PI Turned Novelist has Great Stories from Being on the Job

Born in California, Castle came to Massachusetts in the summer of 1983 to visit her grandmother while her parents were going through a divorce. She decided to stay and finish high school in New England. At the age of 15, Castle joined an after-school police explorer group for teens and was hooked.

"I learned a lot about what police officers do," said Castle. "I wanted to be a cop."

After high school she earned her associate's degree in criminal justice at Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, juggling numerous jobs during the two years.

Castle worked for a retired police officer as a private investigator, primarily following married men to confirm their infidelity, while she held down an 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift at Worcester City Hospital as a security guard, where she did everything from moving bodies in the morgue to restraining belligerent patients.

"When I finished at 7 a.m. I would go home, change my clothes, and go to class," said Castle. "On a good day, I'd get four hours of sleep."

After college, in the late 1980s, Castle joined another private investigation firm, where one of her assignments took her to a local manufacturer, where she was asked to investigate complaints about the human resources director and suspicions that assembly line employees were involved with drugs.

"When I would go into these companies, I would have to get a [legitimate] job," said Castle. She spent six months working a wave solder machine, making circuit boards, and socializing with employees after work at a local pub. Castle said one employee would smuggle a flask of liquor to work and another sold cocaine.

"Understand that I have never done drugs, so not only did I have to befriend [the dealers] and buy drugs, I had to act like I knew what I was talking about," said Castle.