Storm instead, so that he could revisit the character if he changed his mind. His other books include Death of a Prom Queen, Flowers For Your Grave, Hell Hath No Fury, A Skull at Springtime, At Dusk We Die, When It Comes to Slaughter, and A Rose for Everafter. By his own admission, his early works—Death of a Prom Queen, Flowers For Your Grave, and Hell Hath No Fury—are of poor quality; he points to Hell Hath No Fury in particular, with its plotline of "angry Wiccans out for blood" as being a low point in his career. After using his friendship with the Mayor to get partnered with NYPD detective Kate Beckett under the pretense of conducting research for a new character, Castle plans a new series of novels starring a new character, a detective based on Beckett. He soon names Beckett's literary alter-ego "Nikki Heat", much to her embarrassment. Beckett takes umbrage at the name, regarding it a "stripper name", and insists that Castle change it, despite his proposing the book titles Summer Heat, Heat Wave, and In Heat. Ultimately, he sticks with the name, and the first novel in the series, Heat Wave, is released to much critical acclaim and financial success. Castle is offered a lucrative contract for three more Nikki Heat novels, with talk in the third season of a movie adaptation. The title of his second Nikki Heat novel, Naked Heat, once again displeases Beckett. It has been suggested that Castle's interest in death, murder, and the macabre may be the result of a childhood trauma. When Beckett confronts him about it, Castle avoids the question. However, as soon as he tells the story, he admits it is fictional and that it's "[his] job to make stuff up". Later, he admits to his daughter that one of the reasons he writes is to try to understand how criminals could do the things they do. He was under consideration for a deal to write three novels revolving around an unnamed British spy (implied to be James Bond) but rejected the offer, allegedly because his publisher wanted three more Nikki Heat novels and offered him more money, but secretly because accepting would have ended his collaboration with Beckett. In "Hollander's Woods", the source of Castle's interest in murder writing is revealed: in 1983, when he was 11, he found a murdered girl and was confronted by