So… I’m cheating here. This is not about Edgar Allan Poe it’s an episode of Castle. But it’s Halloween and I’m trying to put off watching that John Cusack movie as long as possible. Also, despite the episode title, no reference to the band is made in this 45 minutes.

For those who don’t know: Castle is about a mystery writer who acts as a consultant to the NYPD. He lives with his mother and teenage daughter. His partner is Detective Kate Beckett who acts as straight man to his Groucho Marx routine.

I love this episode of Castle because it opens with Richard Castle dressed in a “space cowboy” costume, which his daughter points out he wore “like five years ago”. Firefly references rule and if you don’t think so then . . . well, you’re wrong. Alexis is reading the Pit and Pendulum (which for some reason is novel size. Like a thick novel. Did the prop department not know it was a short story? Why did no one correct them? All they had to do was add “and other Tales” to the fake dust jacket they made. It even looks like they threw an Aubrey Beardsley illustration on the back! Some research must have gone into this so why is that book so big?!

Sorry, sorry. Back to the episode. It’s about modern vampires, people who get augmented teeth and drink blood for funsies. A young man dies with a stake through his heart. Castle and Beckett are led to a deranged man with photo-sensitivity, beautiful drawings of an unsolved murder, and a grieving little sister who they joke might grow up to be a writer or a cop due to the trauma.

Castle has a good little speech about becoming a writer as a way to try and understand the behavior of people, especially the people who would harm someone or something they claim to love.

Anyway - the episode ends with Castle’s annual Halloween party where he dresses up as Edgar Allan Poe complete with a fake raven on his arm. One of the other characters tell him he “throws a great shindig for a 19th century Poet”. You know, I think if Poe ever had the means to throw parties, he would have been good at it.