during the show's run.)

BCnU!