"The Dead Pool" is the 55th episode and 21st episode of the third season of the ABC series Castle, airing on 11 April 2011. The episode is notable for including an appearance by mystery writer Michael Connelly as one of Richard Castle's poker buddies, along with Dennis Lehane.
The episode also makes reference to the death of Stephen J. Cannell, who had previously appeared in the Castle episode "Deep In Death" and who died on 30 September 2010.
Transcript[]
- RICHARD CASTLE: Gentlemen.
- MICHAEL CONNELLY: This the new guy?
- CASTLE: Alex Conrad. Michael Connelly. Dennis Lehane.
- ALEX CONRAD: It's really awesome to meet you guys. I am a, uh, huge fan.
- CONNELLY: It's not a book-signing, kid. We're here to play poker.
- CONRAD: Alright. (pulls out chair)
- CASTLE: Uh, oh! Uh, whoa-whoa!
- DENNIS LEHANE: Uh, uh, uh!
- CASTLE: That's Cannell's seat.
- CONRAD: Oh.
- LEHANE: That's the rule. We lose a member, nobody sits there for a year.
- CONRAD: (pushes chair in) Sorry.
- LEHANE: So we were just talking about our books becoming movies. Michael had Lincoln Lawyer, I had Shutter Island, Ricky has Heat Wave.
- CONNELLY: So what about your book, kid? They gonna make it into a movie?
- CONRAD: Oh, uh, not yet.
- CONNELLY: So, Ricky, what's going on with the dead swimmer?
- CASTLE: Treading water. Dennis, your bet.
- CONRAD: Uh, it reads like a crime-of-passion to me. I bet the girlfriend did it.
- CONNELLY: The girlfriend? You're kidding, right? You move through the girlfriend no later than page fifty.
- LEHANE: Yeah, the woman scorned is, like, the oldest rodeo clown in the book. Is he serious?
- CASTLE: Oh, he's dead serious.
- CONRAD: Well, you know, I just thought we were–
- CONNELLY: And how many books have you written?
- CONRAD: Just the one.
- LEHANE: And this– and this one book made you, like, a crime-solving genius, did it?
- CONNELLY: You know what I did after I wrote my first novel?
- CONRAD: Hmm?
- CONNELLY: I shut up, and I wrote twenty-three more.
- CONRAD: Hmm.
- LEHANE: I can tell ya, a case like this: guilty party is usually the guy with the biggest secret.
- CONNELLY: You know, Dennis is right. Aside from Bryan, who has the most to lose if this steroid use gets out?
- CASTLE: You know, I think I might just know.